Tallgrass prairie vegetation response to spring fires and bison grazing

Winter, Stephen L.; Allred, Brady W.; Hickman, Karen R.; Fuhlendorf, Samuel D.

doi:10.1894/fmo-19.1

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…For the stock of the living phytomass of forbs, it is explained by an increase a role of weeds, ephemeroids, annuals and some biennials. A post-fire increase in the forbs species richness was noted also by Allan et al (2003), Bates et al (2009), Twidwell et al (2012, Winter et al (2013Winter et al ( , 2015, Kertész et al (2017). Danilov (1936), Fedyunkin (1953Fedyunkin ( ) not-(2017.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…However, it is still assessed ambiguously. Research of the fire influence on the vegetation cover of the steppes has been carried out in Europe (Deák et al, 2012(Deák et al, , 2014Valkó et al, 2014Valkó et al, , 2016Valkó et al, , 2017Pereira et al, 2015Pereira et al, , 2016Pereira et al, , 2017Ruprecht et al, 2016), USA (Engle et al, 1989;Fuhlendorf & Engle, 2004;Davies et al, 2007Davies et al, , 2012Augustine & Milchunas, 2009;Augustine et al, 2010;Bates et al, 2009;Scheintaub et al, 2009;Twidwell et al, 2012;Winter et al, 2013Winter et al, , 2015Dufek et al, 2018;Dickson et al, 2018), Australia (Allan et al, 2003;Andersen et al, 2008). Most of these studies were conducting on pastures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of these studies were conducting on pastures. On these sites, fire influence has seriously both environmental and economic consequences (Rostagno et al, 2006;Davies et al, 2008Davies et al, , 2017Bates et al, 2009;Winter et al, 2015;Mata-González et al, 2018). In Russia, the impact of fires on the steppe vegetation has been studied in the Orenburg region (Rozhanets-Kucherovskaya, 1926;Ryabtsov, 2002Ryabtsov, , 2006Ryabtsov & Safonov, 2002;Ryabinina, 2003;Kalmykova, 2006;Ryabinina et al, 2010), Volgograd region (Ryabinina, 2013(Ryabinina, , 2014, Samara region (Ilyina, 2011), Republic of Bashkortostan (Yunusbayev et al, 2007;, Republic of Tyva (Titlyanova & Sambuu, 2016), Dauria region (Tkachuk, 2015;Tkachuk & Denisova, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fire influence on dynamics of above-ground phytomass in steppe plant communities in the Burtinskaya Steppe (Orenburg State Nature Reserve, Russia)

Kh.¹,

Ольга²,

Neilya³

2019

Nat. Conserv. Res.

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People have significantly influenced on Orenburg region steppes by ploughing large parts of it, or by utilising other parts as mowed grasslands, pastures or abandoning crop production on the old abandoned fields. Frequent fires are another serious threat to the biodiversity of the steppes in the region. The main cause of fires is the anthropogenic factor. This problem is relevant not only for managed areas, but also for Protected Areas. The need to study the fire effects on ecosystems in the Orenburg State Nature Reserve (Russia) has appeared for a long time, once it cleared that a special regime of Protected Areas could not always preserve steppes of fire influence due to the steppe's specifics (i.e., significant length of the fire front and a burnt area, high speed of a fire spread under strong wind). At the same time, it is most relevant to conduct environmental studies in the Protected Areas as ecosystems, least managed and disturbed by humans. It is supplemented by excluding of any impacts within these areas and using data of long-term research accumulated over previous years. In 2015-2016, we carried out the post-fire dynamics of the stock of the above-ground phytomass in the site «Burtinskaya Steppe» in the Orenburg State Natural Reserve. The study area is located in the steppe zone of the Pre-Ural region. In August 2014, more than 20 km 2 of the steppe area was on fire. We established six study sites in this area. Each of them included a control (unburnt) and a burnt plots. In each plant community, we conducted the geobotanical surveys and mowing of the above-ground phytomass in spring (May), summer (June), late summer (August), autumn (September). The obtained samples were dried, divided into groups (grasses, forbs, dwarf semi-shrubs) and then weighted. We compared both unburnt and burnt study plots, and found statistically significant differences between them using the Mann-Whitney U-test (α < 0.05) in the total stock of the above-ground phytomass, stock of the dead phytomass, the standing dead phytomass, and litter. In the burnt plant communities, the accumulation peaks of the living grass and forbs phytomass shifted compared to the unburnt plots. During the first two post-fire years, only stock of the living phytomass and its components (grasses, forbs, dwarf semi-shrubs) were restoring. Other components of the above-ground phytomass did not reach the control values. Our data were part of a project for creation a framework to monitor ecosystems in the preserved area after the 2014 fire impact.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fire influence on dynamics of above-ground phytomass in steppe plant communities in the Burtinskaya Steppe (Orenburg State Nature Reserve, Russia)

Kh.¹,

Ольга²,

Neilya³

2019

Nat. Conserv. Res.

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“…Fire is an integral part of the natural history of the central North American grasslands (Axelrod 1985) and fire is considered an important management tool (Winter et al 2015). Over 1 million hectares of rangeland in the prairie grasslands of the Flint Hills region of the midwestern United States are burned, on average, each year.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An efficient method for estimating dormant season grass biomass in tallgrass prairie from ultra-high spatial resolution aerial imaging produced with small unmanned aircraft systems

Merwe

Baldwin

Boyer

2020

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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Fire is used extensively in prairie grassland management in the Flint Hills region of the midwestern United States, particularly at the end of the dormant season (March–April). A model is used to manage grassland fires in the region to avoid deterioration of air quality beyond acceptable standards. Dormant season dry biomass is an important parameter in the model. The commonly used method for producing high-quality biomass estimates relies on clipping, drying and weighing small biomass samples, which is tedious, expensive and does not scale efficiently to larger areas to provide regional estimates. Small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) were used to develop a reliable and more efficient method of biomass estimation based on the correlation between biomass and vegetation canopy height derived from digital surface models (DSMs). A linear regression model was developed from data collected at 11 representative sites in the Kansas Flint Hills region, and the model was validated at two sites. Biomass and canopy heights derived from DSMs were correlated, with a Pearson product moment correlation value of 0.881 (P-value <0.001). Biomass estimated from clipped vegetation at two validation sites positively correlated with model-derived biomass estimates, resulting in linear regression R2-values of 0.90 and 0.74 and Pearson moment correlation coefficients of 0.99 (P<0.001) and 0.86 (P=0.003). The described sUAS method has the potential to increase the efficiency and reliability of dormant season grassland biomass estimates.

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“…Fire alters several aspects of the competitive environment for plants, including removal of detritus and opening of the canopy (Collins et al., ; Knapp et al., ). This increases soil temperature in the spring and thus promotes early green‐up (Certini, ; Winter et al., ; Wang et al., ). Fire also alters nitrogen availability within grasslands in two ways: first, nitrogen is volatilized during the combustion of detritus and plant tissues, which is a major cause behind nitrogen losses in this system (Blair, ); and second, overall plant productivity is reduced with the lack of fire, as energy demands become higher due to either shading effects of accumulated detritus, increased demands from higher overall plant cover, or both (Blair, ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Long‐ and short‐term responses ofAsclepiasspecies differ in respect to fire, grazing, and nutrient addition

Ricono

Dixon

Eaton

et al. 2018

American J of Botany

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Premise of the Study The tallgrass prairie ecosystem has experienced a dramatic reduction over the past 150 yr. This reduction has impacted the abundance of native grassland species, including milkweeds (Asclepias). Methods We used two long‐term (27 yr) data sets to examine how fire, grazing, and nutrient addition shape milkweed abundance in tallgrass prairie. We compared these results to those of a greenhouse experiment that varied nutrient levels in the absence of competition, herbivory, and mutualistic relationships. Key Results Asclepias species exhibited broad patterns in response to burning regimes that did not include grazing, but experienced more species‐specific patterns in other combinations. Asclepias syriaca was the only species to increase in abundance in plots that included burning and nutrient addition. In the greenhouse we found that nitrogen significantly increased biomass, while no effect of phosphorus was detected. Conclusions These results indicate that A. syriaca will do best in settings with high nutrient loads, low competition, and no grazers. These characteristics define a small portion of the tallgrass prairie but exemplify modern agricultural settings, which have replaced prairies. However, other milkweeds examined did not share this pattern, which indicates that milkweed species will respond differently when exposed to agricultural settings, with some less able to cope with land conversion to pasture or row‐crop agriculture.

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Tallgrass prairie vegetation response to spring fires and bison grazing

Cited by 9 publications

References 41 publications

Fire influence on dynamics of above-ground phytomass in steppe plant communities in the Burtinskaya Steppe (Orenburg State Nature Reserve, Russia)

Fire influence on dynamics of above-ground phytomass in steppe plant communities in the Burtinskaya Steppe (Orenburg State Nature Reserve, Russia)

An efficient method for estimating dormant season grass biomass in tallgrass prairie from ultra-high spatial resolution aerial imaging produced with small unmanned aircraft systems

Long‐ and short‐term responses ofAsclepiasspecies differ in respect to fire, grazing, and nutrient addition

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