Effect of Fires on Woody Vegetation in the Pine-grassland Ecotone of the Southern Black Hills
Bock JH and Bock CE. 1984. Effect of Fires on Woody Vegetation in the Pine-grassland Ecotone of the Southern Black Hills. The American Midland Naturalist. 112(1):35-42
This paper presents a 3-year study (1979-1981) on the effects of prescribed burning of ponderosa pine forests at Wind Cave National Park, in the southern Black Hills, South Dakota. The fires were largely restricted to surface fuels and forest understory vegetation. Effects upon understory shrubs and deciduous trees were modest. In eight study plots, two cool-season (autumn and spring) fires consistently reduced densities of Ribes spp. and stimulated Amorpha canescens Pursh., while other shrubs were unaffected. These burns significantly reduced the density of immature and smaller mature ponderosa pines. The reductions were consistent across all eight study plots. By contrast, an autumn (1974) crown fire, in ponderosa pine, killed pine of all sizes and most shrub species increased dramatically. We attribute these differences in postfire vegetation response to variable fire intensities.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Bock, Jane; Bock, Carl
- Units
- WICA
- Keywords
- Air Temperature, autumn, Black Hills, Botany, Charcoal, Conifers, deciduous, Dendrology, Environmental Assessment, FIRE, Fire Behavior, Fire Ecology, Fire History, Fire Management, Fire Suppression, Forest, Forest Ecology, Forestry, Human Impact, Management, Native Species, Natural Resource Management, Natural Resources, Pine (Pinus), Plant Ecology, Plant Studies, Plants, Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa), Ponderosa Pine Forest, Prescribed Burns, Revegetation, Seasonality, Spring, Succession, Trees, Vegetation, Weather