Short-Term Control of an Invasive C4 Grass With Late-Summer Fire

Effects of prescribed fire timing on grazing performance of yearling beef cattle, forage biomass accumulation, and plant community characteristics on native tallgrass prairie in the Kansas Flint Hills

“…In addition, prescribed fire applied in September or October was the only treatment that reduced woody plant cover when compared with fire applied at other times of year. Alexander et al (2021) and Reemts et al (2019) reported decreases in sericea lespedeza basal cover and yellow bluestem cover, respectively, when late summer (i.e., August or September) prescribed fire was applied compared with spring prescribed fire or nonburned treatments. In addition, Alexander and coworkers (2021) observed an increase in overall plant species richness and forb diversity in nongrazed plots when August or September prescribed fire was applied compared with April prescribed fire.…”

“…Recent research indicated mid- or late-summer prescribed fire reduced sericea lespedeza and yellow bluestem ( Bothriochloa ischaemum ) basal frequencies, and subsequently increased native plant richness and forb diversity compared with spring prescribed fire or prescribed fire exclusion in nongrazed tallgrass prairie ecosystems ( Reemts et al, 2019 ; Alexander et al, 2021 ). No differences in graminoid biomass were observed between nongrazed pastures burned in autumn (November), winter (February), or spring (April) over a 20-yr period ( Towne and Craine, 2014 ).…”

Season of prescribed fire determines grassland restoration outcomes after fire exclusion and overgrazing

“…Thus, B. ischaemum, like other invasive fire-adapted C 4 grasses (e.g., Reed et al 2005), poses a major challenge to the use of prescribed fire to restore communities of firedependent native grasses and forbs (Buisson et al 2019). Previous short-term studies showed that a single late summer fire (September and October) could reduce B. ischaemum by 10-88% (Simmons et al 2007, Reemts et al 2019). Menke and Trlica (1981) and Ruckman et al (2012) proposed that summer burns decrease B. ischaemum populations because fires occur at a time when belowground carbohydrate stores are low and aboveground biomass investment is high (i.e., during periods of flowering).…”

“…Because of its high tolerance to grazing and resistance to drought, this perennial C 4 bunchgrass, native to temperate and subtropical Eurasia, was introduced in the early 1900s to serve as livestock forage (Wied et al 2020). Whereas prescribed fires in the winter promote B. ischaemum invasion (Gabbard andFowler 2007, Havill et al 2015), short-term studies suggest that summer fires can reduce B. ischaemum abundance (Simmons et al 2007, Reemts et al 2019. In light of the phenological and evolutionary importance of season of fire (Miller et al 2019), we anticipate that long-term application of prescribed fire in the warm season, when B. ischaemum is in a fire-sensitive phenological stage (Ruckman et al 2012), will control this invasive grass during restoration.…”

Can prescribed fires restore C4grasslands invaded by a C3woody species and a co‐dominant C3grass species?

“…Our findings that the repeated-summer transition fire treatment reduced Texas wintergrass biomass at 8-13 yr post-fire, and percent of TPG cover at 7-11 yr post-fire compared with the control are novel results. No previous studies have v www.esajournals.org found that fire in any season causes a long-term reduction in Texas wintergrass production or cover (Whisenant et al 1984, Engle et al 1998, Ansley and Castellano 2007, Reemts et al 2019. The reason why the repeated-summer transition fire treatment was more effective than the other transition fire treatments in reducing Texas wintergrass biomass and cover is not clear.…”