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

Hill, Kathryn C.; Bakker, Jonathan D.; Dunwiddie, Peter W.

doi:10.4996/fireecology.130302441

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…All growing season disturbances create greater potential conflicts with the presence and reproduction of grassland plant and animal species both in sandplain grasslands (Dunwiddie 1991; Raleigh et al 2003; Patterson et al 2005) and across ecoregions (Block et al 2016). Where summer disturbances are currently employed, these are commonly recommended to be resolved by treating only portions of the total area of a site in any single year or by modifying burn timing or intensity (Hill et al 2017; Harris et al 2020) such as burning and mowing in August and September after the bird nesting season in sandplain grasslands. Better monitoring of responses to summer burning and mowing are needed for a wide range of animal species (Block et al 2016).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges, successes, and recommendations for management of coastal sandplain grasslands as regional biodiversity hotspots in the northeastern United States

Bois,

Neill,

Whittemore

et al. 2023

Restoration Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A high proportion of regional plant biodiversity occurs in hotspots of species richness that cover small areas created and maintained by disturbance. Sustaining plant diversity in these areas requires region‐ and habitat‐specific management of disturbance and, increasingly, habitat expansion or restoration to offset species losses. Coastal sandplain grasslands are threatened, disturbance‐controlled plant biodiversity hotspots in the northeastern United States. We formed a network of grassland managers and scientists to review the published and unpublished sandplain grassland literature. Additionally, we conducted interviews with grassland managers about management challenges and successes. Principal concerns of managers were increases in woody plant cover, losses of rare species, increased cover and variety of invasive species, and constraints on the ability to use prescribed fire. The literature review and managers' experiences together led to the following recommendations: (1) increase applications of prescribed burning and mowing during the growing season when possible; (2) expand selective removal of woody plants including herbicide use; (3) test the application of harrowing or disking to reduce woody plant density especially in places where invasive plant densities are low; and (4) increase applications of combinations of disturbances in rotations with occasional fire. At regional scales, monitoring of management effects, identification of parcels for potential grassland expansion and restoration, and increased supplies of native seeds of plant ecotypes to use for restoration ahead of climate change are badly needed. Formation of networks of managers and scientists to share information and experiences has the potential to greatly improve land management within other biodiversity hotspots.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges, successes, and recommendations for management of coastal sandplain grasslands as regional biodiversity hotspots in the northeastern United States

Bois,

Neill,

Whittemore

et al. 2023

Restoration Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In small populations where a prescribed fire might be used to maintain suitable habitat, these data show that survival of some pupae is possible if prescribed fire is applied under conditions that will lower the intensity of the prescribed fire or result in unburned patches. This can include burning under marginal or wetter conditions earlier during the day or earlier in the season, which often result in heterogeneity of fire conditions that could also mitigate frosted elfin mortality (Hill et al, 2017; Knapp et al, 2007). Burning in a mosaic pattern is also preferred because it ensures not all frosted elfin‐occupied patches are burned at once and allows frosted elfins to recolonize previously burned habitat (Jue et al, 2022; Thom et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pupae survival following fire in the frosted elfin (Callophrys irus)

Meyer

Pokswinski

Ney

et al. 2023

Agri and Forest Entomology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

1. The frosted elfin (Callophrys irus) butterfly inhabits landscapes that may be subject to frequent fire to be sustained. Frosted elfins pupate primarily in leaf litter, at the soil surface, or just below it, and may suffer high mortality rates when fires occur.Gathering better information on this source of mortality is critical to planning prescribed fire operations in a manner conducive to the long-term survival of the species.2. We buried lab-reared frosted elfin pupae (n = 61) at 0.75 cm (n = 31) or 1.75 cm (n = 30) below the ground and conducted two experimental fires that mimicked typical prescribed fires.3. Eighteen of 30 (60%) buried at 1.75 cm survived 4 weeks postburn; no pupae buried at 0.75 cm survived. Most (n = 17) of the pupae that survived successfully enclosed the following year. Surviving pupae encountered lower maximum temperatures and were exposed to shorter durations of above-lethal temperatures compared to those that died. 4. Our data demonstrate that high mortality rates can be expected due to fire, yet fire remains a critical tool for maintaining the habitat. Fire practitioners should mitigate losses by using ignition patterns and suboptimal burn conditions to reduce fire intensity, or burn in a mosaic pattern across the landscape to ensure enough survival to perpetuate frosted elfin populations.

show abstract

“…All seed-removing species nest in soil, three also nest in wood, and five also nest in wood and leaf litter. Belowground nesting is advantageous in a fire-prone habitat, as exposure to lethal soil temperatures during a fire is typical only at the surface to a couple centimeters deep [106,107]. Soil nest depth is not known for all seed removers but typically ranges between 15 and 25 cm for D. bossutus [108] at the most shallow to up to 3 m for P. badius [109].…”

Section: Community Resilience To Firementioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity and Resilience of Seed-Removing Ant Species in Longleaf Sandhill to Frequent Fire

Atchison

Lucky

2022

Diversity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Prescribed fire is used globally as a habitat restoration tool and is widely accepted as supporting biotic diversity. However, in fire-prone ecosystems, research has sometimes documented post-fire reduction in ant diversity and accompanying changes in seed removal behavior. This is concerning because ants provide important ecosystem services that can aid in restoration efforts, including seed dispersal. In this study, we examined the immediate impacts of fire in the well-studied ant community of longleaf pine forests (LLP) in the SE USA. We surveyed seed-removing ant species in a LLP sandhill ecosystem to investigate the effects of prescribed fire and coarse woody debris (CWD), a nesting and foraging resource, on ant community composition and ant–seed interactions. Seed-removing ants comprised a significant portion of detected ant species (20 of 45); eight of these species are documented removing seeds for the first time. Following an experimentally applied low-intensity summer burn, decreases in seed remover detection were observed, along with reductions in the number of seeds removed, across both burned and unburned areas; neither prescribed fire nor proximity to CWD significantly influenced these factors. Together, these results show that seed-removing ant species constitute a substantial proportion of the LLP sandhill ant community and are relatively robust to habitat changes mediated by low-intensity prescribed burning during the growing season. Considering ant community resiliency to fire, we can infer that using prescribed fire aligns with the goals of restoring and maintaining biotic diversity in this fire-prone ecosystem.

show abstract

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

Abstract: Prescribed burning is a primary tool for habitat restoration and management in fire-adapted grasslands. Concerns about detrimental effects of

Cited by 10 publications

References 28 publications

Challenges, successes, and recommendations for management of coastal sandplain grasslands as regional biodiversity hotspots in the northeastern United States

Challenges, successes, and recommendations for management of coastal sandplain grasslands as regional biodiversity hotspots in the northeastern United States

Pupae survival following fire in the frosted elfin (Callophrys irus)

Diversity and Resilience of Seed-Removing Ant Species in Longleaf Sandhill to Frequent Fire

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About