Early Succession in Aspen Communities following Fire in Western Wyoming

Bartos, Dale L.; Meuggler, W.F.

doi:10.2307/3897859

Cited by 84 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…During the first 5 to 10 years following stand-replacing fire, grass and forb biomass generally increases. Grass and forb biomass decreased the first growing season after fire in aspen stands in Wyoming but increased the second and third growing seasons to above preburn levels (Bartos and Mueggler 1981). On "heavily burned" sites, grass recovered more slowly than forbs.…”

Section: Western Forests ________________ Rocky Mountain Forestmentioning

confidence: 93%

Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on fauna

Smith¹

2000

122

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_____________________________________Fires affect animals mainly through effects on their habitat. Fires often cause short-term increases in wildlife foods that contribute to increases in populations of some animals. These increases are moderated by the animals' ability to thrive in the altered, often simplified, structure of the postfire environment. The extent of fire effects on animal communities generally depends on the extent of change in habitat structure and species composition caused by fire. Stand-replacement fires usually cause greater changes in the faunal communities of forests than in those of grasslands. Within forests, standreplacement fires usually alter the animal community more dramatically than understory fires. Animal species are adapted to survive the pattern of fire frequency, season, size, severity, and uniformity that characterized their habitat in presettlement times. When fire frequency increases or decreases substantially or fire severity changes from presettlement patterns, habitat for many animal species declines.

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Section: Western Forests ________________ Rocky Mountain Forestmentioning

confidence: 93%

Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on fauna

Smith¹

2000

122

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“…Burning or clear-cutting aspen stands has been reported to increase aspen suckering from 17 000 to 150 000 stems/ha (Patton and Avant 1970;Bartos 1979;Bartos and Mueggler 1981;Bartos and Mueggler 1982;Crouch 1983). These values are 1.5 to 30 times greater than stem densities reported for the FALL treatment.…”

Section: Juniper Removal and Aspen Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bartos and Mueggler (1981) reported that herbaceous production peaked in the second and third year after a high-severity fire in aspen stands in northwestern Wyoming. Herbaceous cover in the FALL treatment did not reach full potential, and a sizeable area of bare ground remained open to further colonization (Fig.…”

Section: Ground Cover Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Restoration of Quaking Aspen Woodlands Invaded by Western Juniper

Bates

Miller

Davies

2006

REM

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Western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis spp. occidentalis Hook.) woodlands are rapidly replacing lower elevation (, 2 100 m) quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) stands throughout the northern Great Basin. Aspen restoration is important because these communities provide critical habitat for many wildlife species and contain a high diversity of understory shrubs and herbaceous species. We studied two juniper removal treatments to restore aspen woodlands. Treatments included cutting one-third of the juniper trees followed by early fall burning (FALL) or early spring burning (SPRING). Selective cutting of juniper was performed to increase cured surface (0-2 m) fuel levels to carry fire through the woodlands. We tested treatment effectiveness at removing juniper from seedlings to mature trees, measured aspen sucker recruitment, and evaluated the response to treatment of shrub and herbaceous cover and diversity. In the FALL treatment, burning eliminated all remaining juniper trees and seedlings, stimulated a 6-fold increase in aspen suckering (10 000 ha À1 ), but initially resulted in a significant reduction in herbaceous cover. Spring burning removed 80% of the mature juniper trees that remained after cutting. However, 50% of juniper juveniles survived the SPRING treatment, which will permit juniper to redominate these stands in less than 80 years. Aspen suckering in the SPRING increased only 2.5-fold to 5 300 stems ha À1 by the third year after fire. In the SPRING, herbaceous cover increased 330% and the number of species observed doubled by the third year after fire. If the management objective is to eliminate western juniper with minimal cutting and stimulate greater aspen suckering, we recommend that woodlands be burned in the fall. If the objective is to maintain shrub and herbaceous cover and moderately increase aspen suckering, spring burning is recommended. With spring burning it appears follow-up management will be necessary to remove juniper that are missed in initial treatments.

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“…Horton and Hopkins (1965) found it impossible to prevent root sprouting by intense burning. Brown (1985), while not relating specifically to the seral age of aspen stands, suggested the following results (based on work by Bartos and Mueggler (1981) and Horton and Hopkins (1965)) would likely occur under three levels of fire severity:…”

Section: Montane Conifer Forest (Mixed Conifer Series) Rocky Mountainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of fire management of southwestern natural resources

Krammes¹

1990

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Early Succession in Aspen Communities following Fire in Western Wyoming

Cited by 84 publications

References 4 publications

Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on fauna

Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on fauna

Restoration of Quaking Aspen Woodlands Invaded by Western Juniper

Effects of fire management of southwestern natural resources

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