TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of 34 Years of Experimentally Manipulated Burn Seasons and Frequencies on Prairie Plant Composition
AU - Dickson, Timothy L.
AU - Hayes, Barbara A.
AU - Bragg, Thomas B.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the UNO College of Arts and Sciences and Department of Biology for their financial and institutional support of this study and Glacier Creek Preserve. Dr. David M. Sutherland assisted with plant identification and many of the burns that occurred in this study. Many UNO students helped sort biomass under the supervision of T. Dickson. In 2015, Geoffrey Coughlin and Chelsea Pontious harvested and sorted much of the biomass used for ANPP measurements, and Eric Behrens, Monica Blaser, Lindsay Brown, Chelsea Forehead, Sarah Gaughan, Jagger Hair, Michael Loguda, Abraham Mora, Jennifer Peters, Brandon Polinsky, and Bradley Watson also helped sort some biomass. Jennifer Hopwood and two anonymous reviewers provided comments on this manuscript. Finally, a study of this magnitude and duration requires many people, and we very much thank the many Glacier Creek Preserve employees and volunteers that have assisted with experimental manipulations and thereby made this study possible.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Society for Range Management
PY - 2019/1
Y1 - 2019/1
N2 - Historically, tallgrass prairie burns occurred at many seasons and frequencies. Currently, tallgrass prescribed burns often occur annually in the spring, usually for cattle forage production. Altering burning season and frequency is known to affect plant composition and biomass production, but researchers are still uncertain how burning season and frequency interact. We present the long-term effects of a factorial combination of different burn seasons (spring, summer, autumn, or variable [rotated through seasons]) and frequencies (annual or quadrennial) on the plant composition and biomass production of an ungrazed, restored tallgrass prairie in eastern Nebraska, United States. The experimental plots were established in 1978 and visually surveyed for baseline data in 1979 and 1981. Experimental burn treatments were begun in 1982. Plots were visually surveyed until 2011 with the following results: 1) annual spring and summer burns increased C 4 graminoid abundance; 2) annual autumn burns increased forb abundance; 3) burn season had little effect on plant composition for quadrennial burns; and 4) variable season burns generally led to plant composition that was intermediate between annual spring/summer and annual autumn burns. We also clipped biomass to estimate aboveground annual net primary production (ANPP) in 2015, a year in which both annual and quadrennial burns occurred. Total ANPP did not differ significantly between burn frequencies nor between spring and autumn burns (772 g m − 2 average) but was lower in summer burns (541 g m − 2 ). ANPP results were similar to visual surveys, with significantly higher C 4 graminoid ANPP in spring than autumn burns and significantly lower forb and C 3 graminoid ANPP in spring than autumn burns. Overall, these results suggest autumn burns can increase forb and C 3 graminoid abundance, without strongly affecting total ANPP relative to spring burns. Future studies should compare plant and livestock production between spring and autumn burns in grazed fields.
AB - Historically, tallgrass prairie burns occurred at many seasons and frequencies. Currently, tallgrass prescribed burns often occur annually in the spring, usually for cattle forage production. Altering burning season and frequency is known to affect plant composition and biomass production, but researchers are still uncertain how burning season and frequency interact. We present the long-term effects of a factorial combination of different burn seasons (spring, summer, autumn, or variable [rotated through seasons]) and frequencies (annual or quadrennial) on the plant composition and biomass production of an ungrazed, restored tallgrass prairie in eastern Nebraska, United States. The experimental plots were established in 1978 and visually surveyed for baseline data in 1979 and 1981. Experimental burn treatments were begun in 1982. Plots were visually surveyed until 2011 with the following results: 1) annual spring and summer burns increased C 4 graminoid abundance; 2) annual autumn burns increased forb abundance; 3) burn season had little effect on plant composition for quadrennial burns; and 4) variable season burns generally led to plant composition that was intermediate between annual spring/summer and annual autumn burns. We also clipped biomass to estimate aboveground annual net primary production (ANPP) in 2015, a year in which both annual and quadrennial burns occurred. Total ANPP did not differ significantly between burn frequencies nor between spring and autumn burns (772 g m − 2 average) but was lower in summer burns (541 g m − 2 ). ANPP results were similar to visual surveys, with significantly higher C 4 graminoid ANPP in spring than autumn burns and significantly lower forb and C 3 graminoid ANPP in spring than autumn burns. Overall, these results suggest autumn burns can increase forb and C 3 graminoid abundance, without strongly affecting total ANPP relative to spring burns. Future studies should compare plant and livestock production between spring and autumn burns in grazed fields.
KW - annual net primary production (ANPP)
KW - burning
KW - fire
KW - grassland
KW - percent cover of forbs and C / C grasses
KW - tallgrass prairie
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85053287211&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85053287211&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.rama.2018.07.014
DO - 10.1016/j.rama.2018.07.014
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85053287211
VL - 72
SP - 82
EP - 91
JO - Rangeland Ecology and Management
JF - Rangeland Ecology and Management
SN - 1550-7424
IS - 1
ER -