2003 Prescribed Burn Effect on Chihuahuan Desert Grasses and Shrubs at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico: Fuel Load Study (2003-present)

Authors

Esteban Muldavin

Date

9-15-2010

Abstract

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife's plan to apply a prescribed burn to a large portion of Mckenzie Flats was deemed an opportunity to study the effects of fire on the vegetation at the boundary between shrubland and grassland. This study actually was undertaken on an area that had prescribed fire applied to 8 of 16 (300 m x 300 m) plots 10 years before in 1993. This previous study had also examined the effects of fencing to exclude the indigenous prong-horn antelope. In the 2003 study the prescribed fire was applied to the northeastern half of the 16 plots while the southwestern plots were intentionally protected. Sampling prior to the prescribed burn included quantification of fuel load (ie. the standing biomass of all grasses and forbs in the area to be burned). These measurements were made using Daubenmire quadrat frames that are 5 cm x 20 cm and delineate a 0.1 square meter area. Four samples were taken adjacent to the six 3 m x 4 m quadrats in each of the eight plots that were to be burned. Quadrat frames were laid down over the vegetation and all vegetation rooted within the frame was clipped at ground level. This material was bagged, oven-dried and weighed. Following the prescribed burn, re-measurements were made in the fall of 2004 and continue to be measured every fall when vegetation has reached its annual peak biomass.

Handle

http://hdl.handle.net/1928/30031

Other Identifier

SEV165

Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) Identifier

knb-lter-sev.165.121134

Document Type

Dataset

Comments

This dataset was originally published on the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Data Portal, https://portal.lternet.edu, and potentially via other repositories or portals as described. The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) of the source data package is doi:10.6073/pasta/a8ea05c9c6e224120f03ee2b577bf10f, and may be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/a8ea05c9c6e224120f03ee2b577bf10f. Metadata and files included in this record mirror as closely as possible the source data and documentation, with the provenance metadata and quality report generated by the LTER portal reproduced here as '*-provenance.xml' and *-report.html' files, respectively.

Rights

Data Policies: This dataset is released to the public and may be freely downloaded. Please keep the designated Contact person informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation or collaboration with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset must include proper acknowledgement of the Sevilleta LTER. Datasets must be cited as in the example provided. A copy of any publications using these data must be supplied to the Sevilleta LTER Information Manager. By downloading any data you implicitly acknowledge the LTER Data Policy (http://www.lternet.edu/data/netpolicy.html).

Publisher

Sevilleta Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Project

Source

http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/a8ea05c9c6e224120f03ee2b577bf10f

Temporal coverage

2003-06-10 - 2009-11-11

Spatial coverage

McKenzie Flats is located within the northeastern section of the Sevilleta NWR, encompassing an area from Black Butte south to Palo Duro Canyon and east to the Los Pinos.

DOI

doi:10.6073/pasta/a8ea05c9c6e224120f03ee2b577bf10f

Permanent URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/a8ea05c9c6e224120f03ee2b577bf10f

Recommended Citation

Muldavin, Esteban (2010-09-15): 2003 Prescribed Burn Effect on Chihuahuan Desert Grasses and Shrubs at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico: Fuel Load Study (2003-present). Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/a8ea05c9c6e224120f03ee2b577bf10f