Download or read book Effects of Prescribed Burning on Undesirable Plant Species and Soil Physical Properties on Tallgrass Prairies written by James L. Ungerer and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prescribed burning has been a common conservation practice on native prairie dating back to the days of pioneer settlement. Advantages include increased forage quality, reduction of undesirable plants, improved wildlife habitat, removal of accumulated dead plant litter and relatively low costs. While spring is the commonly accepted time to burn, little research has been conducted on late-summer and fall burning for specific objectives that include targeting undesirable plant species and measuring potential effects on soil physical properties. The first part of this study was to evaluate the effect that prescribed burning has on population dynamics of sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata [Dumont] G. Don), rough-leaf dogwood (Cornus drummondii Meyer), and additional woody species. Stem counts and cover estimates were taken from 20, 0.25-m2 frames prior to and post-burn. Change in botanical composition, plant density, frequency, and Daubenmire canopy cover estimates were calculated. Sericea lespedeza plant frequency across all clay upland burns decreased 2.27% and increased 4.76% across all loamy/limy upland burns the first growing season post-burn. Dogwood densities increased 3.12 stems m−22 on spring burns compared to a decrease of 0.30 stems m−2 on unburned plots the first growing season post-burn. Changes in frequency of other woody species the first growing season post-burn showed significant interactions between burn treatment and ecological site, and between ecological site and year. A significant interaction between burn treatment and ecological site was found on total woody species plant composition changes two growing seasons post-burn for the first year of burn treatments. The secondary part of this study was to evaluate the effect of prescribed burning on soil bulk density and wet-aggregate stability. Soil samples were collected along the same line-transects used for vegetation sampling. Significant differences among mean weight diameters (MWD), percent water-stable aggregates (WSA), and WSA size fractions occurred between burned and unburned soils following burning in the fall of 2011. Monitoring plant and soil response to prescribed burning in different seasons may lead to adjustments being made in management of rangelands where sericea lespedeza, dogwood, and additional woody species occur.
Download or read book Introduction to Prescribed Fire in Southern Ecosystems written by Thomas A. Waldrop and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2018-03-29 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prescribed burning is an important tool throughout Southern forests, grasslands, and croplands. The need to control fire became evident to allow forests to regenerate. This manual is intended to help resource managers to plan and execute prescribed burns in Southern forests and grasslands. A new appreciation and interest has developed in recent years for using prescribed fire in grasslands, especially hardwood forests, and on steep mountain slopes. Proper planning and execution of prescribed fires are necessary to reduce detrimental effects, such as the impacts on air and downstream water quality. Check out these related products: Trees at Work: Economic Accounting for Forest Ecosystem Services in the U.S. South can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/trees-work-economic-accounting-forest-ecosystem-services-us-south Soil Survey Manual 2017 is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/soil-survey-manual-march-2017 Quantifying the Role of the National Forest System Lands in Providing Surface Drinking Water Supply for the Southern United States is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/quantifying-role-national-forest-system-lands-providing-surface-drinking-water-supply Fire Management Today print subscription is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/fire-management-today Wildland Fire in Ecosystems: Fire and Nonnative Invasive Plants can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/wildland-fire-ecosystems-fire-and-nonnative-invasive-plants
Download or read book Grasslands of the World written by Victor R. Squires and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2018-09-05 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book begins with a brief account of the extraordinary sequence of events that led to emergence of grasslands as major vegetation formations that now occupy some of the driest and hottest and the highest and coldest on earth as well as vast steppes and prairies in more temperate climes. It is the story of grasses successfully competing with forests and woodlands, aided and abetted by grazing herbivores and by humans and their use of fire as a tool. It is a story of adaptation to changing climates and the changing biophysical environments. A major focus of the book is the Palaearctic biogeographic realm that extends over some 45 million km2 and thus more than 1/3 of the terrestrial ice-free surface on Earth. It comprises extensive grasslands of different types and origin, which can be subdivided into (1) natural grasslands with (1a) steppes (climatogenic in dry climates), (1b) arctic-alpine grasslands (climatogenic in cold climates) and (1c) azonal and extrazonal grasslands (pedogenic and topogenic) as well as (2) secondary grasslands created and sustained by human activities, such as livestock grazing, mowing or burning. Grasslands of the Palaearctic do not only form a major basis for the agriculture of the region and thus its food supply, but are also crucial for other ecosystem services and host a supra proportional part of the realm’s plant and animal diversity. To reflect that suitability of grasslands for biodiversity strongly depends on their state, we apply the term High Nature Value grassland to those natural grasslands that are not degraded (in good state) and those secondary grasslands that are not intensified (semi-natural). The situation in a variety of countries where grasslands are evolving under the influence of global climate change is also considered. Case studies are presented on Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, India, China, South America, North America and Australia. The concluding chapter examines a set of themes arising from the chapters that make up the bulk of this book. The following provide a focus: recent history of grassland biomes – brief recap of current thinking and recent trends with special reference to dry grasslands in the Palearctic regions; the current status of grasslands and germplasm resources (biodiversity) – an overview; management systems that ensure sustainability; how to recover degraded grasslands; socio-economic issues and considerations in grassland management; the impacts of environmental problems in grasslands such as future climate change and intensification and the problems/prospects facing pastoralists and other grassland-based livestock producers.
Download or read book Effects of Prescribed Burning on Soil Physical Biological and Chemical Properties of the Oak Openings Region of Northwest Ohio written by Danielle K. Kurek and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 63 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disturbances such as natural fire are necessary for the Oak Openings region of Northwest Ohio to maintain an early successional state and prevent woody plant encroachment. Human activities over the past 150 years have suppressed natural fires, requiring land managers to seek alternatives such as prescribed burning. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of prescribed burning on soil physical, biological, and chemical properties. I hypothesized that prescribed burning would: 1) decrease soil moisture, resulting in decreased soil enzyme activity; and 2) decrease the soil litter layer, resulting in increased soil inorganic nutrients concentrations. To test these hypotheses, 15 soil parameters, including pH, moisture, soil organic matter, soil nutrient concentrations, and seven microbial enzymes were analyzed prior to, and four times after prescribed burns at four sites within two different preserves. Few significant differences were observed, suggesting that the low intensity burns performed at these four sites did not significantly alter the soil properties measured in this study.
Download or read book Fire Effects Guide written by and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Prescribed Fire Opportunities in Grasslands Invaded by Douglas fir written by George E. Gruell and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Wildland Fire in Ecosystems written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Effects of Prescribed Fire on Grasslands of the Southern Great Plains written by Whitney L. Behr and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grasslands can support high levels of biodiversity and provide numerous ecosystem services, but they have been widely degraded, often via loss of natural disturbance regimes. North American grasslands were once created and maintained by fire. In some cases, fire has been more important than climate in determining the distribution and extent of grasslands. Conservation of the biodiversity harbored by grasslands relies, in part, on ecological restoration of these habitats and the fire regimes that historically maintained them. In this dissertation, I examined the effects of prescribed fire on grassland plant species and plant communities of the southern Great Plains in the short-term (up to two years after fire) and longer-term (twelve years after fire). Cool-season prescribed burns (those conducted in January – March) were not sufficient to shift overall plant community composition (e.g., increase richness of native plant species or reduce cover of the invasive grass Bothriochloa ischaemum) in 10 sites distributed from central Texas to southern Oklahoma (Chapter 2). However, these fires did have measurable effects on eight individual forb species in the same sites (Chapter 3). In general, the eight forb species studied individually responded to the winter fire individualistically, but all three annual species increased their floral displays (flowers/m2) in the burned plots in the short term. Forb species that increased their floral display in burned areas did so via increased plant biomass (grams of dry aboveground biomass) or plant density (plants/m2). We found little evidence that these forb species shifted their resource allocation towards reproduction. In a separate study (Chapter 4), a prescribed fire conducted in July was sufficient to shift plant community composition in the short term, mostly by reducing the cover of the invasive grass B. ischaemum and increasing native species richness; the latter effect was likely the result of reducing B. ischaemum. In the same study, only the increases in native grass cover and richness were still detectable twelve years after the fire. Perhaps due to two additional cool-season fires across the entire site, B. ischaemum cover remained low twelve years after the fire in burned plots but unexpectedly had also decreased in unburned plots. The results from all three chapters supported our expectation that summer fires would be more effective than cool-season fires in changing the plant community composition, including controlling the invasive grass B. ischaemum. Interestingly, forb species were highly individualistic, from differences in their abundances among sites in the multi-site study (Chapter 3) to differences in their responses to fire (Chapter 4). These findings support conducting prescribed fires in summer months to control invasive grasses and to increase native plant species richness, and consequently conserve the biodiversity supported by grasslands in this region
Download or read book Plant Community and Soil Responses to Treatments Designed to Mimic Prescribed Burning written by Daniel Mark Tix and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Environmental Effects of Conservation Practices on Grazing Lands written by and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Guide for Prescribed Fire in Southern Forests written by and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Rangeland Systems written by David D. Briske and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-04-12 with total page 664 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. This book provides an unprecedented synthesis of the current status of scientific and management knowledge regarding global rangelands and the major challenges that confront them. It has been organized around three major themes. The first summarizes the conceptual advances that have occurred in the rangeland profession. The second addresses the implications of these conceptual advances to management and policy. The third assesses several major challenges confronting global rangelands in the 21st century. This book will compliment applied range management textbooks by describing the conceptual foundation on which the rangeland profession is based. It has been written to be accessible to a broad audience, including ecosystem managers, educators, students and policy makers. The content is founded on the collective experience, knowledge and commitment of 80 authors who have worked in rangelands throughout the world. Their collective contributions indicate that a more comprehensive framework is necessary to address the complex challenges confronting global rangelands. Rangelands represent adaptive social-ecological systems, in which societal values, organizations and capacities are of equal importance to, and interact with, those of ecological processes. A more comprehensive framework for rangeland systems may enable management agencies, and educational, research and policy making organizations to more effectively assess complex problems and develop appropriate solutions.
Download or read book Fire Effects on Soil Properties written by Paulo Pereira and published by CSIRO PUBLISHING. This book was released on 2019-02-01 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wildland fires are occurring more frequently and affecting more of Earth's surface than ever before. These fires affect the properties of soils and the processes by which they form, but the nature of these impacts has not been well understood. Given that healthy soil is necessary to sustain biodiversity, ecosystems and agriculture, the impact of fire on soil is a vital field of research. Fire Effects on Soil Properties brings together current research on the effects of fire on the physical, biological and chemical properties of soil. Written by over 60 international experts in the field, it includes examples from fire-prone areas across the world, dealing with ash, meso and macrofauna, smouldering fires, recurrent fires and management of fire-affected soils. It also describes current best practice methodologies for research and monitoring of fire effects and new methodologies for future research. This is the first time information on this topic has been presented in a single volume and the book will be an important reference for students, practitioners, managers and academics interested in the effects of fire on ecosystems, including soil scientists, geologists, forestry researchers and environmentalists.
Download or read book Grassfires written by Phil Cheney and published by CSIRO PUBLISHING. This book was released on 2008 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grassfirespresents the latest information from CSIRO on the behavior and spread of fires in grasslands. This second edition follows ten years of research aimed at improving the understanding of fundamental processes involved in the behavior of bushfires and grassfires. The book has been extensively revised and new case studies have been added to reflect the latest findings in research and investigations. The book covers all aspects of fire behavior and spread in the major types of grasses in Australia. It examines the factors that affect fire behavior in continuous grassy fuels; fire in spinifex fuels; the effect of weather and topography on fire spread; wildfire suppression strategies; and how to reconstruct grassfire spread after the fact. The three fire-spread meters designed by CSIRO and used for the prediction of fire danger and rate of spread of grassfires are explained and their use and limitations discussed. This new edition expands on the historical view of grassfires with respect to extensive Aboriginal burning, combustion chemistry, flame structure and temperature, spotting and spread in discontinuous/eaten out fuels, and the effect of wind in complex terrain. The case studies in the chapter "Wildfires and Their Suppression" have been updated and include the major wild grassfire events of recent years, the January 2003 ACT fires and the 2005 Wangary, SA fire. The "Myths, Facts and Fallacies" chapter includes new myths and a new section on personal safety during a wild grass fire. Of interest to all rural fire fighters and rural landholders, students and teachers of courses on landscape and ecological processes, rural and peri-urban dwellers, fire authorities and researchers.
Download or read book Invasive Species in Forests and Rangelands of the United States written by Therese M. Poland and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-02-01 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book describes the serious threat of invasive species to native ecosystems. Invasive species have caused and will continue to cause enormous ecological and economic damage with ever increasing world trade. This multi-disciplinary book, written by over 100 national experts, presents the latest research on a wide range of natural science and social science fields that explore the ecology, impacts, and practical tools for management of invasive species. It covers species of all taxonomic groups from insects and pathogens, to plants, vertebrates, and aquatic organisms that impact a diversity of habitats in forests, rangelands and grasslands of the United States. It is well-illustrated, provides summaries of the most important invasive species and issues impacting all regions of the country, and includes a comprehensive primary reference list for each topic. This scientific synthesis provides the cultural, economic, scientific and social context for addressing environmental challenges posed by invasive species and will be a valuable resource for scholars, policy makers, natural resource managers and practitioners.
Download or read book Annotated Bibliography of Fire Literature Relative to Northern Grasslands in South central Canada and North central United States written by and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Quantifying the Effects of Prescribed Burning on the Health and Productivity of Tallgrass Prairies written by Ryan James Percifield and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comparison of dry seed weights from burned and unburned treatments indicated that seed production was significantly greater in the burned section of the tallgrass prairies (P
