Fire Intensity Effects on the Understory in Ponderosa Pine Forests

Armour, Charles D.; Bunting, Stephen C.; Neuenschwander, Leon F.

doi:10.2307/3898822

Cited by 59 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In P. ponderosa Dougl. (ponderosa pine) forest perennial grass cover decreased and invasive species increased as fire intensity and litter consumption increased (Armour et al 1984;Griffis et al 2001;Bataineh et al 2006;Sabo et al 2009). …”

Section: Herbaceous and Ground Cover Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

Sagebrush steppe recovery after fire varies by development phase of Juniperus occidentalis woodland

Bates

Sharp

Davies

2014

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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Abstract. Woodland ecosystems of the world have been changed by land use demands, altered fire regimes, invasive species and climate change. Reduced fire frequency is recognised as a main causative agent for Pinus-Juniperus L.(piñon-juniper) expansion in North American woodlands. Piñon-juniper control measures, including prescribed fire, are increasingly employed to restore sagebrush steppe communities. We compared vegetation recovery following prescribed fire on Phase 2 (mid-succession) and Phase 3 (late-succession) Juniperus occidentalis Hook. (western juniper) woodlands in Oregon. The herbaceous layer on Phase 2 sites was comprised of native perennial and annual vegetation before and after fire. On Phase 3 sites the herbaceous layer shifted from native species to dominance by invasive Bromus tectorum L. (cheatgrass). After fire, shrubs on Phase 2 sites were comprised of sprouting species and Ceanothus velutinus Dougl. (snowbrush). On Phase 3 woodland sites the shrub layer was dominated by C. velutinus. The results suggest that Phase 2 sites have a greater likelihood of recovery to native vegetation after fire and indicate that sites transitioning from Phase 2 to Phase 3 woodlands cross a recovery threshold where there is a greater potential for invasive weeds, rather than native vegetation, to dominate after fire.

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Section: Herbaceous and Ground Cover Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

Sagebrush steppe recovery after fire varies by development phase of Juniperus occidentalis woodland

Bates

Sharp

Davies

2014

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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“…Rowe (1983) reported that DOB, rather than intensity, is useful in measuring plant responses following fire. Reports by Armour et al (1984) and Bidwell et al (1992) also indicated that understory vegetation response is coupled to DOB, not to fire intensity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil chemical changes and plant succession following experimental burning in immature jack pine

Lynham¹,

Wickware²,

Mason³

1998

Can. J. Soil. Sci.

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Lynham, T. J., Wickware, G. M. and Mason, J. A. 1998. Soil chemical changes and plant succession following experimental burning in immature jack pine. Can. J. Soil Sci. 78: 93-104. In 1975 and 1976, an experimental burning program was conducted in an immature stand of boreal jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) growing on level, granitic outwash sands in northern Ontario. Nine 0.4-ha plots were burned under a range of fire weather conditions and sampling was conducted to examine the effect of fire on soil chemical changes and revegetation. Results indicated that depth of burn (DOB) affected both soil chemical changes and plant succession on these pine sites. Vaccinium angustifolium Ait., Oryzopsis spp,. Waldsteinia fragarioides (Michx.) Tratt, Salix spp. and Viola adunca Sm. increased in cover at two levels of DOB but the increase was greatest at the lower DOB and decreased to pre-burn levels after 10 yr. Comptonia peregrina (L.) Coult., Epilobium angustifolium L., Polytrichum commune Hedw. and Amelanchier sanguinea (Pursh) DC. were not found in the pre-burn surveys but appeared after burning. Vegetation cover for these species was always higher at the deeper DOB but decreased almost to zero after 10 yr. Other species such as Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt., Linnaea borealis L., Corylus cornuta Marsh., Cladina rangiferina (L.) Nyl. and Aralia nudicaulis L. were eliminated from the site and did not recover even after 10 yr. Soil pH increased 0.3 to 1.0 pH units in the organic and mineral soil layers. The rate of increase in pH was always steeper at the higher DOB and pH returned to pre-burn levels in the mineral soil layers after 10 yr. Immediately after burning, exchangeable Ca in the mineral soil layers doubled but 10 yr later, Ca returned to preburn levels. Phosphorus and K increased in the mineral soil, leveled off and were still elevated after 10 yr. Total Kjeldahl N was reduced by 50% in the organic soil while N in all mineral soils increased, and was still increasing after 10 yr. Except for immediate post-fire increases in pH, Ca and N, soil chemical changes were small or they rebounded to pre-burn levels 10 yr after burning. Therefore it is unlikely that these changes were the cause of the plant cover changes that persisted to 10 yr. ) établi sur des sables de délavage granitiques dans le nord de l'Ontario. Neuf placettes de 0,4 ha étaient brûlées dans diverses conditions météorologiques propices aux feux de forêt, après quoi des prélèvements étaient faits pour examiner l'effet du feu sur les modifications chimiques du sol et sur la reprise de la végétation. La profondeur de brûlage (PDB) influait à la fois sur les modifications chimiques du sol et sur les successions floristiques. La couverture du sol fournie par Vaccinium angustifolium Ait., Oryzopsis spp. Waldsteinia fragarioides (Michx.) Tratt, Salix spp. et Viola adunca Sm augmentait aux 2 profondeurs de brûlage, surtout à la profondeur inférieure puis revenait au niveau d'avant le brûlage au bout de 10 ans. Certaines espèces nouvelles comme Comptoni...

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“…In high-intensity sites, there is maximum loss of ground vegetation (Armour et al 1984), however luxuriant growth of shrubs occurs in medium and lowintensity sites (Fire Science brief 2009). Among the three burned sites of the present study similar results has been observed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After visiting the surface burned affected forest, three sites were classified on the basis of frequency (fire event within a time period) and intensity (fire severity) of surface fire and one site as a control. The sites were categorized as high frequency and high intensity site (HFHI), high frequency and moderate intensity site (HFMI), high frequency and low intensity site (HFLI), and a control (unburned) site, after collecting the basic data of height of ground vegetation (Armour et al 1984), charcoal accumulation on ground (Turcios et al 2016), needle accumulations, fired level on tree trunks of Pine and other species (Fire Science Brief 2009), presence of olive trees (James et al 1985), coverage of bare land, number of burned species etc. The criterion has been summarized as below: a) High frequency and high intensity (HFHI) site: Characterized by low canopy coverage (22%) of ground vegetation (Fig.…”

Section: Site Selection Criterionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon sequestration and CO2 mitigation in a burned ecosystem of Pinus roxburghii forest in Langtang National Park, Nepal

Aryal¹,

Bhattarai²,

Pandey³

et al. 2017

Trop. Plant Res.

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Carbon (C) sequestration plays a significant role in mitigation and adaptation to the impacts of the climate change. By contrast, fire is one of the factors that can alter the carbon cycles. Extensive fire destroyed the whole forest severely and affects C sequestration. However, the impact of the surface fire has been least studied. To test the impact of surface fire on C sequestration of Pinus roxburghii forest, we measured total carbon stock of unburned (CON) and burned sites of different intensities namely: high frequency and high intensity (HFHI), high frequency and moderate intensity (HFMI), high frequency and low intensity (HFLI), in Langtang National Park, Nepal. Total tree carbon stock (above ground + below ground) was analyzed by calculating the biomass. Coverage of ground vegetation (%) was analyzed by visual estimation. The total carbon stock between the species was highly significant (P=0.00) and the highest carbon stock value was recorded in P. roxburghii species in all sites. Similarly, total CO 2 mitigation in all four sites according to higher to lower values were 3346.27, 3345.16, 2484.14 and 2037.95 t.ha -1 in HFMI, HFHI, HFLI and CON, respectively. The high amounts of CO 2 mitigate by HFHI and HFMI sites strongly support that forest fire limited to the surface may have a positive impact. High ground vegetation in HFMI site also suggested that the fire of medium intensity mitigate CO 2 and maintains the diversity of ground vegetation as well.

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Fire Intensity Effects on the Understory in Ponderosa Pine Forests

Cited by 59 publications

References 9 publications

Sagebrush steppe recovery after fire varies by development phase of Juniperus occidentalis woodland

Sagebrush steppe recovery after fire varies by development phase of Juniperus occidentalis woodland

Soil chemical changes and plant succession following experimental burning in immature jack pine

Carbon sequestration and CO2 mitigation in a burned ecosystem of Pinus roxburghii forest in Langtang National Park, Nepal

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