The Effect of Fire Season and Frequency on the Plant Community of a Restored Tallgrass Prairie PDF Download

Author: Nathaniel David Birks
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fire ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Author: Scott L. Collins
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 9780806123158
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
Based on papers presented at a 1987 symposium, "Fire in North American Grasslands," cosponsored by the Ecological Society of America and the Botanical Society of America, this book represents an important contribution to key unanswered questions concerning the role of fire in grassland ecosystems: How often did fires occur in the past? Were they primarily natural or caused by humans? At what time of year did grasslands normally burn? How should fire be used as a management tool? What constitutes a proper prescribed burning regime both with and without grazing?

Author: Daryl Smith
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
ISBN: 1587299526
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
"This manual, by four of the most knowledgeable prairie restorationists in the Upper Midwest, brings together absolutely everything that anyone, regardless of background, needs to know for proper tallgrass prairie restoration. In addition to chapters on everything from planning to implementing to managing a prairie, chapters on native seed production and restoring prairies in public spaces and along roadsides cover all that is necessary for successful prairie restorations. This book is an absolute must for anyone in the business of prairie restoration as well as a great read for any prairie enthusiast." -- Robert H. Mohlenbrock, distinguished professor emeritus of botany, Southern Illinois University --Book Jacket.

Author: National Agricultural Library (U.S.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural conservation
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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"The bibliography is a guide to recent scientific literature covering effects of agricultural conservation practices on fish and wildlife. The citations listed here provide information on how conservation programs and practices designed to improve fish and wildlife habitat, as well as those intended for other purposes (e.g., water quality improvement), affect various aquatic and terrestrial fauna"--Abstract.

Author: George Charles Manning (IV)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biotic communities
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Tallgrass prairie is one of the most threatened grasslands in North America. Conservation of tallgrass prairie focuses on both effective management of remaining native prairie, and restoration of formerly cultivated fields to tallgrass prairie. This research focused on processes and properties relevant to restoration and conservation of tallgrass prairie. Community assembly theory attempts to explain the formation of communities, which can be governed by deterministic or stochastic processes, or some combination of both. Fire and grazing are widely used to manage grasslands for conservation purposes, but few studies have evaluated the effects of these drivers on the conservation value of plant communities measured by the floristic quality index. Pollination services play a vital role in the reproductive stability of the plant community in prairies, though this has not been well studied in restored prairie. The first chapter of this dissertation reports on a sequential restoration approach used to gain insights into the extent to which community assembly is deterministic and stochastic events change the trajectory of community development. The sequential restorations consisted of former agriculture fields restored to prairie, varying only in time since abandonment. Species composition and aboveground net primary production were quantified over time in sequentially restored communities to reveal the predictability of ecological restoration in producing desired communities and ecosystem functions. The sequential restoration plots were established in a block design. The same suite of species was seeded using the same seeding rates in each restoration sequence. Species composition was recorded each September in the year of seeding and each June and September in the two subsequent years for each block. Annual aboveground net primary productivity was collected from 2 randomly placed 0.1 m2 plots per subplot during peak biomass. There was a significant sequence by age interaction for sown, volunteer, and total species composition. Sown, volunteer, and total cover, diversity, and richness also were affected by a sequence by age interaction. Annual net primary production (ANPP) also was affected by a sequence by age interaction for sown and volunteer species. However, total ANPP was only affected by the variable age. Results show that interannual climate variability (specifically growing season precipitation) inhibits a priori determinations of community assembly, which suggests that stochastic processes play a significant role in the community assembly process in tallgrass prairie restoration. Variations in annual precipitation during the installation years likely drove the initial differences in species composition and ANPP. In general this study revealed that drought conditions at the time of restoration may be more deleterious than drought conditions occurring at other times post-establishment. The influence of fire and grazing on soil properties and functions is difficult for land managers and restoration practitioners to assess. Therefore, the objectives for the second study were to (i) to quantify the independent and interactive effects of grazing and fire frequency on floristic quality in native tallgrass prairie, and provide potential benchmarks for community assessment, and (ii) to explore whether floristic quality can serve as an indicator of soil structure and function for more holistic ecosystem assessments. A factorial combination of fire frequencies (1-2, 4, and 20 y return intervals) and grazing (by bison or ungrazed) treatments was sampled for plant species composition and several indicators of soil quality in lowland tallgrass prairie. Floristic quality, diversity, and richness were higher in grazed than ungrazed prairie over all fire frequencies. Available inorganic N, microbial biomass N, total soil N, and soil bulk density were also higher in grazed prairie soil over all fire frequencies. Microbial biomass C, total soil organic C, and total soil N were positively correlated with FQI. This study demonstrated that floristic quality and soil N pools are more strongly influenced by grazing than fire and that floristic quality can be an indicator of total soil C and N stocks in never cultivated lowland prairie. In tallgrass prairie, 85-90 % of angiosperms require an insect or other animal for pollen transfer. Restorations can play a vital role in the reestablishment of pollination services and simultaneously help maintain high levels of diversity in the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Missed pollination, via temporal asynchronies, could have a number of biological disadvantages for a plant population. In the third study we addressed the effects of missed pollination on floral period, photosynthetic activity, leaf N content, and seed set in a common native tallgrass prairie forb, Penstemon digitalis . In each of 12 plots, 6 individual plants were either bagged to prevent pollination, or left unbagged, to allow for pollination. There was no difference in mean flower duration between netted and open plots. There was a treatment by time interaction for relative chlorophyll concentrations (P = 0.0005). (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

Author: Cathryn H. Greenberg
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030732673
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 513

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This edited volume presents original scientific research and knowledge synthesis covering the past, present, and potential future fire ecology of major US forest types, with implications for forest management in a changing climate. The editors and authors highlight broad patterns among ecoregions and forest types, as well as detailed information for individual ecoregions, for fire frequencies and severities, fire effects on tree mortality and regeneration, and levels of fire-dependency by plant and animal communities. The foreword addresses emerging ecological and fire management challenges for forests, in relation to sustainable development goals as highlighted in recent government reports. An introductory chapter highlights patterns of variation in frequencies, severities, scales, and spatial patterns of fire across ecoregions and among forested ecosystems across the US in relation to climate, fuels, topography and soils, ignition sources (lightning or anthropogenic), and vegetation. Separate chapters by respected experts delve into the fire ecology of major forest types within US ecoregions, with a focus on the level of plant and animal fire-dependency, and the role of fire in maintaining forest composition and structure. The regional chapters also include discussion of historic natural (lightning-ignited) and anthropogenic (Native American; settlers) fire regimes, current fire regimes as influenced by recent decades of fire suppression and land use history, and fire management in relation to ecosystem integrity and restoration, wildfire threat, and climate change. The summary chapter combines the major points of each chapter, in a synthesis of US-wide fire ecology and forest management into the future. This book provides current, organized, readily accessible information for the conservation community, land managers, scientists, students and educators, and others interested in how fire behavior and effects on structure and composition differ among ecoregions and forest types, and what that means for forest management today and in the future.

Author: Tanya E. Copeland
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Author: Stephen Packard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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This hands-on manual provides a detailed account of what has been learned about the art and science of prairie restoration and the application of that knowledge to restoration projects throughout the world. The book explores a myriad of restoration philosophies and techniques and is an essential resource for anyone working to nurture our once-vibrant native landscapes to a state of health.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dissertations, Academic
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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"Education, arts and social sciences, natural and technical sciences in the United States and Canada".

Author: Yanfu Bai
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2832553109
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
Known as the “roof of the world,” the Tibetan Plateau is the highest and largest plateau on Earth. Tibetan Plateau hosts several mountain ecosystems characterized by high elevations, cold conditions, and a wide range in water availability. Its unique physical and geographical environment includes ecosystems typical for alpine regions, classified as alpine grasslands, which account for 50-70% of the total land area of the Tibetan plateau. Most of these grasslands contain fragile tundra-like environments which are seriously affected by anthropogenic modifications and whose restoration presents a challenge. These natural grassland types include alpine deserts, alpine steppes, alpine meadows, and alpine swamp meadows along precipitation gradients, as well as the transition types between them. Alpine grasslands remain subject to severe degradation by multiple factors, mainly overgrazing and climate warming. As a result, grasslands exhibit a decreased capacity to support biodiversity and complexity, and more generally, ecosystem functions. Therefore, these changes also affect social and recreational activities and restrict access to clean water and food by local communities.