Changes in vegetation structure and composition in response to fuel reduction treatments in the South Carolina Piedmont

Phillips, Ross J.; Waldrop, Thomas A.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2007.09.037

Cited by 39 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Stand thinning was found to enhance the effects of prescribed fire when the goal was to establish an earlier successional stage in pine-hardwood and pine stands (Masters et al 1993;Phillips and Waldrop 2008). Harvesting or thinning of overstory trees can be very costly (Laughlin et al 2008) and may conflict with societal values such as preservation of old-growth forests.…”

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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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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“…In general, low-intensity fires do not have a great impact on the forest structure on a large scale, as they do not signif icantly reduce coarse decayed wood amounts (Stephens and Moghaddas, 2005) , tree or shrub cover (Phillips and Waldrop, 2008) . However, low-intensity fire has smaller scale impacts on environmental variables that could have important effects on the invertebrate community.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Prescribed burns are one of the alternative forest management methods to be applied and are relatively new in the Canary Islands and some other areas of Spain. Low-intensity prescribed fires can be useful in some ecosystems to reduce fuel loads by decreasing low vegetation and small decayed wood (Phillips and Waldrop, 2008;Youngblood et al, 2008) without negative effects on soil conditions (Úbeda et al, 2005). However, there is no consensus about the effects of prescribed fire on the vegetation in Spain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term effects of low-intensity prescribed fire on ground-dwelling invertebrates in a Canarian pine forest

García-Domínguez¹,

Arévalo²,

Calvo³

2010

For. syst.

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The effects of prescribed fire on the forest upper ground layer can have consequences for invertebrate communities. In the Canary Islands, prescribed fire is starting to be used as a tool to reduce wildfire risk, but the impacts of this management practice on the Canarian pine forest have not been investigated. The aim of this study is to explore the short-term effects of prescribed burning on the most abundant groups of ground-dwelling invertebrates. Three of six plots were randomly burnt and the other three were used as controls. Pitfall trapping was used to collect the grounddwelling invertebrates four months after burning. No differences were found in total richness, diversity, evenness and total abundance between treatments. Only Psocopteran abundance increased after fire. Litter depth, total vegetation cover and decayed wood cover were different between treatments. Canonical Correspondence Analyses (CCA) revealed differences in species composition between treatments using these environmental variables. It is concluded that the use of low-intensity prescribed burning in this stand did not have an important impact on the structural parameters of the ground-dwelling invertebrate community, but species composition changed. Care shoud be taken with valuable endemic, rare or sensible species.Key words: prescribed burning, invertebrate community, pine forest, Pinus canariensis, fire, soil ecology. ResumenEfectos a corto plazo de una quema prescrita de baja intensidad sobre los invertebrados epiedáficos de un pinar canario Los efectos del fuego prescrito sobre la capa superficial del suelo pueden tener consecuencias para las comunidades de invertebrados. Las quemas prescritas se están empezando a aplicar en las Islas Canarias como una herramienta para reducir el riesgo de incendios forestales, pero el impacto ecológico de estas prácticas aún no ha sido estudiado en el pinar canario. El objetivo de este trabajo es explorar los efectos a corto plazo de las quemas prescritas sobre los grupos más abundantes de invertebrados epiedáficos. Se establecieron seis parcelas, de las que tres fueron quemadas al azar y las otras tres se usaron como controles. Los muestreos de invertebrados se realizaron cuatro meses después de la quema mediante trampas de caída. No se encontraron diferencias entre tratamientos en riqueza, diversidad, equitatividad y abundancia total de invertebrados. En cuanto a los grupos, Psocoptera fue el único que incrementó su abundancia tras el fuego. Se encontraron diferencias significativas entre tratamientos en profundidad de mantillo, cobertura total de vegetación y cobertura de madera muerta en descomposición. Dichas variables se incluyeron en un Análisis Canónico de Correspondencia (CCA) revelando diferencias entre tratamientos en composición de especies. Se concluyó que, aunque las quemas prescritas no tienen un impacto notable sobre los parámetros estructurales de la comunidad de invertebrados, sí provocan cambios en la composición de especies, que deben ser valorados en presencia de espec...

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“…According to Mexican statistics, the number of fires is increasing, only until September 2013, about 415,000 ha have been affected, recording more than 10,000 fires distributed across the country (Comisión Nacional Forestal [CONAFOR], 2013). However, in ecosystems such as coniferous forests, the presence and the severity with which a fire develops help to maintain or eliminate the growth dynamics of the species, change its composition, diversify the dimensional structure and create a patchwork of age (Collins, Everett, & Stephens, 2011;Omi, 2005;Phillips & Waldrop, 2008;Pomerenning, 2006) not only at the stand level but also landscape level (Alanís et al, 2010;Bekker & Taylor, 2010;Gill, Woinarski, & York, 1999;González, Szejner, Muñoz, & Silva, 2011). Thus, after a fire, forests experience immediate changes in tree distribution patterns (Beaty & Taylor, 2008;Lecomte, Simard & Bergeron, 2006;Li-Juan & Jian-Ping, 2003;Stephens & Fry, 2005;Taylor, 2010) and the variation of characteristics of forest structure (Ávila et al, 2012;Yu, Wiegand, & Yang, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…De acuerdo con las estadísticas nacionales, la cantidad de incendios va en aumento; tan sólo hasta el mes de septiembre de 2013, cerca de 415,000 ha se han visto afectadas registrándose más de 10,000 incendios distribuidos en todo el país (Comisión Nacional Forestal [CONAFOR], 2013). Sin embargo, en ecosistemas como los bosques de coníferas, la presencia y la severidad con que un incendio se desarrolla contribuyen a mantener o eliminar la dinámica de crecimiento de las especies, modificar su composición, diversificar la estructura de dimensiones y crear un mosaico heterogéneo de edades (Collins, Everett, & Stephens, 2011;Omi, 2005;Phillips & Waldrop, 2008;Pomerenning, 2006) no sólo a escala de rodal sino también de paisaje (Alanís et al, 2010;Bekker & Taylor, 2010;Gill, Woinarski, & York, 1999;González, Szejner, Muñoz, & Silva, 2011). De esta forma, después de un incendio, los bosques experimentan cambios inmediatos en los patrones de distribución del arbolado (Beaty & Taylor, 2008;Lecomte, Simard & Bergeron, 2006;Li-Juan & Jian-Ping, 2003;Stephens & Fry, 2005;Taylor, 2010) y en la variación de características de la estructura forestal (Ávila et al, 2012;Yu, Wiegand, & Yang, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Efecto De La Severidad Del Fuego en Las Características De La Estructura Forestal en Rodales De Coníferas

Ávila-Flores¹,

Tagle²,

Jiménez-Pérez³

et al. 2014

Rev Cha Se Cie For y del Amb

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RESUMENE l objetivo del presente trabajo fue realizar un análisis exploratorio de la distribución espacial del arbolado en rodales mixtos de coníferas de la Sierra Madre Oriental, afectados por un incendio en el verano de 1998, con el fin de conocer el grado en que la severidad de un incendio modifica las características estructurales de los mismos. El área seleccionada comprendió tres rodales mixtos de coníferas con tres grados de severidad de incendio (bajo, medio y alto). Los patrones de distribución espacial del arbolado se analizaron a través de la función K de Ripley. Asimismo, se analizó la interacción espacial de los árboles en relación con sus dimensiones y especies mediante una función de correlación de marca k mm (r). Se observó que conforme la severidad del incendio aumenta, la distribución espacial del arbolado tiende a la agregación y a la formación de rodales dimensionalmente heterogéneos, mientras que la composición de especies no fue afectada. El fuego influyó en estos bosques como un promotor de la diversidad dimensional, a pesar de que la mezcla espacial de especies tuvo una tendencia a la homogeneidad. ABSTRACT

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Changes in vegetation structure and composition in response to fuel reduction treatments in the South Carolina Piedmont

Cited by 39 publications

References 17 publications

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

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

Short-term effects of low-intensity prescribed fire on ground-dwelling invertebrates in a Canarian pine forest

Efecto De La Severidad Del Fuego en Las Características De La Estructura Forestal en Rodales De Coníferas

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