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Effects of fire frequency and season on resprouting of woody plants in southeastern US pine-grassland communities

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Abstract

Past studies suggest that rates of woody plant resprouting following a “topkilling” disturbance relate to timing of disturbance because of temporal patterns of below-ground carbohydrate storage. Accordingly, we hypothesized that fire-return interval (1 or 2 years) and season of burn (late dormant or early growing season) would influence the change in resprout growth rate from one fire-free interval to the next (Δ growth rate) for broadleaf woody plants in a pine-grassland in Georgia, USA. Resprout growth rate during one fire-free interval strongly predicted growth rate during the following fire-free interval, presumably reflecting root biomass. Length of fire-free interval did not have a significant effect on mean Δ growth rate. Plants burned in the late dormant season (February–March) had a greater positive Δ growth rate than those burned in the early growing season (April–June), consistent with the presumption that root carbohydrates are depleted and thus limiting during spring growth. Plants with resprout growth rates above a certain level had zero or negative Δ growth rates, indicating an equilibrium of maximum resprout size under a given fire-return interval. This equilibrium, as well as relatively reduced resprout growth rate following growing season fires, provide insight into how historic lightning-initiated fires in the early growing season limited woody plant dominance and maintained the herb-dominated structure of pine-grassland communities. Results also indicate tradeoffs between applying prescribed fire at 1- versus 2-year intervals and in the dormant versus growing seasons with the goal of limiting woody vegetation.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Pebble Hill Foundation for providing field sites and land management, Chuck Martin for assistance with prescribed burns and protection of plots, Thomas Ostertag, Jason Isbell, and João Tomé for conducting much of the field work, Christine Sloan for assistance with data management, Kaye Gainey for editing, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions that improved the manuscript. The project was funded by a grant from Gene Phipps and by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.

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  1. Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy, 13093 Henry Beadel Drive, Tallahassee, FL, 32312, USA

    Kevin M. Robertson

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Tracy L. Hmielowski

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  1. Kevin M. Robertson
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Correspondence to Kevin M. Robertson.

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Communicated by Andrea Polle.

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Robertson, K.M., Hmielowski, T.L. Effects of fire frequency and season on resprouting of woody plants in southeastern US pine-grassland communities. Oecologia 174, 765–776 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-013-2823-4

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