Effect of winter fire on primary productivity and nutrient concentration of a dry tropical savanna

Singh, R. B.

doi:10.1007/bf00044858

Cited by 30 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Fire is an important factor in the ecology and evolution of grassland ecosystems (Fuhlendorf & Engle ). Fire affects nutrient cycling (Hobbs & Schimel ; Singh ; Van de Vijver, Poot & Prins ), soil organic N and soil C storage (Holdo et al . ), modifies plant species composition (Gibson & Hulbert ; Fuhlendorf & Engle ; Knapp et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The preference for burned areas has been mainly attributed to the attraction of herbivores to new plant growth (Rowe‐Rowe ; Frost ; Wilsey ; Sensenig, Demment & Laca ). Plant re‐growth following fire is higher in Ca, P, N, Mg and K (Mes ; Komarek ; Christensen ; Batmanian & Haridasan ; Singh ; Van de Vijver, Poot & Prins ) and protein (Mes ; Lemon ; Komarek ; Christensen ; Oliver, Short & Hanks ; Van de Vijver, Poot & Prins ), and feeding on the post‐burn re‐growth causes greater body mass gain (Anderson, Smith & Owensby ; Woolfolk et al . ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of fire on habitat selection of mammalian herbivores: the role of body size and vegetation characteristics

Eby

Anderson

Mayemba

et al. 2014

Journal of Animal Ecology

114

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Summary1. Given the role of fire in shaping ecosystems, especially grasslands and savannas, it is important to understand its broader impact on these systems. Post-fire stimulation of plant nutrients is thought to benefit grazing mammals and explain their preference for burned areas. However, fire also reduces vegetation height and increases visibility, thereby potentially reducing predation risk. Consequently, fire may be more beneficial to smaller herbivores, with higher nutritional needs and greater risks of predation. 2. We tested the impacts of burning on different sized herbivores' habitat preference in Serengeti National Park, as mediated by burning's effects on vegetation height, live : dead biomass ratio and leaf nutrients. 3. Burning caused a less than 4 month increase in leaf nitrogen (N), and leaf non-N nutrients [copper (Cu), potassium (K), and magnesium (Mg)] and a decrease in vegetation height and live : dead biomass. During this period, total herbivore counts were higher on burned areas. Generally, smaller herbivores preferred burned areas more strongly than larger herbivores. 4. Unfortunately, it was not possible to determine the vegetation characteristics that explained burned area preference for each of the herbivore species observed. However, total herbivore abundance and impala (Aepyceros melampus) preference for burned areas was due to the increases in non-N nutrients caused by burning. 5. These findings suggest that burned area attractiveness to herbivores is mainly driven by changes to forage quality and not potential decreases in predation risk caused by reductions in vegetation height.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of fire on habitat selection of mammalian herbivores: the role of body size and vegetation characteristics

Eby

Anderson

Mayemba

et al. 2014

Journal of Animal Ecology

114

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“…Fire affects nutrient cycling [60][61][62], modifies plant species composition [59,63,64], and may have legacy effects on the AMF abundance. Woodland to grassland transitions observed in this study were likely caused by fire in the park and settlement outside the park.…”

Section: Effects Of Fire On Land Covermentioning

confidence: 99%

Land-Cover Legacy Effects on Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Abundance in Human and Wildlife Dominated Systems in Tropical Savanna

Soka

Ritchie

2016

Advances in Ecology

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Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can be important mutualists to plant hosts in acquiring soil nutrients. Past work has not explored whether previous land-cover history influences current AMF abundance in croplands and whether different land-cover histories in grazed but not cultivated areas influence AMF. This study was conducted to assess the effects of land-cover history in and near Serengeti National Park on AMF abundance in areas with three different land uses. The results showed that land-cover history influenced a number of soil physicochemical properties following conversion of grassland to cropland or woodland to cropland during the past 27 years. Different original land cover generally did not significantly influence current AMF abundance in croplands or livestock-grazed soils. However, livestock-grazed current grasslands that were formerly woodlands had lower AMF abundance than sites that had been grasslands since 1984. These results suggest that lower AMF abundance in livestock-grazed and cropland areas as compared to protected wildlife-grazed areas may reflect reduced total carbon inputs and higher disturbance and are not strongly influenced by the legacy of previous land cover. Given that recent studies have detected legacy effects on AMF, such effects may reflect more the impact on the taxonomic composition of AMF rather than their total abundance.

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“…Field-moist soil samples of both 0-10 and 10-20 cm depths were analyzed for soil microbial biomass N (MBN) by the chloroform fumigation extraction method, using purified CHCl 3 treatment followed by 0.5 M K 2 SO 4 extraction of fumigated and unfumigated soil (Singh and Singh, 1993). Soil MBN was calculated by subtracting the total N content of K 2 SO 4 extract of unfumigated soil from that of fumigated soil and diving the value obtained by a k N (fraction of biomass N extracted after fumigation) factor of 0.54 (Brookes et al, 1985).…”

Section: Determination Of Microbial Biomass Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The roots were oven-dried at 80 • C to constant weight. Belowground biomass was calculated as the sum of increments in the belowground biomass on successive sampling dates (Singh, 1993).…”

Section: Fine Root Biomass Estimationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of degradation on nitrogen transformation in a forest ecosystem of India

Singh

Tripathi

Singh

2006

Environ Monit Assess

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A study was performed selecting one protected forest and an adjacent degraded forest ecosystem to quantify the impact of forest degradation on soil inorganic nitrogen, fine root production, nitrification, N-mineralization and microbial biomass N. There were marked seasonal variations of all the parameters in the upper 0-10 and lower 10-20 cm depths. The seasonal trend of net nitrification and net N-mineralization was reverse of that for inorganic nitrogen and microbial biomass N. Net nitrification, net N-mineralization and fine root biomass values were highest in both forests during rainy season. On contrary, inorganic nitrogen and microbial biomass N were highest during summer season.There was a marked impact of forest degradation on inorganic nitrogen, fine root production nitrification, N-mineralization and microbial biomass observed. Soil properties also varied with soil depth. Fine root biomass, nitrification, N-mineralization and microbial biomass N decreased significantly in higher soil depth. Degradation causes decline in mean seasonal fine root biomass in upper layer and in lower depth by 37% and 27%, respectively. The mean seasonal net nitrification and N-mineralization in upper depth decreased by 42% and 37%, respectively and in lower depth by 42.21% and 39% respectively. Similarly microbial biomass N also decreased by 31.16% in upper layer 33.19% in lower layer.

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Effect of winter fire on primary productivity and nutrient concentration of a dry tropical savanna

Cited by 30 publications

References 45 publications

The effect of fire on habitat selection of mammalian herbivores: the role of body size and vegetation characteristics

The effect of fire on habitat selection of mammalian herbivores: the role of body size and vegetation characteristics

Land-Cover Legacy Effects on Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Abundance in Human and Wildlife Dominated Systems in Tropical Savanna

Impact of degradation on nitrogen transformation in a forest ecosystem of India

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