Native Warm-season Grassland
نویسندگان
چکیده
20B Natut'al Areas Journal ABSTRACT: Invasive species challenge ll1illwgcrs or natural areilS. III nlilily ecosyslems, rcslori'ng , . " .. I. I· . I· I· . 1 I' dl1\! maintaining pre .. hls(OfiC {lStur '<lllce regllnes promotes native )IOt Iverslty an( contro s Invasive pl;!n species. We report challenges in applying patch-burn grazing to rcstore the ecological interaCtiolt between lire and herhivores in eastern North American tallgrass prairie. We use United States l~'()rcs: Service fire behavior software and fuell1lodels [0 simulate the effect of a cool .. s{~asoll grass invasion illtQ l<!llgrass prairie. By introducing a high··moisture fuel type into the native fuclbed, tall fescue (Loli/III! (/l"IIntiin{lc('If1ll Schrch. SJ. Darbyshire) creates a heterogeneous fuel bed that limits lire spread rate. Onl'. results indicate thal a high··moisture fuel type invading a high proportioll of a fuelbcd requires tiP 10 four limes the wind speed (0 achieve a rate of spread similar to that in an llninvaded fueJbed. Reduced fire spread undermines restoring the natural fire regime, putting invadcd grassland systems al a higher risk of sllceession to a woodland slate. To mitigate againstncgative effects of high-moislure invaders on prescribed burning and ensure that fires maintain the intensity required for managemc,llt goals, managcrs should consider the following when planning burns: Accumulate high¢J" fuel loads by reducing herbivory or reducing lire frequcncy; burn earlier in the spring 01" later in the fall, during the dormant seaSOn of the invader: and consider alternativc fire weather sllch as lower relative humidity, pcrhaps with lower wind speeds 10 maintain an acceptahle level of complexity.
منابع مشابه
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