Species and Vegetation Responses to Prescribed Fire in a Long-Unburned, Endemic-Rich Lake Wales Ridge Scrub

2003 ◽  
Vol 130 (4) ◽  
pp. 265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl W. Weekley ◽  
Eric S. Menges
2010 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.R. Teague ◽  
S.L. Dowhower ◽  
R.J. Ansley ◽  
W.E. Pinchak ◽  
J.A. Waggoner

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sawyer S. Scherer ◽  
Christel C. Kern ◽  
Anthony W. D’Amato ◽  
Brian J. Palik ◽  
Matthew R. Russell

Prescribed fire is increasingly viewed as a valuable tool for reversing ecological consequences of fire suppression within fire-adapted forests. While the use of burning treatments in northern temperate conifer forests has received considerable attention, the long-term (>10 year) effects on understory composition and dynamics have not been quantified. We describe the persistence of prescribed fire effects on the woody and herbaceous understory in a mature red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.) forest in northern Minnesota, USA, over a ∼50-year period, as well as the relative roles of fire season and frequency in affecting vegetation responses. Burning treatments were applied from 1960 to 1970 on 0.4 ha experimental units and crossed fire season and frequency in a randomized block design. Burning altered shrub layer dynamics and composition in both the short and long terms and was influenced by both fire season and frequency, with frequent summer season burns having the largest impact, including greatest control of hazel (Corylus spp.). The application of fire facilitated regeneration of pine; however, recruitment into the overstory was limited. Additionally, community composition of the herbaceous understory diverged 40+ years following burning. This study highlights the importance of continued burning in affecting vegetation responses and the potential of fire as a long-lasting vegetation management tool in these forests.


2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 1604-1612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy C. Livingston ◽  
J. Morgan Varner ◽  
Erik S. Jules ◽  
Jeffrey M. Kane ◽  
Leonel A. Arguello

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Weir ◽  
Urs P. Kreuter ◽  
Carissa L. Wonkka ◽  
Dirac Twidwell ◽  
Dianne A. Stroman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

Fire Ecology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessie M. Dodge ◽  
Eva K. Strand ◽  
Andrew T. Hudak ◽  
Benjamin C. Bright ◽  
Darcy H. Hammond ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Fuel treatments are widely used to alter fuels in forested ecosystems to mitigate wildfire behavior and effects. However, few studies have examined long-term ecological effects of interacting fuel treatments (commercial harvests, pre-commercial thinnings, pile and burning, and prescribed fire) and wildfire. Using annually fitted Landsat satellite-derived Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) curves and paired pre-fire treated and untreated field sites, we tested changes in the differenced NBR (dNBR) and years since treatment as predictors of biophysical attributes one and nine years after the 2007 Egley Fire Complex in Oregon, USA. We also assessed short- and long-term fuel treatment impacts on field-measured attributes one and nine years post fire. Results One-year post-fire burn severity (dNBR) was lower in treated than in untreated sites across the Egley Fire Complex. Annual NBR trends showed that treated sites nearly recovered to pre-fire values four years post fire, while untreated sites had a slower recovery rate. Time since treatment and dNBR significantly predicted tree canopy and understory green vegetation cover in 2008, suggesting that tree canopy and understory vegetation cover increased in areas that were treated recently pre fire. Live tree density was more affected by severity than by pre-fire treatment in either year, as was dead tree density one year post fire. In 2008, neither treatment nor severity affected percent cover of functional groups (shrub, graminoid, forb, invasive, and moss–lichen–fungi); however, by 2016, shrub, graminoid, forb, and invasive cover were higher in high-severity burn sites than in low-severity burn sites. Total fuel loads nine years post fire were higher in untreated, high-severity burn sites than any other sites. Tree canopy cover and density of trees, saplings, and seedlings were lower nine years post fire than one year post fire across treatments and severity, whereas live and dead tree basal area, understory surface cover, and fuel loads increased. Conclusions Pre-fire fuel treatments effectively lowered the occurrence of high-severity wildfire, likely due to successful pre-fire tree and sapling density and surface fuels reduction. This study also quantified the changes in vegetation and fuels from one to nine years post fire. We suggest that low-severity wildfire can meet prescribed fire management objectives of lowering surface fuel accumulations while not increasing overstory tree mortality.


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