Preliminary response of sandhills prairie to fire and bison grazing
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Authors: K. E. Pfeiffer, and A. A. Steuter
Date: 1994
Journal: Journal of Range Management
Volume: 47
Number: 5
Pages: 395-397
Summary of Methods: Pfeiffer and Steuter determined the effects of fire and bison (Bison bison) grazing on four groups of Sandhills prairie plants, bunchgrasses, matrix forbs (the dominant rhizomatous species), and interstitial forbs. End of season standing crop of both rhizomatous species and bunchgrasses was increased by spring burning on sands range sites. Summer burning did not affect rhizomatous grass standing crop, but dramatically reduced bunchgrass standing crop. On burned areas, bison grazing reduced bunchgrass standing crop by 56%, while reducing rhizomatous grass standing crop by only 18%. While fire in combination with grazing may be necessary to maintain Sandhills vegetation in its current state, it also may increase the erosion hazard to these rangelands.
Article Summary / Main Points: None
Vegetation Types:
MLRA Ecoregions:
Agrovoc Control Words: Riparian zones Rangelands Wildlife
Article Review Type: Refereed
Article Type: Experimental Research
Keywords: fire effects, rhizomatous grass, bunchgrass, matrix forb, interstitial forb, bison grazing
Annotation: 40, paired plots were established on the study site in 1991. Bison were excluded from grazing 1 plot of each pair by cages. 20 grazed and 20 ungrazed cages were randomly located in one of the spring burned areas and the other pair in an adjacent unburned area. Regrowth on the late July burns was not enough to warrant sampling in 1991, and the cages were relocated with the spring burned area and the summer burned area each containing 14 paired plots, and the unburned area 12 pairs. The 4 treatments in 1991 were: spring burned/grazed, spring burned/ungrazed, unburned/grazed, and unburned/ungrazed.,Two additional treatments were added in 1982: summer burned/grazed and summer burned/ungrazed. The study sites were located within a 3,000 ha pasture that has been grazed by bison and 250 adult and yearling bison graze the enclosure year round (about 1.0 AUM/ha/yr stocking rate).
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