CONSEQUENCES OF ALTERED BURN REGIMES ON PLANT COMMUNITY DIVERSITY IN THE PINEYWOODS OF EAST TEXAS

<p>The re-establishment of historic fire return intervals is vital to restoring forest health, species diversity, natural succession regimes, and reduction of some invasive species. Studies on the effect of fire frequencies on southern pine understory plant communities have revealed increased plant diversity and richness in response to fire, particularly in longleaf pine. The National Forests and Grasslands of Texas (NFGT), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and the privately-owned Winston 8 Ranch are intensively managed using prescribed burns at different frequencies for a variety of management objectives.</p> <p>In this study we aimed to further investigate the effect of fire frequency, stand characteristics, and site management on understory plant community compositions in East Texas. Using 20 years of burn history data, each plot was assigned a high/low group, plots were also grouped and analyzed using site and cover type as grouping factors. Fuel load, litter depth, hardwood basal area, softwood basal area, total basal area, and canopy cover were recorded. Understory species occurrence was recorded to genus level and separated into grass, forb, and woody growth form groups.</p> <p>Our results indicated that grass and forb richness increased in response to greater fire frequencies. The number of burns was positively correlated with total, forb, and grass richness. This effect was observed across multiple sites, with high fire frequency groups containing nearly twice as many grass species and over three times as many forb species. Softwood basal area, hardwood basal area, and litter depth were negatively correlated with forb, grass, and total richness. These results affirm previous research conducted in the region which showed increased understory plant richness of frequently burned upland pine communities.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science - Forestry

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Forestry

Year dc:date.available

2024

Author dc:creator

• Steinley, William

Contributors dc:contributor

• Brian Oswald
• Kathryn Kidd
• Jessica Glasscock

• Fire Ecology
• Understory Diversity
• Plant Communities
• Fire Management
• Fire Regime
• Forest Management

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/548

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.sfasu.edu:etds-1596