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An Invasive Grass Increases Live Fuel Proportion and Reduces Fire Spread in a Simulated Grassland

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Abstract

Fire is a globally important ecosystem process, and invasive grass species generally increase fire spread by increasing the fuel load and continuity of native grassland fuelbeds. We suggest that invasive grasses that are photosynthetically active, while the native plant community is dormant reduce fire spread by introducing high-moisture, live vegetation gaps in the fuelbed. We describe the invasion pattern of a high-moisture, cool-season grass, tall fescue (Schedonorus phoenix (Scop.) Holub), in tallgrass prairie, and use spatially explicit fire behavior models to simulate fire spread under several combinations of fuel load, invasion, and fire weather scenarios. Reduced fuel load and increased extent of tall fescue invasion reduced fire spread, but high wind speed and low relative humidity can partially mitigate these effects. We attribute reduced fire spread to asynchrony in the growing seasons of the exotic, cool-season grass, tall fescue, and the native, warm-season tallgrass prairie community in this model system. Reduced fire spread under low fuel load scenarios indicate that fuel load is an important factor in fire spread, especially in invaded fuel beds. These results present a novel connection between fire behavior and asynchronous phenology between invasive grasses and native plant communities in pyrogenic ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

This work is made possible by support from the Iowa State Wildlife Grants program with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program (#T-1-R-15) and the United States Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service’s National Research Initiative (#2006-35320-17476). The authors acknowledge the support of the Iowa Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station and the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Studies, The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, 37375, USA

    Devan Allen McGranahan

  2. Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, 74078, USA

    David M. Engle

  3. Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA

    James R. Miller

  4. Department of Ecology Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, 50011, USA

    Diane M. Debinski

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  1. Devan Allen McGranahan
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  2. David M. Engle
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Correspondence to Devan Allen McGranahan.

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Author Contributions

Devan Allen McGranahan—designed study, primary author, David M. Engle—helped design study, secondary author, James R. Miller—contributed to study location establishment, contributed to manuscript development, Diane M. Debinski—contributed to study location establishment, contributed to manuscript development

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McGranahan, D.A., Engle, D.M., Miller, J.R. et al. An Invasive Grass Increases Live Fuel Proportion and Reduces Fire Spread in a Simulated Grassland. Ecosystems 16, 158–169 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9605-4

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