Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Fire does not alter vegetation in infertile prairie

  • Community Ecology
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The paradigm in prairie ecology is that fire is one of the key factors determining vegetation composition. Fire can impact grassland ecosystems in various ways, including changing plant species composition and inducing nitrogen loss. I found that 17 years of different burning frequencies in infertile grassland had only a minor impact on the vegetation composition and diversity. The only major impact from increasing the frequency of fires was a decrease of Poa pratensis abundance. However, other plant species did not respond to the change in Poa abundance. This result contrasts with previous studies in savannas and more productive grasslands, where the balance between trees, grasses, and the elimination of the litter layer can result in large vegetation changes. However, in this system primary productivity was low, litter did not accumulate and no major vegetation shifts occurred. Thus, the long-term vegetation impacts of burning in an infertile, low-productivity prairie were minimal.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Blair JM (1997) Fire, N availability, and plant response in grasslands: a test of the transient maxima hypothesis. Ecology 78:2359–2368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briggs JM, Knapp AK (1995) Interannual variability in primary production in tallgrass prairie: Climate, soil moisture, topographic position, and fire as determinants of aboveground biomass. Am J Bot 82:1024–1030

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins SL, Gibson DJ (1990) Effects of fire on community structure in tallgrass and mixed-grass prairie. In: Collins SL, Wallace LL (eds) Fire in North American tallgrass prairie. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, pp 81–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins SL, Knapp AK, Briggs JM, Blair JM, Steinauer EM (1998) Modulation of diversity by grazing and mowing in native tallgrass prairie. Science 280:745–747

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Engle DM, Bultsma PM (1984) Burning of Northern mixed prairie during drought. J Range Manage 37:398–401

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster BL, Tilman D (2000) Dynamic and static views of succession: testing the descriptive power of the chronosequence approach. Plant Ecol 146:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson DJ (1988) Regeneration and fluctuation of tallgrass prairie vegetation in response to burning frequency. Bull Torrey Bot Club 115:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grigal DF, Chamberlain LM, Finney HR, Wroblewski DW, Gross ER (1974) Soils of the cedar creek natural history area. University of Minnesota Agriculture Experiment Station, St. Paul

  • Haddad NM, Tilman D, Knops. JMH (2001) Long-term oscillations in grassland productivity induced by drought. Ecol Lett 5:110–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartnett DC, Hickman KR, Fisher Walter LE (1996) Effects of bison grazing, fire and topography on floristic diversity in tallgrass prairie. J Range Manage 49:413–420

    Google Scholar 

  • Inouye RS, Huntley NJ, Tilman D, Tester J, Stillwell M, Zinnel K (1987) Old-field succession on a Minnesota sand plain. Ecology 68:12–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knapp AK, Briggs JM, Hartnett DC, Collins SL (1998) Grassland dynamics. Long-term ecological research in tallgrass prairie. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Knapp AK, Seastedt TR (1986) Detritus accumulation limits productivity in tallgrass prairie. Bioscience 36:662–668

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knops JMH, Tilman D (2000) Dynamics of soil carbon and nitrogen accumulation for 61 years after agricultural abandonment. Ecology 81:88–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leach MK, Givnish TJ (1996) Ecological determinants of species loss in remnant prairies. Science 273:1555–1558

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Magurran AE (1988) Ecological diversity and its measurement. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Ojima DS, Schimel DS, Parton WJ, Owensby CE (1994) Long- and short-term effects of fire on nitrogen cycling in tallgrass prairie. Biogeochemistry 24:67–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson DW, Reich PB (2001) Fire frequency and stand dynamics in an oak savanna-woodland ecosystem. Ecol Appl 11:914–927

    Google Scholar 

  • Redman RE (1978) Plant and soil water potentials following fire in a Northern mixed grassland. J Range Manage 31:443–445

    Google Scholar 

  • Reich PB, Peterson DW, Wedin DA, Wrage K (2001) Fire and vegetation effects on productivity and nitrogen cycling across a forest-grassland continuum. Ecology 82:1703–1719

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith MD, Knapp AK (1999) Exotic plant species in a C4-dominated grassland: invasibility, disturbance, and community structure, vol 120, pp 605–612

  • Steuter AA (1987) C3/C4 production shift on seasonal burns—Northern mixed prairie. J Range Manage 40:27–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Tester JR (1996) Effects of fire frequency on plant species in oak savanna in east-central Minnesota. Bull Torrey Bot Club 123:304–308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D (1984) Plant dominance along an experimental nutrient gradient. Ecology 65:1445–1453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D (1987) Secondary successional and the pattern of plant dominance along experimental nitrogen gradients. Ecol Monogr 57:189–214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D (1990) Constraints and tradeoffs: toward a predictive theory of competition and succession. Oikos 58:3–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D, Wedin D (1991) Plant traits and resource reduction for five grasses growing on a nitrogen gradient. Ecology 72:685–700

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Towne EG, Knapp AK (1996) Biomass and density reponses in tallgrass prairie legumes to annual fire and topographic position. Am J Bot 83:175, 179

    Google Scholar 

  • Towne G, Owensby CE (1984) Long-term effects of annual burning at different dates in ungrazed Kansas tallgrass prairie. J Range Manage 37:392–397

    Google Scholar 

  • Wan S, Hui D, Luo Y (2001) Fire effects on nitrogen pools and dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems: a meta-analysis. Ecol Appl 11:1349–1365

    Google Scholar 

  • Wedin DA, Tilman D (1996) Influence of nitrogen loading and species composition on the carbon balance of grasslands. Science 274:1720–1723

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research has been supported by the University of Nebraska and NSF grants 0080382, 0087206 and 0100133. Thanks are due to Troy Mielke and the Cedar Creek interns for help in the field, and Amy Symstad, Kate Bradley, Ramesh Laungani, Cathleen McFadden and Kate Stoysich for comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, 348 Manter Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68502, USA

    Johannes M. H. Knops

Authors
  1. Johannes M. H. Knops
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Johannes M. H. Knops.

Additional information

Communicated by Alan Knapp.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Knops, J.M.H. Fire does not alter vegetation in infertile prairie. Oecologia 150, 477–483 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0535-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0535-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation