Escaping the fire trap: Does frequent, landscape-scale burning inhibit tree recruitment in a temperate broadleaf ecosystem?

Knapp, Benjamin O.; Maginel, Calvin J.; Graham, Bradley D.; Kabrick, John M.; Dey, Daniel C.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120191

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 70 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, only a few of the analyzed studies had more than two fires and durations of >10 years. Research on the reintroduction of a periodic fire regime at a management scale (i.e., stand to landscape) for longer periods (20+ years) is mostly lacking (but see Knapp et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Hutchinson,

Adams,

Dickinson

et al. 2024

Ecological Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Hutchinson,

Adams,

Dickinson

et al. 2024

Ecological Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Managing forward while looking back: reopening closed forests to open woodlands and savannas

Pile Knapp,

Dey,

Stambaugh

et al. 2024

fire ecol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Ecosystem management, community restoration, and managing for climate resilience have become major priorities of land management in recent decades. For woodlands and savannas (i.e., “open forests”), this transition has meant moving fire-deprived, closed-canopy forests to structures and compositions characteristic of natural communities that are rare today: open-grown, wide-spreading trees, and endemic flora and fauna associated with frequent, low to moderate intensity fires. Open forest restoration is complex; its approach and operational prescriptions are dependent on a multitude of factors. Reopening forests to achieve ecological objectives associated with open forests is hampered by site histories, novel species compositions, and structures that resist fire. Results Fire histories shed light on fire regimes that promote open forests, informing prescriptions at stand and landscape levels, but due to many social and environmental factors, managers are challenged to recreate those fire regimes. As fire was removed from these ecosystems, successional processes led to changes in species compositions concomitant with changes in woody structure and fuel complexes further inhibiting restoration without active management. As active management aims to transition residing fine fuels from mesophytic hardwood-shrub litter to herbaceous dominant fuels with canopy openness, fire effects, and prescriptions also change. Silvicultural prescriptions have been developed to aid in the process of transition but maintaining mature, continuous canopy open forests through the regeneration and recruitment phase of predominantly shade intolerant of oaks and pines remains speculative. Further, as a legacy of woody densification, contemporary fire practices may result in undesirable increases in sprouting woody species impacting objectives for herbaceous cover and diversity. Invasive plants and depauperate seed banks may further limit successful outcomes. Conclusions Even with these formidable challenges, transitioning closed forests to open structures and compositions is critically important for wildlife that depend on them, especially at the size, scale, and connectivity necessary to sustain their populations. Many birds and pollinators of conservation concern require open forests and early successional forests may not serve as surrogates for mature, open forest habitat. In this review, we outline the advances, challenges, and importance for reopening closed canopied forests to open forests in the central and midsouth, USA. Further, we set the stage for new approaches and learned outcomes from the papers of the 7th Fire in Eastern Oak Forests Conference in Tyler, TX, included in this special collection of Fire Ecology.

show abstract

Escaping the fire trap: Does frequent, landscape-scale burning inhibit tree recruitment in a temperate broadleaf ecosystem?

Cited by 2 publications

References 70 publications

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

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

Managing forward while looking back: reopening closed forests to open woodlands and savannas

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About