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Lahontan Sagebrush Slopes

Ecoregion in Great Basin, NV

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Hills, alluvial fans, and low mountains within the Lahontan Basin comprise the Lahontan Sagebrush Slopes ecoregion. These areas are rock controlled and their soils lack the fine lacustrine sediments that are found in the lower parts of the Lahontan Basin. Because moisture increases and alkalinity decreases with elevation, the shrub community grades from the greasewood – shadscale community on the basin floor to a shrub community dominated by Wyoming big sagebrush and the endemic Lahontan sagebrush at higher elevations. Understory grasses increase in productivity toward the northeast, outside the rain shadow influence of the Sierra Nevada. The low hills and mountains within the Lahontan Basin experience frequent summer lightning and fire. Introduced cheatgrass tends to replace the shrub community and provides fuel for recurrent fires.

— EPA

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