Toward a mechanism for eastern North American forest mesophication: Differential litter drying across 17 species

Ecological Applications

Volumn 23, Issue 8, 2013, Pages 1976-1986

  Kreye, Jesse K ^a   Varner, J Morgan ^a   Hiers, J Kevin ^b   Mola, John ^c  

^a MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATORY   (United States)

^c HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Acer rubrum; Ecological restoration; Fire exclusion; Fuel moisture; Leaf traits; Positive feedbacks

Indexed keywords

ABSORPTION; BIOLOGICAL INVASION; DESORPTION; FOREST ECOSYSTEM; LITTER; MOISTURE CONTENT; PLANT COMMUNITY; UPLAND REGION;

UNITED STATES;

WATER;

ARTICLE; BIOLOGICAL MODEL; CLASSIFICATION; ECOSYSTEM; ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING; FIRE; NORTH AMERICA; PLANT; TREE;

ECOSYSTEM; ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING; FIRES; MODELS, BIOLOGICAL; NORTH AMERICA; PLANTS; TREES; WATER;

EID: 84891304671     PISSN: 10510761     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1890/13-0503.1     Document Type: Article

References (57)

1. Abrams, M. D. 1992. Fire and the development of oak forests. BioScience 42:346-353.
2. Abrams, M. D. 1998. The red maple paradox. BioScience 48:355-364.
3. Abrams, M. D. 2005. Prescribed fire in eastern oak forests: Is time running out? Northern Journal of Applied Forestry 22:190-196.
4. Abrams, M. D., and J. A. Downs. 1990. Successional replacement of old-growth white oak by mixed-mesophytic hardwoods in southwest Pennsylvania. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 20:1864-1870.
5. Agee, J. K., and C. N. Skinner. 2005. Basic principles of forest fuel reduction treatments. Forest Ecology and Management 211:83-96.
6. Alexander, H. D., and M. A. Arthur. 2010. Implications of a predicted shift from upland oaks to red maple on forest hydrology and nutrient availability. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 40:716-726.
7. Alexander, H. D., M. A. Arthur, D. L. Loftis, and S. R. Green. 2008. Survival and growth of upland oak and co-occurring competitor seedlings following single and repeated prescribed fires. Forest Ecology and Management 256:1021-1030.
8. Anderson, H. E. 1990. Moisture diffusivity and response time in fine forest fuels. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 20:315-325.
9. Arthur, M. A., H. D. Alexander, D. C. Dey, C. J. Schweitzer, and D. L. Loftis. 2012. Refining the oak-fire hypothesis for management of oak-dominated forests of the eastern United States. Journal of Forestry 110:257-266.
10. Beckage, B., W. J. Platt, and L. J. Gross. 2009. Vegetation, fire, and feedbacks: a disturbance-mediated model of savannas. American Naturalist 174:805-818.
11. Bond, W. J., and B. W. van Wilgen. 1996. Fire and plants. Population and community biology series 14. Chapman and Hall, London, UK.
12. Brose, P. H., D. C. Dey, R. J. Phillips, and T. A. Waldrop. 2013. A meta-Analysis of the fire-oak hypothesis: Does prescribed burning promote oak reproduction in eastern North AmericaForest Science 50:322-334.
13. Bussié re, F., and P. Cellier. 1994. Modification of the soil temperature and water content regimes by a crop residue mulch: experiment and modelling. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 68:1-28.
14. Byram, G. M. 1963. An analysis of the drying process in forest fuel material. Proceedings of the 1963 International Symposium on Humidity and Moisture. Washington, D.C., USA.
15. Christensen, N. L. 1977. Changes in structure, pattern, and diversity associated with climax forest maturation in Piedmont, North Carolina. American Midland Naturalist 97:176-188.
16. Clinton, B. D., and J. M. Vose. 1996. Effects of Rhododendron maximum L. on Acer rubrum L. seedling establishment. Castanea 61:38-45.
17. Cochrane, M. A., A. Alencar, M. D. Schulze, C. M. Souza, Jr., D. C. Nepstad, P. Lefebvre, and E. A. Davidson. 1999. Positive feedbacks in the fire dynamics of closed canopy tropical forests. Science 284:1832-1835.
18. Engber, E. A., and J. M. Varner. 2012. Patterns of flammability of the California oaks: the role of leaf traits. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 42:1965-1975.
19. Engber, E. A., J. M. Varner, L. A. Arguello, and N. G. Sugihara. 2011. The effects of conifer encroachment and overstory structure on fuels and fire in an oak woodland landscape. Fire Ecology 7:32-50.
20. Fabio, E. S., M. A. Arthur, and C. C. Rhoades. 2009. Influence of moisture regime and tree species composition on nitrogen cycling dynamics in hardwood forest of Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 39:330-341.
21. Fonda, R. W. 1998. Burning characteristics of western conifer needles. Northwest Science 72:1-9.
22. Fonda, R. W. 2001. Burning characteristics of needles from eight pine species. Forest Science 47:390-396.
23. Fosberg, M. A. 1970. Drying rates of heartwood below fiber saturation. Forest Science 16:57-63.
24. Frost, C. 2006. History and future of the longleaf pine ecosystem. Pages 9-42 in S. Jose, E. J. Jokela, and D. L. Miller, editors. The longleaf pine ecosystem. Springer, New York, New York, USA.
25. Gagnon, P. R., H. A. Passmore, W. J. Platt, J. A. Myers, C. E. T. Paine, and K. E. Harms. 2010. Does pyrogenicity protect burning plants? Ecology 91:3481-3486.
26. Gholz, H. L., D. A. Wedin, S. M. Smitherman, M. H. Harmon, and W. J. Parton. 2000. Long-term dynamics of pine and hardwood litter in contrasting environments: toward a global model of decomposition. Global Change Biology 6:751-765.
27. Gilliam, F. S., and W. J. Platt. 1999. Effects of long-term fire exclusion on tree species composition and stand structure in and old-growth Pinus palustris (longleaf pine) forest. Plant Ecology 140:15-26.
28. Glitzenstein, J. S., W. J. Platt, and D. R. Streng. 1995. Effects of fire regime and habitat on tree dynamics in north Florida longleaf pine savannas. Ecological Monographs 65:441-476.
29. Glitzenstein, J. S., D. R. Streng, and D. D. Wade. 2003. Fire frequency effects on longleaf pine (Pinus palustris P. Miller) vegetation in South Carolina and northeast Florida, USA. Natural Areas Journal 23:22-37.
30. Govender, N., W. S. Trollope, and B. W. van Wilgen. 2006. The effect of fire season, fire frequency, rainfall and management on fire intensity in savanna vegetation in South Africa. Journal of Applied Ecology 43:748-758.
31. Green, S. R., M. A. Arthur, and B. A. Blankenship. 2010. Oak and red maple seedling survival and growth following periodic prescribed fire on xeric ridge tops on the Cumberland Plateau. Forest Ecology and Management 259:2256-2266.
32. Hane, E. N. 2003. Indirect effects of beech bark disease on sugar maple seedling survival. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 33:807-813.
33. Hiers, J. K., J. J. O'Brien, R. E. Will, and R. J. Mitchell. 2007. Forest floor depth mediates understory vigor in xeric Pinus palustris ecosystems. Ecological Applications 17:806-814.
34. Hille, M. G., and S. L. Stephens. 2005. Mixed conifer forest duff consumption during prescribed fires: tree crown impacts. Forest Science 51:417-424.
35. Hintze, J. L. 2007. NCSS and PASS. Version 2007. Number Crunching Statistical Systems, Kaysville, Utah, USA.
36. Hoffman, W. A., S. Y. Jaconis, K. L. McKinley, E. L. Geiger, S. G. Gotsch, and A. C. Franco. 2012. Fuels or microclimate? Understanding the drivers of fire feedbacks at savanna-forest boundaries. Austral Ecology 37:634-643.
37. Kane, J. M., J. M. Varner, and J. K. Hiers. 2008. The burning characteristics of southeastern oaks: discriminating fire facilitators from fire impeders. Forest Ecology and Management 256:2039-2045.
38. Kreye, J. K., J. M. Varner, and E. E. Knapp. 2012. Moisture desorption in mechanically masticated fuels: effects of particle fracturing and fuelbed compaction. International Journal of Wildland Fire 21:894-904.
39. Kush, J. S., and R. S. Meldahl. 2000. Composition of a virgin stand of longleaf pine in south Alabama. Castanea 65:56-63.
40. Myers, R. L. 1985. Fire and the dynamic relationship between Florida sandhill and sand pine scrub vegetation. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 112:241-252.
41. Myers, R. L. 1990. Scrub and high pine. Pages 150-193 in R. L. Myers and J. J. Ewel, editors. Ecosystems of Florida. University of Central Florida Press, Orlando, Florida, USA.
42. Nelson, R. M., Jr., and J. K. Hiers. 2008. The influence of fuelbed properties on moisture dying rates and timelags of longleaf pine litter. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 38:2394-2404.
43. Nowacki, G. J., and M. D. Abrams. 2008. The demise of fire and ''mesophication'' of forests in the eastern United States. BioScience 58:123-138.
44. Peterson, D. W., and P. B. Reich. 2001. Prescribed fire in oak savanna: fire frequency effects on stand structure and dynamics. Ecological Applications 11:914-927.
45. Platt, W. J. 1999. Southeastern pine savannas. Pages 23-51 in R. C. Anderson, J. S. Fralish, and J. Baskin, editors. The savanna, barren, and rock outcrop communities of North America. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
46. Provencher, L., B. J. Herring, D. R. Gordon, H. L. Rodgers, K. E. Galley, G. W. Tanner, J. L. Hardesty, and L. A. Brennan. 2001. Effects of hardwood reduction techniques on longleaf pine sandhill vegetation in northwest Florida. Restoration Ecology 9:13-27.
47. Robbins, L. E., and R. L. Myers. 1992. Seasonal effects of prescribed burning in Florida: a review. Miscellaneous publication no. 8. Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, Florida, USA.
48. Rothermel, R. C. 1972. A mathematical model for predicting fire spread in wildland fuels. Research Paper INT-137. USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Ogden, Utah, USA.
49. Scheffer, M., and S. R. Carpenter. 2003. Catastrophic regime shifts in ecosystems: linking theory to observation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18:648-656.
50. Schroeder, M. J., and C. C. Buck. 1970. Fire weather: a guide for application of meteorological information to forest fire control operations. Agricultural Handbook 360. USDA Forest Service, Washington, D.C., USA.
51. Schwilk, D. W., and A. C. Caprio. 2011. Scaling from leaf traits to fire behaviour: community composition predicts fire severity in a temperate forest. Journal of Ecology 99:970-980.
52. Sokal, R. R., and F. J. Rohlf. 1995. Biometry: the principles and practice of statistics in biological research. Third edition. W.H. Freeman, New York, New York, USA.
53. Tanskanen, H., A. Granstrom, A. Venalainen, and P. Puttonen. 2006. Moisture dynamics of moss-dominated surface fuel in relation to the structure of Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris stands. Forest Ecology and Management 226:189-198.
54. Trauernicht, C., B. P. Murphy, T. E. Portner, and D. M. J. S. Bowman. 2012. Tree cover-fire interactions promote the persistence of a fire-sensitive conifer in a highly flammable savanna. Journal of Ecology 100:958-968.
55. Varner, J. M., D. R. Gordon, F. E. Putz, and J. K. Hiers. 2005. Restoring fire to long-unburned Pinus palustris ecosystems: novel fire effects and consequences for long-unburned ecosystems. Restoration Ecology 13:536-544.
56. Veldman, J. W., W. B. Mattingly, and L. A. Brudvig. 2013. Understory plant communities and the functional distinction between savanna trees, forest trees, and pines. Ecology 94:424-434.
57. Viney, N. R., and E. A. Catchpole. 1991. Estimating fuel moisture response times from field observations. International Journal of Wildland Fire 1:211-214.