Fire Effects on Community Structure, Composition, and Diversity in a Dry Sandstone Barrens

Taft, John B.

doi:10.2307/3557552

Cited by 24 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…This is in agreement with other studies of fire in the eastern deciduous forest (DeSelm and Clebsch, 1991;Nuzzo et al, 1996;Arthur et al, 1998;Hutchinson and Sutherland, 2000;Taft, 2003). The contrast with frequent-fire communities of adjacent regions is instructive.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

“…were very abundant in experimental plots on ridges, reflecting both germination and resprouting following treatments. Strong germination and vigorous resprouting are consistent with responses to fire reported elsewhere (Elliott et al, 1999;Taft, 2003;Hutchinson et al, 2005), but graminoid frequencies in our study were not clearly separable among treatments, so we cannot generalize about this group.…”

Section: Life Histories Of Fire Responderssupporting

confidence: 88%

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Prescribed burning and understory composition in a temperate deciduous forest, Ohio, USA

Glasgow

Matlack

2007

Forest Ecology and Management

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Life Histories Of Fire Responderssupporting

confidence: 88%

Prescribed burning and understory composition in a temperate deciduous forest, Ohio, USA

Glasgow

Matlack

2007

Forest Ecology and Management

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“…One of them, poverty oatgrass, showed a strong positive cover response to increasing fire frequency. Research results concerning effects of fire on C3 graminoids are meager and highly specific; they showed fire can increase density but the effect depended on the season of the fire (Sparks et al 1998;Taft 2003). Lack of a benefit from fire among the C4 grasses contrasts sharply with studies in prairies where they show strong increases after fire apparently due to increased energy and nutrient availability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…But knowledge of how to use prescribed fire is lacking in many regions, and research is needed to learn how to use it effectively. Because redevelopment of fire practices in southeastern forests has been relatively recent, much of the research concerning effects of prescribed fire on forest vegetation has been relatively short-term (Taft 2003;Hutchinson et al 2005). In addition, much of the research has concerned fire use for improving regeneration of commercially important forest trees especially oak (Quercus sp.)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understory response to varying fire frequencies after 20 years of prescribed burning in an upland oak forest

et al. 2011

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Ecosystems in the eastern United States that were shaped by fire over thousands of years of anthropogenic burning recently have been subjected to fire suppression resulting in significant changes in vegetation composition and structure and encroachment by invasive species. Renewed interest in use of fire to manage such ecosystems will require knowledge of effects of fire regime on vegetation. We studied the effects of one aspect of the fire regime, fire frequency, on biomass, cover and diversity of understory vegetation in upland oak forests prescribeburned for 20 years at different frequencies ranging from zero to five fires per decade. Overstory canopy closure ranged from 88 to 96% and was not affected by fire frequency indicating high tolerance of large trees for even the most frequent burning. Understory species richness and cover was dominated by woody reproduction followed in descending order by forbs, C3 graminoids, C4 grasses, and legumes. Woody plant understory cover did not change with fire frequency and increased 30% from one to three years after a burn. Both forbs and C3 graminoids showed a linear increase in species richness and cover as fire frequency increased. In contrast, C4 grasses and legumes did not show a response to fire frequency. The reduction of litter by fire may have encouraged regeneration of herbaceous plants and helped explain the positive response of forbs and C3 graminoids to increasing fire frequency. Our results showed that herbaceous biomass, cover, and diversity can be managed with long-term prescribed fire under the closed canopy of upland oak forests.

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“…In their studies in Ohio, USA, Hutchinson et al (2005a) stated that fire led to an increase of herbaceous species diversity. Taft (2003), in his studies conducted in Southern Illinois, USA, stated that richness and diversity of understory species increased after fire.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of repeated fire on understory plant species diversity in Saravan forests, northern Iran

Daryayi¹,

Adel²,

Pashaki³

et al. 2013

Folia Forestalia Polonica, Seria a - Forestry

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Fire usually causes changes in the composition and diversity of herbaceous species. The present paper aimed to study the effect of repeated fire incidents on understory species diversity in the Saravan forests of Guilan Province located in the north of Iran. To do so, three 50-hectare areas with identical physiographical conditions and overstory (hand-planted softwood Pinus taeda) were selected. Seven fire incidences occurred for the 10-year period in one of the areas and the other area experienced three fire incidents within the same period. The area with no fire incidents was considered as the control area. All the fire incidents were surface ones. The systematic random method with a sample size 100 × 200 m was used for collecting data. Based on the above, 25 samples were determined in each area. The whole coverage of the understory was taken into consideration using Whittaker's method and the Domain criterion so as to calculate species diversity indices. The results showed that Shannon-Wiener diversity and Menhinick's richness in the regions which experienced 3 and 7 fire incidents were maximum and minimum, respectively, whereas no significant difference was seen between the regions with regard to Smith and Wilson's evenness index.

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Fire Effects on Community Structure, Composition, and Diversity in a Dry Sandstone Barrens

Cited by 24 publications

References 23 publications

Prescribed burning and understory composition in a temperate deciduous forest, Ohio, USA

Prescribed burning and understory composition in a temperate deciduous forest, Ohio, USA

Understory response to varying fire frequencies after 20 years of prescribed burning in an upland oak forest

Effect of repeated fire on understory plant species diversity in Saravan forests, northern Iran

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