Fire effects on resprouting of shrubs in headwaters of southeastern longleaf pine savannas. Drewa, P. B., Platt, W., & Moser, E. Ecology, 2002.
Fire effects on resprouting of shrubs in headwaters of southeastern longleaf pine savannas [pdf]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
Responses to variation in characteristics of fire regimes may be a function of plant physiological status or fire intensity. We examined effects of fire season and frequency, geography, habitat, and underground organ morphology on resprouting of shrubs in upslope savannas and downslope seepages in Louisiana and Florida. Each site contained quadrats located along transects within a 30m x 60m plot, was burned during the dormant or growing season and reburned similarly 2 years later. Maximum fire temperatures were measured and densities of shrub stems censused in quadrats before and after fires. Shrubs collectively resprouted more after dormant rather than growing season fires, regardless of habitat or geographic region. After repeated dormant season fires, collective densities in seepages of both regions and densities of root crown-bearing shrubs in Florida seepages were greater than those initially and after repeated growing season fires. Shrub responses were generally unrelated to fire temperatures, supporting the hypothesis that resprouting of shrubs may be more dependent on their physiological status at the time of fires. There was an inverse relationship between collective and root-crown bearing shrub densities following repeated fires and maximum fire temperatures in Florida seepages. Anthropogenic dormant season fires over many decades may have resulted in increases in shrub densities in longleaf pine savannas, especially seepages. Repeated growing season fires neither increased nor reduced densities of established shrubs. Long-term shifts in characteristics of fire regimes may produce short-term (\textless10 yrs), irreversible effects by reintroducing prescribed fires resembling naturally occurring ones during the growing season.

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