Date
9-15-2010
Abstract
Disturbance from fire can affect the abundance and distribution of shrubs and grasses in arid ecosystems. In particular, fire may increase grass and forb production while hindering shrub encroachment. Therefore, prescribed fires are a common management tool for maintaining grassland habitats in the southwest. However, Bouteloua eriopoda (black grama), a dominant species in Chihuahuan Desert grassland, is highly susceptible to fire resulting in death followed by slow recovery rates. A prescribed fire on the Sevilleta National Wildlife refuge in central New Mexico in 2003 provided the opportunity to study the effects of infrequent fires on vegetation in this region. This study was conducted along a transition zone where creosote bushes (Larrea tridentata) are encroaching on a black grama grassland. Before and after the fire, above ground plant productivity and composition were monitored from 2003 to present. Following the prescribed fire, there were fewer individual grass clumps and less above ground grass cover in burned areas compared to unburned areas. This decrease in productivity was primarily from a loss of B. eriopoda. Specifically, B. eriopoda density and cover were significantly lower following the fire with a slow recovery rate in the five years following the fire. Other grasses showed no such adverse response to burning.
Handle
http://hdl.handle.net/1928/30032
Other Identifier
SEV166
Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) Identifier
knb-lter-sev.166.122109
Document Type
Dataset
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/7d62bbb0e65c4b8f3728a8888d40421a
Temporal coverage
2004-05-18 - 2010-04-14
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/7d62bbb0e65c4b8f3728a8888d40421a
Permanent URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/7d62bbb0e65c4b8f3728a8888d40421a
Recommended Citation
Muldavin, Esteban; Collins, Scott (2010-09-15): 2003 Prescribed Burn Effect on Chihuahuan Desert Grasses and Shrubs at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico: Species Composition Study (2004-present). Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/7d62bbb0e65c4b8f3728a8888d40421a
Show full metadata
knb-lter-sev.166.122109-provenance.xml (4 kB)
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knb-lter-sev.166.122109-report.html (28 kB)
Show original LTER Network Data Portal ingest report
sev166_burnxquad_11142013 (2303 kB)
Data in TXT format
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/7d62bbb0e65c4b8f3728a8888d40421a, and may be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/7d62bbb0e65c4b8f3728a8888d40421a. 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.