Long-term effects of fire frequency and season on herbaceous vegetation in savannas of the Kruger National Park, South Africa

Journal of Plant Ecology

Volumn 6, Issue 1, 2013, Pages 71-83

  Smith, Melinda D ^a   Van Wilgen, Brian W ^b   Burns, Catherine E ^c   Govender, Navashni ^d   Potgieter, Andre L F ^d   Andelman, Sandy ^e   Biggs, Harry C ^d   Botha, Judith ^d   Trollope, Winston S W ^f  

^a YALE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b DSI CSIR Nanotechnology Innovation Centre   (South Africa)

^c THE NATURE CONSERVANCY   (United States)

^d SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL PARKS   (South Africa)

^e Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) Network   (United States)

^f UNIVERSITY OF FORT HARE   (South Africa)

Author keywords

climate; fire intensity; grass; herbivory; soil fertility

Indexed keywords

POACEAE;

EID: 84873343606     PISSN: 17529921     EISSN: 1752993X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rts014     Document Type: Article

References (60)

1. Anderson TM, Schutz M, Risch AC (2012) Seed germination cues and the importance of soil seed bank across an environmental gradient in the Serengeti. Oikos 121:306-12.
2. Archibald S, Bond WJ, Stock WD, et al. (2005) Shaping the landscape: fire-grazer interactions in an African savanna. Ecol Appl 15:96-109.
3. Archibald SA, Roy DP, van Wilgen BW, et al. (2009) What limits fire? An examination of drivers of burnt area in sub-equatorial Africa. Glob Change Biol 15:613-30.
4. Belsky AJ (1990) Tree/grass ratios in East African savannas: a comparison of existing models. J Biogeogr 17:483-9.
5. Belsky AJ (1992) Effects of grazing, competition, disturbance and fire on species composition and diversity in grassland communities. J Veg Sci 3:187-200.
6. Biggs R, Biggs HC, Dunne TT, et al. (2003) Experimental burn plot trial in the Kruger National Park: history, experimental design and suggestions for data analysis. Koedoe 46:1-15. (Pubitemid 37084515)
7. Bond WJ, Keeley JE (2005) Fire as a global herbivore: the ecology and evolution of flammable ecosystems. Trends Ecol Evol 20:387-94.
8. Bond WJ, Midgley GF, Woodward FI (2003) What controls South African vegetation - climate or fire? S Afr J Bot 69:1-13.
9. Bond WJ, Parr CL (2010) Beyond the forest edge: ecology, diversity and conservation of the grassy biomes. Biol Conserv 143:2395-404.
10. Bond WJ, van Wilgen BW (1996) Fire and Plants. London: Chapman and Hall.
11. Briggs JM, Knapp AK, Brock BL (2002) Expansion of woody plants in tallgrass prairie: a fifteen-year study of fire and fire-grazing interactions. Am Mid Nat 147:287-94.
12. Buis GM, Blair JM, Burkepile DE, et al. (2009) Controls of aboveground net primary production in mesic savanna grasslands: an inter-hemispheric comparison. Ecosystems 12:982-95.
13. Byram GM (1959) Combustion of forest fuels. In: Davis KP (ed). Forest Fire: Control and Use. New York: McGraw-Hill, 61-89.
14. Campbell SD, Bahnisch LM, Orr DM (1996) Fire directly promotes the germination of dormant speargrass (Heteropogon contortus) seed. Trop Grassl 30:162
15. Collins SL (2000) Disturbance frequency and community stability in native tallgrass prairie. Am Nat 155:311-25.
16. Collins SL, Knapp AK, Briggs JM, et al. (1998) Modulation of diversity by grazing and mowing in native tallgrass prairie. Science 280:745-7. (Pubitemid 28243350)
17. Enslin BW, Potgieter ALF, Biggs HC, et al. (2000) Long term effects of fire frequency and season on the woody vegetation dynamics of the Sclerocarya birrea/Acacia nigrescens savanna of the Kruger National Park. Koedoe 43:27-37.
18. Everson CS, TaintonNM(1984) The effect of thirty years of burning on the highland sourveld of Natal. J Grassl Soc S Afr 1:15-20.
19. Frost PGH, Robertson F (1987) The ecological effects of fire in savannas. In: Walker BH (ed). Determinants of Tropical Savannas. Oxford: IRL Press, 93-141.
20. Fuhlendorf SD, Engle DM (2001) Restoring heterogeneity on rangelands: ecosystem management based on evolutionary grazing patterns. BioScience 51:625-32.
21. Fuhlendorf SD, Engle DM (2004) Application of the fire-grazing interaction to restore a shifting mosaic on tallgrass prairie. J Appl Ecol 41:604-14.
22. Furley PA, Rees RM, Ryan CM, et al. (2008) Savanna burning and the assessment of long-term fire experiments with particular reference to Zimbabwe. Prog Phys Geogr 32:611-34.
23. Fynn RWS, Morris CD, Edwards TJ (2004) Effect of burning and mowing on grass and forb diversity in a long-term grassland experiment. Appl Veg Sci 7:1-10. (Pubitemid 38693401)
24. Fynn RWS, Morris CD, Edwards TJ (2005) Long-term compositional responses of a South African mesic grassland to burning and mowing. Appl Veg Sci 8:5-12. (Pubitemid 41431336)
25. Gill AM (1975) Fire and the Australian flora: a review. Aust For 38:4-25.
26. Govender N, Trollope WSW, van Wilgen BW (2006) The effect of fire season, fire frequency, rainfall and management on fire intensities in savanna vegetation in South Africa. J Appl Ecol 43:748-58.
27. Higgins SI, Bond WJ, February EC, et al. (2007) Effects of four decades of fire manipulation on woody vegetation structure in savanna. Ecology 88:1119-25.
28. Higgins SI, Bond WJ, Trollope WSW (2000) Fire, resprouting and variability: a recipe for grass-tree coexistence in savanna. J Ecol 88:213-29.
29. Huntley BJ, Walker BH (1982) Ecology of Tropical Savannas. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag.
30. Jacobs OS, Biggs R (2001) The effect of different fire treatments on the population structure and density of the Marula (Sclerocarya birrea (A. Rich.) Hochst. subsp. caffra (Sond.) kokwaro (Kokwaro and Gillet 1980) in the Kruger National Park. Afr J Range For Sci 18: 13-24.
31. Jacobs MJ, Schloeder CA (2002) Fire frequency and species associations in perennial grasslands of south-west Ethiopia. Ecol 40:1-9. (Pubitemid 34220124)
32. Kennedy AD, Biggs H, Zambatis N (2003) Relationship between grass species richness and ecosystem stability in Kruger Naional Park, South Africa. Afr J Ecol 41:131-140.
33. Kennedy AD, Potgieter ALF (2003) Fire season affects size and architecture of Colophospermum mopane in southern African savannas. Plant Ecol 167:179-92.
34. Leach MK, Givnish TJ (1996) Ecological determinants of species loss in remnant prairies. Science 273:1555-8. (Pubitemid 26301667)
35. Magurran AE (2004) Measuring Biological Diversity. Maldan, MA: Blackwell Pub.
36. Mills AJ, Fey MV (2005) Interactive responses of herbivores, soils and vegetation in a South African savanna. Aust Ecol 30:435-44.
37. Mistry J (1998) Fire in the cerrado (savannas) of Brazil: an ecological overview. Prog Phys Geogr 22:425-48.
38. O'Regan SP (2005) Responses of the woody vegetation in the Pretoriuskop sourveld savannas of the Kruger National Park to fires burnt at different frequencies. MSc Thesis. Johannesburg, SA: University of the Witwatersrand.
39. Orr DM, Paton CJ, Lisle AT (1997) Using fire to manage species composition in Heteropogon contortus (black speargrass) pasturs. 1. Burning regimes. Aust J Agric Res 48:795-802.
40. Parr CL, Robertson HG, Biggs HC, et al. (2004) Response of African savanna ants to long-term fire regimes. J Appl Ecol 41:630-42.
41. Sankaran M, Ratnam J, Hanan N (2008) Woody cover in African savannas: the role of resources, fire and herbivory. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 17:236-45.
42. Sarmiento G (1984) The Ecology of Neotropical Savannas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
43. Savadogo P, Tiveau D, Sawadogo L, et al. (2008) Herbaceous species responses to long-term effects of prescribed fire, grazing and selective tree cutting in the savanna-woodlands of West Africa. Perspect Plant Ecol Evol Syst 10:179-95.
44. Scholes RJ, Archer SR (1997) Tree-grass interactions in savannas. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 28:517-44.
45. Scholes RJ, Walker BH (1993) An African Savanna: Synthesis of the Nylsvley Study. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
46. Shackleton CM, Scholes RJ (2000) Impact of fire frequency on woody community structure and soil nutrients in the Kruger National Park. Koedoe 43:75-81.
47. Smit IPJ, Asner GP, Govender N, et al. (2010) Effects of fire on woody vegetation structure in African savanna. Ecol Appl 20:865-1875
48. Smith AB (1992) Pastoralism in Africa: Origins and Development Ecology. London: Hurst.
49. Trollope WSW, Potgieter ALF (1985) Fire behaviour in the Kruger national park. J Grassl Soc S Afr 2:17-22.
50. Uys R, Bond WJ, Everson TM (2004) The effects of different fire regimes on plant diversity in southern African grasslands. Biol Conserv 118:489-99.
51. van Langevelde F, van de Vijver CADM, Kumar L, et al. (2003) Effects of fire and herbivory on the stability of savanna ecosystems. Ecology 84:337-50.
52. van Oudtshoorn F (1999) Guide to Grasses of Southern Africa. Pretoria, SA: Briza Publication.
53. van Wilgen BW, Biggs HC, O'Regan S, et al. (2000) A fire history of the savanna ecosystems in the Kruger national park, South Africa between 1941 and 1996. S Afr J Sci 96:167-78.
54. van Wilgen BW, Govender N, Biggs HC (2007) The contribution of fire research to fire management: a critical review of a long-term experiment in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Int J Wildl Fire 16:519-30.
55. van Wilgen BW, Govender N, Biggs HC, et al. (2004) Response of savanna fire regimes to changing fire management policies in a large African national park. Cons Biol 18:1533-40.
56. van Wilgen BW, Trollope WSW, Biggs HC, et al. (2003) Fire as a driver of ecosystem variability. In: du Toit J, Rogers KH, Biggs HC (eds). The Kruger Experience: Ecology and Management of Savanna Heterogeneity. New York: Island Press.
57. van Wyk P (1971) Veld burning in Kruger National Park, an interim report of some aspects of research. Proc Tall Timbers Fire Ecol Conf 11:9-31.
58. van Wyk B, van Wyk P (1997) Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik.
59. Veenendaal EM, Ernst WHO, Modise GS (1996) Reproductive effort and phenology of seed production of savanna grasses with different growth form and life history. Vegetatio 123:91-100
60. Yeaton RI, Frost S, Frost PGH (1986) A direct gradient analysis of grasses in a savanna. S Afr J Sci 82:482-6.