Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-pfhbr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T19:56:14.035Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fire and False Brome: How Do Prescribed Fire and Invasive Brachypodium sylvaticum Affect Each Other?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Lauren P. Poulos  and
Bitty A. Roy
Lauren P. Poulos
Affiliation:
Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
Bitty A. Roy*
Affiliation:
Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: bit@uoregon.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Brachypodium sylvaticum, a shade-tolerant, forest dwelling, and aggressive invasive grass native to Eurasia, is a noxious weed in California, Oregon, and Washington. This species could cause ecosystem collapse by altering forest fire regimes. To examine interactions with fire, we divided two Willamette National Forest sites into eight units and randomly selected half for treatment with prescribed fire in spring 2011. We assessed the effect of B. sylvaticum on fire (severity and intensity) as well as the effect of fire on B. sylvaticum (cover, seedling emergence, and dispersal). We found that B. sylvaticum cover decreased fire severity but had no effect on intensity. Furthermore, fire severity influenced B. sylvaticum cover; in areas receiving low-severity fire, the grass increased from 21 ± 15.05 to 34 ± 15.81%, but in areas of high-severity fire, cover remained consistently around 0% (0 ± 0% cover in yr 1 to 0.2 5± 0.25% in yr 3). In the field, prescribed fire decreased seedling emergence by 32% compared to controls, but not in an associated greenhouse experiment. However, in the greenhouse, severely burned plots had zero emergence, compared to 0.29 ± 0.14 seedlings low-severity m−2 plot. Fire severity also influenced dispersal in the field; we monitored plots with < 0.5% cover B. sylvaticum initially; when these plots experienced low severity fire, they had greater B. sylvaticum cover (increasing 1,200%), suggesting increased dispersal with less severe fires. High-severity dispersal plots did not experience increased cover. High severity fires have the potential to control the grass, but low-severity fires will likely increase its cover.

Keywords

False brome, Brachypodium sylvaticum (Huds.) Beauv.Conifer forestDouglas firfire intensityfire severityinvasive grassprescribed fireshade tolerance
Type
Research Article
Information
Invasive Plant Science and Management , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 122 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Allen, EB (1995) Restoration ecology: limits and possibilities in arid and semiarid lands. Pages 7–15 in Proceedings of the Wild Land Shrub and Arid Land Restoration Symposium. Las Vegas, NV USDA Intermountain Research Station. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-315Google Scholar
Arévalo, JR, Fernández-Palacios, JM and Jiménez, MJ, Gil, P (2001) The effect of fire intensity on the understorey species composition of two Pinus canariensis reforested stands in Tenerife (Canary Islands). For Ecol Manag 148:21–29 Google Scholar
Becker, DA (1989) Five years of annual prairie burns. Pages 163–168 in Ecology, History and Culture: Proceedings of the Eleventh North American Prairie Conference. Lincoln, Nebraska: Prairie Pioneers Google Scholar
[CDFA] California Department of Food and Agriculture Plant Quarantine Manual. Sacramento, California California Department of Food and Agriculture http://pi.cdfa.ca.gov/pqm/manual/htm/pqm_index.htm. Accessed March 1, 2015Google Scholar
Chambers, KL (1966) Notes on some grasses of the Pacific Coast. Madroño 18:250–251 Google Scholar
Cissel, JH, Swanson, FJ, Weisberg, PJ (1999) Landscape management using historical fire regimes: Blue River, Oregon. Ecol Appl 9:1217–1231 Google Scholar
Corney, PM, Kirby, KJ, Le Duc, MG, Smart, SM, McAllister, HA, Marrs, RH (2008) Changes in the field-layer of Wytham Woods-assessment of the impacts of a range of environmental factors controlling change. J Veg Sci 19:287–298 Google Scholar
Curtis, JT, Partch, ML (1948) Effect of fire on the competition between blue grass and certain prairie plants. Am Midl Nat 39:437–443 Google Scholar
D’Antonio, CM, Vitousek, PM (1992) Biological invasions by exotic grasses, the grass/fire cycle, and global change. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 23:63–87 Google Scholar
DiTomaso, JM, Brooks, ML, Allen, EB, Minnich, R, Rice, PM, Kyser, GB (2006) Control of invasive weeds with prescribed burning. Weed Technol 20:535–548 Google Scholar
DiTomaso, JM, Kyser, GB, Hastings, MS (1999) Prescribed burning for control of yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis) and enhanced native plant diversity. Weed Sci 47:233–242 Google Scholar
Engle, DM, Bultsma, PM (1984) Burning of northern mixed prairie during drought. J Range Manag 37:398–401 Google Scholar
Feller, MC (1996) The influence of fire severity, not fire intensity, on understory vegetation biomass in British Columbia. Pages 335–348 in Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Fire and Forest Meteorology. Boise, ID Joint Fire Science Program Google Scholar
Fletcher, R (2009) McDonald–Dunn Forest Plan Revision: Invasive Plant Management. http://cf.forestry.oregonstate.edu/sites/cf/files/McDonald%20Forest%20Invasive%20Plant%20Management%20Plan.pdf. Accessed March 1, 2015Google Scholar
Gill, AM (1975) Fire and the Australian flora: a review. Aust For 38:4–25 Google Scholar
Gordon, DR (1998) Effects of invasive, non-indigenous plant species on ecosystem processes: lessons from Florida. Ecol Appl 8:975–989 Google Scholar
Hebel, CL, Smith, JE, Cromack, K Jr (2009) Invasive plant species and soil microbial response to wildfire burn severity in the Cascade Range of Oregon. Appl Soil Ecol 42:150–159 Google Scholar
Heinken, T, Raudnitschka, D (2002) Do wild ungulates contribute to the dispersal of vascular plants in central European forests by epizoochory? A case study in NE Germany. Forstwiss Centralbl 121:179–194 Google Scholar
Holmes, SE, Roy, BA, Reed, JP, Johnson, BJ (2010) Context-dependent pattern and process: the distribution and competitive dynamics of an invasive grass, Brachypodium sylvaticum . Biol Invasions 12:2302–2318 Google Scholar
Hrusa, GF (2003) Two potentially serious new weeds in California. Pages 16–17 in Plant Pest Diagnostics Laboratory Report. Sacramento, CA Plant Pest Diagnostics Center Google Scholar
Iverson, LR, Yaussy, DA, Rebbeck, J, Hutchinson, TF, Long, RP, Prasad, AM (2004) A comparison of thermocouples and temperature paints to monitor spatial and temporal characteristicsof landscape-scaleprescribed fires. Int J Wildland Fire 13:311–322 Google Scholar
Keeley, JE (2006) Fire management impacts on invasive plants in the western United States. Conserv Biol 20:375–384 Google Scholar
Keeley, JE (2009) Fire intensity, fire severity and burn severity: a brief review and suggested usage. Int J Wildland Fire 18:116–126 Google Scholar
Kruse, R, Bend, E, Bierzychudek, P (2004) Native plant regeneration and introduction of non-natives following post-fire rehabilitation with straw mulch and barley seeding. For Ecol Manag 196:299–310 Google Scholar
Lehmkuhl, JF (2002) The effects of spring burning and grass seeding in forest clearcuts on native plants and conifer seedlings in coastal Washington. Northwest Sci 76:46–60 Google Scholar
Martin, PH, Canham, CD, Marks, PL (2009) Why forests appear resistant to exotic plant invasions: intentional introductions, stand dynamics, and the role of shade tolerance. Front Ecol Environ 7:142–149 Google Scholar
Menke, JW (1992) Grazing and fire management for native perennial grass restoration in California grasslands. Fremontia 20:22–25 Google Scholar
Microsoft (2010) Microsoft Excel 2010. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Google Scholar
Murchie, EH, Horton, P (2002) Contrasting patterns of photosynthetic acclimation to the light environment are dependent on the differential expression of the responses to altered irradiance and spectral quality. Plant Cell Environ 21:139–148 Google Scholar
[NWCB] Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board: Brachypodium sylvaticum (2009) Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board. http://www.nwcb.wa.gov/. Accesssed March 1, 2015Google Scholar
[ODA] Oregon Department of Agriculture Plant Division, Noxious Weed Control (2009) Oregon, USA. http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/PLANT/weeds/pages/index.aspx. Accessed March 1, 2015Google Scholar
Palo, A, Linder, M, Truu, J, Mander, Ü (2008) The influence of biophysical factors and former land use on forest floristic variability on Saaremaa and Muhu islands, Estonia. J Nat Conserv (Jena) 16:123–134 Google Scholar
Parks, CG, Radosevich, SR, Endress, BA, Naylor, BJ, Anzinger, D, Rew, LJ, Maxwell, BD, Dwire, KA (2005) Natural and land-use history of the Northwest mountain ecoregions (USA) in relation to patterns of plant invasions. Perspect Plant Ecol Evol Syst 7:137–158 Google Scholar
Pausas, JG, Keeley, JE (2009) A burning story: the role of fire in the history of life. Bioscience 59:593–601 Google Scholar
Petersen, PM, Philipp, M (2001) Implantation of forest plants in a wood on former arable land: a ten year experiment. Flora: Morphologie, Geobotanik, Oekophysiologie 196:286–291 Google Scholar
Powell, GW, Pitt, MD, Wikeem, BM (1994) Effect of forage seeding on early growth and survival of lodgepole pine. J Range Manag 47:379–384 Google Scholar
Rosenthal, DM, Ramakrishnan, AP, Cruzan, MB (2008) Evidence for multiple sources of invasion and intraspecific hybridization in Brachypodium sylvaticum (Hudson) Beauv. in North America. Mol Ecol 17:4657–4669 Google Scholar
Roy, BA (2010) Brachypodium sylvaticum. Invasive Species Compendium. CABI, Wallingford, UK Google Scholar
Safaian, N, Shokri, M, Ahmadi, MZ, Atrakchali, A, Tavili, A (2005) Fire influence on the grassland vegetation in Golestan National Park (Alborz Mts. Iran). Pol J Ecol 53:435–443 Google Scholar
SAS (2010) JMP Pro Version 9.0.2. SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC Google Scholar
Severns, PM, Warren, AD (2008) Selectively eliminating and conserving exotic plants to save an endangered butterfly from local extinction. Anim Conserv 11:476–483 Google Scholar
Sutherland, S (2004) What makes a weed a weed: life history traits of native and exotic plants in the USA. Oecologia 141:24–39 Google Scholar
USDA Forest Service, USDI Bureau of Land Management, Oregon Department of Agriculture, US Army Corps of Engineers, OSU College of Forestry, Institute for Applied Ecology, Starker Forests, Inc., The Nature Conservancy, and The Native Plant Society of Oregon. 2009. False Brome Working Group. http://appliedeco.org/invasive-species-resources/FBWG. Accessed March 1, 2015Google Scholar
USDI National Park Service (2003) Fire Monitoring Handbook. Boise, ID: Fire Management Program Center, National Interagency Fire Center. 274 p Google Scholar
Vitousek, PM, D'Antonio, DM, Loop, LL, Westbrooks, R (1996) Biological invasions as global environmental change. Am Sci 84:468–478 Google Scholar
Wade, D (2013) Fire intensity and fire severity: how hot is your fire and why is that important. Southern Fire Exchange Fact Sheet 2013-4. Boise, ID: Joint Fire Science Program. 5 p Google Scholar
Wally, AL, Menges, ES, Weekley, CW (2009) Comparison of three devices for estimating fire temperatures in ecological studies. Appl Veg Sci 9:97–108 Google Scholar
Warton, DI, Hui, FK (2011) The arcsine is asinine: the analysis of proportions in ecology. Ecology 92:3–10 Google Scholar
Zschaechner, GA (1985) Studying rangeland fire effects: a case study in Nevada. Pages 66–84 in Rangeland Fire Effects: A Symposium. Boise, ID Bureau of Land Management Google Scholar
Zuefle, ME, Brown, WP, Tallamy, DW (2008) Effects of non-native plants on the native insect community of Delaware. Biol Invasions 10:1159–1169 Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Poulos and Roy supplementary material

Figures S1-S5

Download Poulos and Roy supplementary material(File)
File 6.9 MB