Long-Term Response Patterns of Tallgrass Prairie to Frequent Summer Burning |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Konza Prairie Fire Chief, Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA;2. Professor, Department of Statistics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA;1. Research Assistant, Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA;2. Associate Professor, Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA;3. Senior Research Specialist, Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA;4. Professor, Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA;1. Assistant Professor, Department of Animal & Range Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA;2. Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Benedictine College, Atchison, KS 66002, USA;3. Small Game Coordinator, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, & Tourism, Emporia, KS 66801, USA;4. Professor, Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA;1. Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada;2. Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada;3. BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations & Rural Development, Kamloops, BC V2C 2T3, Canada;4. Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada;1. Professor, Department of Natural Resource Management, SDSU, Brookings, SD 57007, USA;2. Soil Conservationist, USDA-NRCS, Madison, SD 57042, USA;3. Professor, Department of Plant Sciences, SDSU, Brookings, SD 57007, USA;4. Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Plant Sciences, SDSU, Brookings, SD 57007, USA;5. Extension Cow-Calf Specialist, North Central Research and Outreach Center, University of Minnesota, Grand Rapids, MN 55744, USA.;1. Graduate Research Assistant, School of Natural Resource Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA;2. Assistant Professor, School of Natural Resource Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA;1. Graduate Research Assistant, Animal Sciences Department, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA;2. Associate Professor, Animal Sciences Department, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA;3. Professor, School of Natural Resource Sciences, Animal Sciences Department, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA;4. Associate Professor, Animal Sciences Department, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA. |
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| Abstract: | Knowledge of how tallgrass prairie vegetation responds to fire in the late growing season is relatively sparse and is based upon studies that are either spatially or temporally limited. To gain a more robust perspective of vegetation response to summer burning and to determine if repeated summer fire can drive vegetational changes in native tallgrass prairie, we evaluated species cover and richness over a 14-yr period on different topographic positions from ungrazed watersheds that were burned biennially in the growing season. We found that annual forbs were the primary beneficiaries of summer burning, but their fluctuations varied inconsistently among years. Concomitantly, species richness and diversity increased significantly with summer burning but remained stable through time with annual spring burning. After 14 yr, species richness was 28% higher in prairie that was burned in the summer than in prairie burned in the spring. Canopy cover of big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii Vitman) and Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans [L.] Nash) increased significantly over time with both summer and spring burning, whereas heath aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides [L.] Nesom), aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium [Nutt.] Nesom), and sedges (Carex spp.) increased in response to only summer burning. Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) cover declined in both spring-burned and summer-burned watersheds. Repeated burning in either spring or summer did not reduce the cover or frequency of any woody species. Most perennial species were neutral in their reaction to summer fire, but a few species responded with large and inconsistent temporal fluctuations that overwhelmed any clear patterns of change. Although summer burning did not preferentially encourage spring-flowering forbs or suppress dominance of the warm-season grasses, it is a potentially useful tool to increase community heterogeneity in ungrazed prairie. |
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