Fire and the Prairie-forest Mosaic of Devils Tower National Monument
Fisher RF, Jenkins MJ, Fisher WF. 1987. Fire and the Prairie-forest Mosaic of Devils Tower National Monument. The American Midland Naturalist. 117(2):250-257
"The pattern of vegetation types has changed drastically at Devils Tower over the past 100 years. Fire scars on ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Laws.) at the Monument indicate that there has been a marked change in fire frequency over this period. Studies of soil-borne opal phytoliths indicate the presence of a stable ecotone in the past followed by a dynamic boundary in recent times. Changes in fire frequency from 1770-1900, a time when the Sioux were rapidly expanding into the Black Hills, indicate that native Americans may have dramatically affected the prairie-forest mosaic observed by early Europeans." (from document Abstract)
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Fisher, R; Jenkins, M; Fisher, William
- Units
- DETO
- Keywords
- Ecology, FIRE, Fire Ecology, Fire History, Plant Studies, Ponderosa Pine, Vascular Plants