An Invasive Grass Increases Live Fuel Proportion and Reduces Fire Spread in a Simulated Grassland

McGranahan, Devan Allen; Engle, David M.; Miller, James R.; Debinski, Diane M.

doi:10.1007/s10021-012-9605-4

Cited by 38 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 51 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Several studies show that invasive grasses usually increase the amount of fine fuel (D'Antonio and Vitousek 1992;D'Antonio et al 1998;Brooks et al 2004). However, there have been cases where the invasive grass reduced the fuel load of the invaded areas (McGranahan et al 2013). Surprisingly, we found lower fuel load in invaded plots (UJ) than in non-invaded plots.…”

Section: Fire Behavior In Invaded and Non-invaded Communities And At mentioning

confidence: 76%

How can an invasive grass affect fire behavior in a tropical savanna? A community and individual plant level approach

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Some invasive grasses have been reported to change fire behavior in invaded plant communities. Urochloa brizantha is an aggressive invasive grass in the Brazilian Cerrado, an ecosystem where fire is a common disturbance. We investigated the effects of U. brizantha on fire behavior in an open Cerrado physiognomy in Central Brazil. Using experimental burnings we compared fire behavior at both the community and the individual plant level in invaded (UJ) and non-invaded (NJ) areas burned in July. We also assessed the effect of fire season in invaded areas by comparing July (UJ) and October (UO) burnings. We evaluated the following variables: fuel load, fuel moisture, combustion efficiency, maximum fire temperature, flame height, and fire intensity. Additionally, we evaluated the temperatures reached under invasive and native grass tussocks in both seasons. Fuel load, combustion efficiency, and fire intensity were higher in NJ than in UJ, whilst flame height showed the opposite trend. Fuel amount and fire intensity were higher in October than in July. At the individual plant level, U. brizantha moisture was higher than that of native species, however, temperatures reaching C600°C at ground level were more frequent under U. brizantha tussocks than under native grasses. At the community level, the invasive grass modified fire behavior towards lower intensity, lower burning efficiency, and higher flame height. These results provide essential information for the planning of prescribed burnings in invaded Cerrado areas.

show abstract

Section: Fire Behavior In Invaded and Non-invaded Communities And At mentioning

confidence: 76%

How can an invasive grass affect fire behavior in a tropical savanna? A community and individual plant level approach

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…g. Estimated annual primary productivity of native vegetation not recently disturbed by grazing or fertilization. Published data were used for Cooper (Gillen and Sims, 2004), Klemme (Gillen et al, 2000), Stillwater (Gillen et al, 1987), and the Grand River Grasslands (McGranahan et al, 2013). Unpublished data on end-of-season biomass one year after fire from at least one year within the study period included here were used to estimate annual primary productivity at the TGPP.…”

Section: Patch Contrastmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, severe grazing (the result of overstocking) and invasive species can weaken the influence of fire on the spatial pattern of grazing (McGranahan et al, 2012a) because they disrupt the continuity of the fuelbed and limit fire spread (McGranahan et al, 2013, Davies et al, 2010.…”

Section: Relative Impacts Of Severe Grazing and Invasive Species On Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inconsistent outcomes of heterogeneity-based management underscore importance of matching evaluation to conservation objectives

McGranahan

Engle

Fuhlendorf

et al. 2013

Environmental Science & Policy

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Winter, Stephen L.; Miller, James R.; and Debinski, Diane M., "Inconsistent outcomes of heterogeneity-based management underscore importance of matching evaluation to conservation objectives" (2013 AbstractConservation policy often incentivizes managers of human-impacted areas to create landscape heterogeneity to maximize biodiversity. In rangeland, patchy disturbance regimes create landscape heterogeneity (patch contrast), but outcomes of heterogeneity-based management are rarely tested for a universal response. We analyzed four habitat variables-vegetation structure, plant functional group composition, litter cover, and bare ground-from five experimental rangelands in Oklahoma and Iowa, USA. We tested for response consistency to heterogeneity-based management across and within locations. We calculated effect sizes for each variable to compare patch contrast on pastures managed for heterogeneity (patch burn-grazing) and pastures managed for homogeneity (grazing with homogeneous fire regimes). Effects varied considerably across and within locations. Effects of heterogeneity-based management were positive for all variables at only three of five experimental rangeland locations. No location showed a consistent pattern of positive effect across all four variables, although one location showed no effect for any variable. At another location, we found a positive effect of heterogeneity-based management on litter cover and bare ground, but no effect on vegetation structure and plant functional group composition. We discuss effect variability and how the fire-grazing interaction applies to rangeland management and conservation. Although it is accepted practice to use heterogeneity-based management to increase rangeland habitat diversity, managers should also confirm that evaluation metrics match desired conservation outcomes.

show abstract

“…Exotic invasive species (hereafter exotic species) can alter community‐level flammability in two main ways. First, the exotic species may possess functional traits, such as substantially different moisture content, volatile organic compounds or retention of dead material, which make it either more or less flammable than the native species in the recipient community, therefore changing community‐level flammability (Brooks et al., ; Gorgone‐Barbosa et al., ; Livingston & Varner, ; McGranahan, Engle, Miller, & Debinski, ). Second, invaders can increase, decrease or change the distribution and continuity of fuel loads (Berry, Wevill, & Curran, ; Brooks, ; Gorgone‐Barbosa et al., ; McGranahan et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community‐level flammability declines over 25 years of plant invasion in grasslands

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract1. Exotic plant invasions can alter fire regimes in plant communities. Invaders often possess traits that differ from native plants in the community, resulting in increases or declines in community-level flammability, changing fire regimes and potentially causing long-term modifications to plant community composition. Although considering traits of multiple invaders and native species together is useful to better understand how invasions change community-level flammability, few studies have done this.2. We measured morphological and flammability traits of 51 native and exotic plant species common in tussock grasslands in New Zealand's south-eastern South Island to examine relationships between morphology and whole-plant and shoot-level flammability. Plant community data from 103 permanent transects in this region measured over a 25-year period (c. 1982-2007) were used to determine how flammability changed with increasing levels of plant invasion.3. Invasion by exotic plants has led to reduced community-level flammability due to shifts from native tussock grasses with high flammability and high fuel loads to matforming exotic forbs with low flammability and little fuel. These changes will likely lead to considerable alterations to the fire regime, resulting in lower intensity fires that burn more patchily and for shorter amounts of time, potentially causing further changes in floristic composition. We found considerable differences in flammability across the wide range of species and growth forms that we studied, emphasising the importance of quantifying species-level flammability and the need to avoid treating grasslands as homogenous in terms of their flammability. Total biomass, leaf length and leaf area were the traits most positively correlated with flammability in these tussock grasslands.4. Synthesis. We show how plant invasions over decadal time-scales have reduced the community-level flammability of tussock grasslands and, for the first time, demonstrate how this can be driven by exotic forbs. The total biomass of constituent species is a useful surrogate for community flammability across a wide range of species and growth forms in both temperate grasslands and savanna ecosystems and should be used in dynamic global vegetation models to assess how flammability varies under various global change scenarios.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

show abstract

An Invasive Grass Increases Live Fuel Proportion and Reduces Fire Spread in a Simulated Grassland

Cited by 38 publications

References 51 publications

How can an invasive grass affect fire behavior in a tropical savanna? A community and individual plant level approach

How can an invasive grass affect fire behavior in a tropical savanna? A community and individual plant level approach

Inconsistent outcomes of heterogeneity-based management underscore importance of matching evaluation to conservation objectives

Community‐level flammability declines over 25 years of plant invasion in grasslands

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About