Ecological Results of Woodland and Burning Experiments in Northern Rhodisia

Trapnell, C. G.

doi:10.2307/2257252

Cited by 244 publications

(223 citation statements)

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“…For example, after 32 y without fire, savanna in Ghana had developed into a forest thicket (Swaine et al 1992). In grassy woodland in Zambia, after 23 y sapling densities in the annual early and late fire treatments were 63% and 96% lower respectively than from an area in which fire was excluded (Trapnell 1959). This finding is remarkably similar to the reductions in areal recruitment observed in our study.…”

Section: Maintenance Of Savanna By Firementioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental evidence that fire causes a tree recruitment bottleneck in an Australian tropical savanna

2010

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Abstract:A fire-mediated recruitment bottleneck provides a possible explanation for the coexistence of trees and grasses in mesic savannas. The key element of this hypothesis is that saplings are particularly vulnerable to fire because they are small enough to be top-killed by grass fires, but unlike juveniles, they take several years to recover their original size. This limits the number of recruits into the adult size classes. Thus savanna vegetation may be maintained by a feedback whereby fire restricts the density of adult trees and allows a grass layer to develop, which provides fuel for subsequent fires. Here, we use results from a landscape-scale fire experiment in tropical Australia, to explore the possible existence of a recruitment bottleneck. This experiment compared tree recruitment and survival over 4 y under regimes of no fire, annual early and annual late dry-season fire. Stem mortality decreased with increasing stem height in the fire treatments but not in the unburnt treatment. Tree recruitment was 76-84% lower in the fire treatments than the unburnt treatment. Such fire-induced stem loss of saplings and reduced recruitment to the canopy layer in this eucalypt savanna are consistent with the predictions of the fire-mediated recruitment bottleneck hypothesis.

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Section: Maintenance Of Savanna By Firementioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental evidence that fire causes a tree recruitment bottleneck in an Australian tropical savanna

2010

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“…Although the forest side of the gradient had more species, other species occur away from the forest environment. The diversity of an area is influenced by the type, frequency and intensity of the disturbance (Trapnell 1959;Petraitis et al 1989). Hence, if the whole succession gradient occurs in an area, there would be more species (Connell 1978;Huston 1994) than if one or a few stages of the succession gradient were conserved.…”

Section: The Effect Of Continuing Reforestation On the Biodiversity Omentioning

confidence: 99%

Composition of woody species in a dynamic forest-woodland-savannah mosaic in Uganda: implications for conservation and management

Nangendo¹,

Steege²,

Bongers³

2006

Forest Diversity and Management

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Abstract. Forest-woodland-savannah mosaics are a common feature in the East African landscape. For the conservation of the woody species that occur in such landscapes, the species patterns and the factors that maintain it need to be understood. We studied the woody species distribution in a forest-woodland-savannah mosaic in Budongo Forest Reserve, Uganda. The existing vegetation gradients were analyzed using data from a total of 591 plots of 400 or 500 m 2 each. Remotely sensed data was used to explore current vegetation cover and the gradients there in for the whole area. A clear species gradient exists in the study area ranging from forest, where there is least disturbance, to wooded grassland, where frequent fire disturbance occurs. Most species are not limited to a specific part of the gradient although many show a maximum abundance at some point along the gradient. Fire and accessibility to the protected area were closely related to variation in species composition along the ordination axis with species like Cynometra alexandri and Uvariopsis congensis occurring at one end of the gradient and Combretum guenzi and Lonchocarpus laxiflorus at the other. The vegetation cover classes identified in the area differed in diversity, density and, especially, basal area. All vegetation cover classes, except open woodland, had indicator species. Diospyros abyssinica, Uvariopsis congensis, Holoptelea grandis and all Celtis species were the indicator species for the forest class, Terminalia velutina and Albizia grandbracteata for closed woodland, Grewia mollis and Combretum mole for very open woodland and Lonchocarpus laxiflorus, Grewia bicolor and Combretum guenzi for the wooded grassland class. Eleven of the species occurred in all cover classes and most of the species that occurred in more than one vegetation cover class showed peak abundance in a specific cover class. Species composition in the study area changes gradually from forest to savannah. Along the gradient, the cover classes are distinguishable in terms of species composition and vegetation structure. These classes are, however, interrelated in species composition. For conservation of the full range of the species within this East African landscape, the mosaic has to be managed as an integrated whole. Burning should be varied over the area with the forest not being burnt at all and the wooded grassland burnt regularly. The different vegetation types that occur between these two extremes should be maintained using a varied fire regime.

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“…Wild fires are an important component in African landscape ecology and are even vital for the maintenance, distribution and function of fire-prone savannah ecosystems (Bond & Keeley 2005). Therefore, it is indispensable to understand and describe the fire regime (van Langevelde et al 2003).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire frequency, fire seasonality and fire intensity within the Okavango region derived from MODIS fire products

Stellmes¹

2013

Biodivers. Ecol.

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Ecological Results of Woodland and Burning Experiments in Northern Rhodisia

Cited by 244 publications

References 1 publication

Experimental evidence that fire causes a tree recruitment bottleneck in an Australian tropical savanna

Experimental evidence that fire causes a tree recruitment bottleneck in an Australian tropical savanna

Composition of woody species in a dynamic forest-woodland-savannah mosaic in Uganda: implications for conservation and management

Fire frequency, fire seasonality and fire intensity within the Okavango region derived from MODIS fire products

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