Prescribed Fire Decreases Lichen and Bryophyte Biomass and Alters Functional Group Composition in Pacific Northwest Prairies

Calabria, Lalita M.; Petersen, Kate; Hamman, Sarah T.; Smith, Robert J.

doi:10.3955/046.090.0407

Cited by 11 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Burning in ways that minimize mortality of sensitive species is a key objective of land managers in Pacific Northwest prairies, not only for butterflies, but also for rare plants (Dunwiddie et al 2001) and lichen communities (Calabria et al 2016). This study shows that target conditions for burning in potentially sensitive butterfly habitat in this region should have an air temperature of less than 26 °C and fine dead fuel moisture from published tables (National Wildfire Coordinating Group 2014) of at least 9 %.…”

Section: Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…In fire-adapted grassland and shrubland ecosystems, prescribed fires are used for habitat restoration and endangered species conservation (Hamman et al 2011). Concerns about potentially detrimental effects of burning on diapausing butterfly larvae near the soil surface, as well as other ground-dwelling arthropods and bryophyte and lichen communities, however, can sometimes inhibit the implementation of restoration treatments (Fimbel 2004, Schultz et al 2011, Calabria et al 2016. These organisms are more likely to survive a fire in areas that experience lower soil temperatures during the burn or in unburned and low-severity patches (Bradstock et al 2005, New 2014.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Prescribed Fire in Grassland Butterfly Habitat: Targeting Weather and Fuel Conditions to Reduce Soil Temperatures and Burn Severity

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prescribed Fire in Grassland Butterfly Habitat: Targeting Weather and Fuel Conditions to Reduce Soil Temperatures and Burn Severity

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…1), only 1% of Cladonia remained intact following the burns. It is possible to draw parallels with research in grassland systems where Cladonia growing within areas of highly combustible and contiguous fuels were found to suffer high rates of mortality (Holt and Severns 2005;Johansson and Reich 2005;Calabria et al 2016). However, in contrast to the relatively homogenous fuels present in grassland systems, our fuelbeds included mixed-species leaf litter with different flammability characteristics (Kane et al 2008;Weir and Limb 2013) and exhibited considerable variation in contiguity.…”

Section: Fire Refugiamentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The prescribed burns carried out for this study were not conducted to favor the survival of Cladonia, aside from instructing igniters to not intentionally pour driptorch fuel directly on top of samples, which were indicated by pin flags. Other researchers have suggested the possibility of protecting Cladonia-rich areas identified prior to a burn to avoid high mortality rates (Holt and Severns 2005;Calabria et al 2016). The need, whether perceived or real, to proactively guard Cladonia from damage by fire in systems where they used to coexist should also be viewed in the context of the overarching effects of fire exclusion.…”

Section: Conclusion and Management Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Northern boreal forests with a distinct Cladonia component are characterized by an infrequent, often stand-replacing fire regime (e.g., Stocks et al 2001) followed by long recovery periods of 50 to 100 yr (Johansson et al 2006;Zouaoui et al 2014;Russell and Johnson 2019). Studies carried out in grassland systems, characterized by a contiguous and combustible fuels, that tracked the fate of Cladonia populations following burns have typically reported high to complete mortality, with survival relegated to rare unburned patches (Holt and Severns 2005, Johansson and Reich 2005, Calabria et al 2016; but see Ferguson et al 2009, O'Bryan et al 2009.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Factors influencing the persistence of reindeer lichens (Cladonia subgenus Cladina) within frequent-fire environments of the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain, USA

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Prescribed fire is increasingly used to accomplish management goals in fire-adapted systems, yet our understanding of effects on non-target organisms remains underdeveloped. Terricolous lichens in the genus Cladonia P. Browne, particularly cushion-forming reindeer lichens belonging to Cladonia subgenus Cladina Nyl., fit into this category, being characteristic of fire-adapted ecosystems, yet highly vulnerable to damage or consumption during burns. Moreover, inherently slow dispersal and growth rates raise questions about how to conserve these taxa in the context of fire-mediated restoration management. This research was undertaken to identify factors that contribute to Cladonia persistence within areas subject to repeated burning and involved tracking the fate of 228 spatially isolated individuals distributed across seven sites previously burned zero to two times. Site selection was determined by edaphic factors associated with a rare inland dune woodland community type known to support relatively high densities of Cladonia. Results: Evaluated across all sites, the post-burn condition of Cladonia subtenuis (Abbayes) Mattick samples, categorized as intact (32%), fragmented (33%), or consumed (36%) individuals, approximated a uniform distribution. However, their status was highly variable at the different sites, where from 0 to 70% were assessed as intact and 11 to 60% consumed. Machine-learning statistical techniques were used to identify the factors most strongly associated with fire damage, drawing from variables describing the proximate fuel bed, growth substrate, and fire weather. The final descriptive model was dominated by variables characterizing the understory fuel matrix. Conclusions: Areas with highly contiguous fuels dominated by pyrogenic pine needles were most likely to result in consumption of individual Cladonia, whereas those growing in areas with low fuel continuity or in areas dominated by hardwood litter were more likely to persist (intact or as fragments). Further, substrates including bare soil and moss mats afforded more protection than coarse woody debris or leaf litter in settings where fuels were both contiguous and highly flammable. Our findings describe the characteristics of within-site fire refugia, the abundance of which may be enhanced over time through restoration and maintenance treatments including thinning, promotion of mixed-species overstory composition, and periodic burning. Because lichens contribute to, and are considered reliable indicators of forest health, fire-based restoration management efforts will benefit from improved understanding of how these vulnerable organisms are able to persist.

show abstract

Prescribed fire increases plant–pollinator network robustness to losses of rare native forbs

Waters,

Mitchell,

Brown

et al. 2023

Ecological Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Restoration efforts often focus on changing the composition and structure of invaded plant communities, with two implicit assumptions: 1) functional interactions with species of other trophic levels, such as pollinators, will reassemble automatically when native plant diversity is restored; and 2) restored communities will be more resilient to future stressors. However, the impact of restoration activities on pollinator richness, plant–pollinator interaction network structure, and network robustness is incompletely understood. Leveraging a restoration chronosequence in Pacific Northwest prairies, we examined the effects of restoration‐focused prescribed fire and native forb replanting on floral resources, pollinator visitation, and plant–pollinator network structure. We then simulated the effects of plant species loss/removal scenarios on secondary extinction cascades in the networks. Specifically, we explored three management‐relevant plant loss scenarios (removal of an abundant exotic forb, removal of an abundant forb designated a noxious weed, and loss of the rarest native forb) and compared them to control scenarios. Pyrodiversity and proportion of area recently burned increased the abundance and diversity of floral resources, with concomitant increases in pollinator visitation and diversity. Pyrodiversity also decreased network connectance and nestedness, increased modularity, and buffered networks against secondary extinction cascades. Rare forbs contributed disproportionately to network robustness in less restored prairies, while removal of typical “problem” plants like exotic and noxious species had relatively small impacts on network robustness, particularly in prairies with a long history of restoration activities. Restoration actions aimed mainly at improving the diversity and abundance of pollinator‐provisioning plants may also produce plant–pollinator networks with increased resilience to plant species losses.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

show abstract

Prescribed Fire Decreases Lichen and Bryophyte Biomass and Alters Functional Group Composition in Pacific Northwest Prairies

Cited by 11 publications

References 42 publications

Prescribed Fire in Grassland Butterfly Habitat: Targeting Weather and Fuel Conditions to Reduce Soil Temperatures and Burn Severity

Prescribed Fire in Grassland Butterfly Habitat: Targeting Weather and Fuel Conditions to Reduce Soil Temperatures and Burn Severity

Factors influencing the persistence of reindeer lichens (Cladonia subgenus Cladina) within frequent-fire environments of the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain, USA

Prescribed fire increases plant–pollinator network robustness to losses of rare native forbs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About