A Meta-Analysis of the Fire-Oak Hypothesis: Does Prescribed Burning Promote Oak Reproduction in Eastern North America?

Brose, Patrick H.; Dey, Daniel C.; Phillips, Ross J.; Waldrop, Thomas A.

doi:10.5849/forsci.12-039

Cited by 155 publications

(131 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Fires that precede an acorn crop by a few months to a year can promote oak seedling establishment (Arthur et al 2012, Brose et al 2013b, Wang et al 2005. Possible mechanisms for this promotion include:…”

Section: Acornsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Complete results of the meta-analysis are available in Brose et al (2013b) and are summarized below.…”

Section: Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…by causing stem dieback and formation of sprout clumps (Henning and Dickmann 1996, Paulsell 1957, Thor and Nichols 1973, Van Lear and Waldrop 1991, Waldrop et al 1992. Repeated low-intensity burning or a single hot growing season fire can increase the amount of basal area reduction (Brose et al 2013b, Fan et al 2012, Hutchinson et al 2005b). Furthermore, sprouts from former saplings are more susceptible to shoot dieback or mortality from additional fires because the stems are smaller in diameter.…”

Section: Saplingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…are ≤4 inches. (Brose et al 2013b, Dey and Hartman 2005, Hutchinson et al 2005b). Trees larger than this d.b.h.…”

Section: Saplingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the process of periodic burning, oak reproduction is favored (Brose et al 2013b). Dey and Hartman (2005) and Fan et al (2012) observed differences among species under frequent to annual burns for a decade and reported that oaks and hickories were superior in persistence compared to most of their competitors.…”

Section: Saplingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The fireoak literature of eastern North America: synthesis and guidelines

Brose¹,

Dey²,

Waldrop³

2014

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Guidelines for using prescribed fire to regenerate and restore upland oak forests, woodlands, and savannas in eastern North America were developed by synthesizing the results of more than 100 scientific publications. The first four chapters provide background information on the values of oak ecosystems, eastern fire history, oak's adaptations to fire, and the findings of fire-oak research conducted over the past 50 years. The final chapter synthesizes that background information into guidelines that explain how to use prescribed fire to facilitate oak seedling establishment, release oak reproduction from competing mesophytic hardwoods, and rehabilitate open oak woodlands, oak savannas, and scrub oak communities. A reference section is also provided for readers desiring to delve more deeply into the associations between periodic fire and oak forests, woodlands, and savannas.

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Section: Acornsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Complete results of the meta-analysis are available in Brose et al (2013b) and are summarized below.…”

Section: Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Saplingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…are ≤4 inches. (Brose et al 2013b, Dey and Hartman 2005, Hutchinson et al 2005b). Trees larger than this d.b.h.…”

Section: Saplingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Saplingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The fireoak literature of eastern North America: synthesis and guidelines

Brose¹,

Dey²,

Waldrop³

2014

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Prescribed fire and partial overstory removal alter an acorn–rodent conditional mutualism

Greenler

Estrada

Kellner

et al. 2019

Ecological Applications

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In eastern North America, oak (Quercus) regeneration failure has spurred management using silvicultural approaches better aligned with the autecology of oaks. In particular, shelterwood harvests can create favorable intermediate light conditions for oak establishment and prescribed fire is predicted (by the oak–fire hypothesis) to favor oak regeneration. These approaches substantially modify forest structure and may affect crucial trophic interactions including the conditional mutualism between oaks and granivorous rodents that scatterhoard acorns, which shifts along a continuum from antagonistic to mutualistic depending on external factors. We investigated how overwinter survival and dispersal of northern red oak (Quercus rubra) acorns were influenced by location within or outside of group shelterwood harvests (small canopy gaps created throughout an intact forest stand) with and without prescribed fire. We conducted two concurrent experiments to test (1) dispersal and survival of acorns presented on the forest floor and (2) acorn pilferage rates from caches that mimic squirrel scatterhoards in shelterwood gap/group interiors, edges, and the uncut forest matrix in burned and unburned forest stands. In both experiments, acorn survival was generally higher in burned than unburned stands. Acorn survival from forest floor presentations was higher in the unharvested forest matrix than harvest gap interiors; however, there was no effect of proximity to harvest gaps on survival of cached acorns. Survival of cached acorns was associated with understory vegetative cover (−), coarse woody debris cover (−), and distance to nearest tree (+), but uncorrelated with canopy cover above the cache. Our results suggest that reduced understory cover following prescribed fire may increase perceived habitat riskiness for granivores resulting in higher acorn survival up to 2 yr post‐fire. These findings unify the oak–fire and oak–granivore conditional mutualism hypotheses, and suggest that the environmental conditions following prescribed fire and group shelterwood harvests may shift the oak–granivore conditional mutualism in a direction beneficial for oak regeneration.

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Sustaining eastern oak forests: Synergistic effects of fire and topography on vegetation and fuels

Hutchinson,

Adams,

Dickinson

et al. 2024

Ecological Applications

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Across much of the eastern United States, oak forests are undergoing mesophication as shade‐tolerant competitors become more abundant and suppress oak regeneration. Given the historical role of anthropogenic surface fires in promoting oak dominance, prescribed fire has become important in efforts to reverse mesophication and sustain oaks. In 2000 we established the Ohio Hills Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) study to examine whether repeated prescribed fire (Fire), mechanical partial harvest (Mech), and their combined application (Mech + Fire) reduced the dominance of subcanopy mesophytic competitors, increased the abundance of large oak–hickory advance regeneration, created a more diverse and productive ground‐layer flora, and produced fuel beds more conducive to prescribed fire, reducing the risk of high‐severity wildfire. Here we report on the ~20‐year effects of treatments on vegetation and fuels and examine the support for interactive effects across a topographic‐moisture and energy gradient. In general, we found that Fire and Mech + Fire treatments tended to reverse mesophication while the Mech‐only treatment did not. The moderate and occasionally high‐intensity fires resulted in effects that were ultimately very similar between the two fire treatments but were modulated by topography with increasing fire severity on drier sites. In particular, we found support for an interaction effect between treatment and topography on forest structure and tree regeneration responses. Fire generally reduced mesophytic tree density in the midstory and sapling strata across all site conditions, while leading to substantial gains in the abundance of large oak–hickory advance regeneration on dry and intermediate landscape positions. Fire also promoted ground‐layer diversity and created compositionally distinct communities across all site conditions, primarily through the increased richness of native perennial herbs. However, the fire had limited effects on fine surface fuel loading and increased the loading of large woody fuels, potentially increasing the risk of high‐severity wildfire during drought conditions. We conclude that two decades of repeated fires, with and without mechanical density reduction, significantly shifted the trajectory of mesophication across most of the landscape, particularly on dry and intermediate sites, highlighting the capacity of a periodic fire regime to sustain eastern oak forests and promote plant diversity but modulated by topography.

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A Meta-Analysis of the Fire-Oak Hypothesis: Does Prescribed Burning Promote Oak Reproduction in Eastern North America?

Cited by 155 publications

References 55 publications

The fireoak literature of eastern North America: synthesis and guidelines

The fireoak literature of eastern North America: synthesis and guidelines

Prescribed fire and partial overstory removal alter an acorn–rodent conditional mutualism

Sustaining eastern oak forests: Synergistic effects of fire and topography on vegetation and fuels

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A Meta-Analysis of the Fire-Oak Hypothesis: Does Prescribed Burning Promote Oak Reproduction in Eastern North America?

Cited by 155 publications

References 55 publications

The fire&#151;oak literature of eastern North America: synthesis and guidelines

The fire&#151;oak literature of eastern North America: synthesis and guidelines

Prescribed fire and partial overstory removal alter an acorn–rodent conditional mutualism

Sustaining eastern oak forests: Synergistic effects of fire and topography on vegetation and fuels

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The fireoak literature of eastern North America: synthesis and guidelines

The fireoak literature of eastern North America: synthesis and guidelines