Responses of Plants and Arthropods to Burning and Disking of Riparian Habitats

Abstract

Alteration of Iowa, USA, landscapes for agricultural production has resulted in a loss of >99% of the original prairie and >95% of native wetlands. This conversion has included riparian areas, which, as interfaces between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, are important to many wildlife species. Farm Bill programs have resulted in the reestablishment of millions of hectares of grasslands and wetlands nationwide, including >100,000 ha in riparian areas of the Midwest. We assessed plant and arthropod responses to burning and disking of riparian grasslands in east‐central Iowa in 2001 and 2002. Burning altered the plant community by removing litter and standing dead vegetation and had negative effects on several arthropod taxa, including Hemiptera and Lepidoptera. However, we observed no differences in vegetation or arthropods between burned and unburned fields during the second year postburning (P > 0.05). Disking decreased the cover of grasses, litter, and standing dead vegetation and increased plant species richness and the cover of forbs and bare ground (P < 0.05). Arthropod abundance and dry biomass were greater on disked than undisked portions of fields (P < 0.05). Increases in the abundance and biomass of arthropods associated with changes in vegetation structure and composition likely improved habitat quality for a number of breeding bird species. Both burning and disking appear to be effective management options for maintaining or enhancing riparian grasslands for wildlife.

The effects of fire on ant trophic assemblage and sex allocation

“…The direct effects of these environmental changes on the invertebrate community are not very clear; they can be positive (Villa-castillo and Wagner 2002), negative (Apigian et al 2006), or of short-term relevance (Baker et al 2004). Thus, our finding of trophic resilience could clarify the general absence of modification in invertebrate communities observed more than a year after fire (Bailey and Whitham 2002;Baker et al 2004;Benson et al 2007;Taber et al 2008;Garcia-Dominguez et al 2010). Therefore, these data suggest that a similar trend could be found on a longer timescale, such as 2-3 years.…”

The effect of a single burn event on the aquatic invertebrates in artesian springs

“…Some studies suggest that fire has a significant long‐term effect on litter invertebrates (Springett 1976). Other researchers found short‐term adverse effects (Sileshi & Mafongoya 2006) followed by a quick recovery for most species (Abbot 1984; Neumann & Tolhurst 1991; Coy 1996; Ogle & Reynolds 2004; Benson et al. 2007).…”

Potential Positive Effects of Fire on Juvenile Amphibians in a Southern USA Pine Forest

“…Prescribed fire is often used to reduce heavy fuel loads in fire-suppressed forests, helping to prevent catastrophic wildfires, and allowing recovery of understory vegetation (Sweeney and Biswell 1961;Lovaas 1976;Cain et al 1998;Ryu et al 2006). Restoring understory vegetation in firesuppressed forests may promote greater animal diversity and abundance (Moseley et al 2003;Smucker et al 2005;Benson et al 2007). Fire can also stimulate aquatic productivity through increased nutrient loads (Gresswell 1999;Scrimgeour et al 2001) and has been linked to mitigation of spruce beetle Dendroctonus rufipennis outbreaks (Bebi et al 2003).…”