Foliar nitrogen content and tree growth after prescribed fire in ponderosa pine /

Abstract

This initial study of prescribed burning in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) stands in central Oregon showed that all periodic annual growth increments were reduced for trees alive four growing seasons later. Height growth was reduced 8 percent in areas burned by fires with moderate fuel consumption and 18 percent in areas with high fuel consumption. Basal area growth was reduced 16 percent in the moderate fuel consumption areas and 28 percent in the high fuel consumption areas; volume growth declined 23 percent at both levels of fuel consumption.Foliar nitrogen (N) concentration was not affected by the prescribed fires; however, total foliar N content was reduced immediately after burning, and it remained depressed four growing seasons later after the burned areas had recovered from crown scorch. Foliar N content was significantly correlated with the observed reductions in periodic annual increments. Prescribed fire needs additional evaluation for a longer period and in additional ponderosa pine communities to determine long-term effects.

Prescribed burning and productivity in southern pine forests: a review

“…Peterson et al (1994) reported that a fire interval of 4-6 years provided adequate fuel reduction in ponderosa pine stands, but growth remained unaffected. Other authors have reported that repeated burning reduced growth of ponderosa pine (Landsberg et al, 1984;Cochran and Hopkins, 1991;Busse et al, 2000). Feeney et al (1998) found that fire increased oleoresin flow and suggested that the use of prescribed fire could increase the resistance of ponderosa pine to bark beetle attack.…”

History of fire and Douglas-fir establishment in a savanna and sagebrush–grassland mosaic, southwestern Montana, USA

“…We sanded the scarred sections until the cell structure was visible with a binocular microscope and assigned calendar years to tree rings using a combination of visual crossdating of ring widths and cross-correlation of measured ring-width series (Holmes, 1983;Grissino-Mayer, 2003). In addition to fire scars, we obtained a small amount of supporting evidence of surface fires (12% of fire dates at plots) from abrupt changes in the width of annual rings (Landsberg et al, 1984;Sutherland et al, 1991). However, because factors other than surface fires can cause abrupt changes in cambial growth, we used such a change in a given sample as evidence of a surface fire only when it was synchronous with a fire scar in other samples.…”

Oleoresin flow and chemical composition of Corsican pine (Pinus nigra subsp. laricio) in response to prescribed burnings

“…growth, primary and secondary metabolites, insect activity; Landsberg et al, 1984;Sutherland et al, 1991;Santoro et al, 2001;Perrakis and Agee, 2006;Breece et al, 2008). The effects of prescribed burning on P. laricio have previously been studied by means of physiological parameters such as phenolic compounds (Cannac et al, 2007a,b).…”