Evaluation of Eastern Redcedar Infestations in the Northern Kansas Flint Hills

Owensby, Clenton E.; Blan, Kenneth R.; Eaton, B. J.; Russ, O. G.

doi:10.2307/3896570

Cited by 47 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Given the large number of J. virginiana in the sapling size class, these values are in the process of increasing further. Height and dbh growth rates of J. virginiana from our study were similar to another report of J. virginiana growing in a forest [28], but 20% less in height growth rate and 56% less in diameter growth rate than those reported for J. virginiana in prairie environments [18]. The relatively slow growth of J. virginiana growing in the forest interior indicates that it would take approximately 12 years to reach 2 m tall at which time they are more difficult to kill with prescribed fire.…”

supporting

confidence: 90%

Encroachment Dynamics of Juniperus virginiana L. and Mesic Hardwood Species into Cross Timbers Forests of North-Central Oklahoma, USA

Hoff

Will

Zou

et al. 2018

Forests

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Cross Timbers forests, typically dominated by Quercus stellata Wangenh. and Q. marilandica Muenchh., are the transition zone between eastern deciduous forest and prairie in the southern Great Plains. Fire exclusion beginning in the mid-1900s has led to increasing stand density and encroachment of fire-intolerant Juniperus virginiana L. and mesic hardwood. We measured current forest structure and tree ages of 25 stands (130 plots) in north-central Oklahoma to characterize the extent and dynamics of encroachment. The respective basal area and stand density of the overstory (diameter at breast height; dbh > 10 cm) were 19.0 m 2 ha −1 and 407 trees ha −1 with Q. stellata comprising 43% of basal area and 42% of stand density. Quercus marilandica represented only 3% of basal area and 4% of overstory density. Juniperus virginiana represented 7% of basal area and 14% of stand density while mesic hardwoods, e.g., Celtis spp., Ulmus spp., Carya spp., 33% of basal area and stand density. The sapling layer was dominated by mesic hardwoods (68%) and J. virginiana (25%) while the seedling layer was dominated by mesic hardwoods (74%). The majority of Quercus recruited into the overstory between 1910-1970, while recruitment of J. virginiana and mesic hardwoods began more recently (post 1950s). Growth rate, based on the relationship between age and dbh, was faster for mesic hardwoods than for J. virginiana and Q. stellata. These results indicate that removal of recurrent surface fire as a disturbance agent has significantly altered forest composition in the Cross Timbers region by allowing encroachment of J. virginiana and fire-intolerant, mesic hardwoods. This increases wildfire risk because J. virginiana is very flammable and will alter how these forests respond to future drought and other disturbance events.

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supporting

confidence: 90%

Encroachment Dynamics of Juniperus virginiana L. and Mesic Hardwood Species into Cross Timbers Forests of North-Central Oklahoma, USA

Hoff

Will

Zou

et al. 2018

Forests

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“…Cattle production has been a major industry since Euro-American settlement beginning in the late 1800s. Grazing was found to reduce J. virginiana encroachment in grasslands (Owensby et al, 1973). However, due to the reduction in fuel caused by grazing, the combination of fire and grazing was not as effective as fire alone at reducing J. virginiana (Schmidt and Stubbendieck, 1993;Briggs et al, 2002b).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Drought and fire suppression lead to rapid forest composition change in a forest-prairie ecotone

DeSantis

Hallgren

Stahle

2011

Forest Ecology and Management

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“…These results were only partially supported by our findings, because biomass production in such treatments was similar to control treatments, suggesting little or no effect of grazing and conspecifics on tree performance compared to control treatments. Historically, heavy grazing has been correlated with higher establishment of J. virginiana and other woody range expanders in grasslands, prairies, and savannas (Owensby et al 1973, Briggs et al 2002a, DeSantis et al 2011, Ward et al 2014. A possible explanation is the protection from frost offered by the conspecifics planted around the target.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil properties and climate mediate the effects of biotic interactions on the performance of a woody range expander

Tomiolo

Ward

2018

Ecosphere

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Citation: Tomiolo, S., and D. Ward. 2018. Soil properties and climate mediate the effects of biotic interactions on the performance of a woody range expander. Ecosphere 9(4):Abstract. Expansion of trees into grasslands and old fields is a complex process that leads to a decline of biodiversity and reduces rangeland availability. Climate and land-use change contribute to accelerated rates of range expansion. However, the role of biotic interactions in promoting or hindering woody range expanders is still unclear. We investigated the combined effects of abiotic (soil properties and climate) and biotic (simulated grazing and intra-and interspecific plant-plant interactions) factors on a woody rangeexpander, Juniperus virginiana, which has been spreading into grasslands and old-field habitats in North America. We hypothesized that interspecific competition would negatively affect growth and survival of J. virginiana due to belowground competition with herbaceous species; grazing would favor J. virginiana via competitive release, and intraspecific interactions would be beneficial to tree seedlings during early life stages by means of facilitation. We also predicted that a thicker winter snowpack would have a positive impact on tree growth by providing protection from frost damage. In a multisite field experiment, we exposed J. virginiana seedlings to intra-and interspecific interactions, as well as simulated grazing of surrounding herbaceous species. These treatments were repeated at three different sites that vary in soil properties and that are situated along a precipitation gradient. Additionally, we conducted a snow-manipulation experiment at one of the sites. We conducted our monitoring for two consecutive growing seasons characterized by very different rainfall conditions, the second growing season receiving between 6% and 14% more rainfall than the first. Under lower rainfall availability, interspecific interactions between tree seedlings and herbaceous species negatively affected seedling growth rates. However, this effect was detectable only during the drier year and at the site characterized by more favorable soil properties. During winter, we found that deeper snow cover was associated with decreased growth rate of plants, probably due to repeated freeze-thaw cycles. Our results indicate that the role of biotic interactions had an effect only under harsh climatic conditions and that abiotic factors may affect range expansion directly and indirectly via biotic interactions.

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Evaluation of Eastern Redcedar Infestations in the Northern Kansas Flint Hills

Cited by 47 publications

References 1 publication

Encroachment Dynamics of Juniperus virginiana L. and Mesic Hardwood Species into Cross Timbers Forests of North-Central Oklahoma, USA

Encroachment Dynamics of Juniperus virginiana L. and Mesic Hardwood Species into Cross Timbers Forests of North-Central Oklahoma, USA

Drought and fire suppression lead to rapid forest composition change in a forest-prairie ecotone

Soil properties and climate mediate the effects of biotic interactions on the performance of a woody range expander

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