Plant Community and Soil Environment Response to Summer Fire in the Northern Great Plains |
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| Authors: | Lance T Vermeire Jessica L Crowder David B Wester |
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| Institution: | 1. Ecologist, US Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service, Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory, 243 Fort Keogh Rd, Miles City, MT 59301, USA;2. Policy Analyst, Wyoming Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources & Policy, 2219 Carey Ave, Cheyenne, WY 82002, USA;3. Professor, Department of Natural Resources Management, Goddard Building, Texas Tech University, Box 42125, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA;1. Department of Animal Science, University of Nebraska, Lincoln 68583; and;2. Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nebraska, Lincoln 68583;1. Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA;2. School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA;1. Livestock Environmental Stewardship Specialist, Animal Science Department, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA;2. Research Agronomist, USDA-ARS National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment, Ames, IA 50011, USA;3. Environmental Planner, KLJ Engineering, Dickinson, ND 58601, USA;4. State Rangeland Management Specialist (retired), USDA?Natural Resource Conservation Service;1. Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada;2. Alberta Environment and Parks, Land and Forest Policy Division, Edmonton, AB, Canada;3. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge, AB, Canada;1. Assistant Professor, State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.;2. Associate Professor, Agriculture and Ecology Research Department, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China.;3. Visiting Scholar, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.;4. Professor, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA. |
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| Abstract: | Fire is an important process in many ecosystems, especially grasslands. However, documentation of plant community and soil environment responses to fire is limited for semiarid grasslands relative to that for mesic grasslands. Replicated summer fire research is lacking but necessary because summer is the natural fire season and the period of most wildfires in the western United States. We evaluated summer fire effects on soil temperature, soil moisture, aboveground biomass, root biomass, and functional group composition for 2 yr in semiarid C3-dominated northern Great Plains. Following pre-treatment measures, four 0.75-ha sites were burned during August for comparison with nonburned sites, and the experiment was repeated the next year on adjacent sites to assess weather effects. Soils were about 0.5°C cooler on burned sites in the first experiment and similar in the second. Burned sites were consistently 1% drier than nonburned sites. Litter was reduced by fire but did not account for changes in soil moisture because differences occurred before the growing season. Current-year aboveground biomass and root biomass were similar between treatments, indicating productivity was resistant to summer fire. Perennial C3 grasses increased in dominance because of positive biomass responses to fire for all but the bunchgrass, Hesperostipa comata, and a reduction of annual grasses. Perennial C4 grasses were unaffected by summer fire. H. comata was resilient, with biomass on burned sites equaling nonburned sites the second growing season. Biomass was more responsive to precipitation than fire, and the fire-induced changes in species composition suggest exclusion of fire may be a greater disturbance than summer fire. |
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