Vegetation response to late growing-season wildfire on Nebraska Sandhills rangeland

This study examined the effects of late growing-season (September) wildfire on the subsequent production and species composition of upland Nebraska Sandhills prairie vegetation. Three paired-plots (burn and control), 0.5 ha in size were established in 1995 on sands range sites on each of 3 replications in west-central Nebraska. Soil temperature data were collected the following growing season and herbage standing crop and species composition data were collected for 3 growing seasons following the burn. During March through May of the 1996 growing season, soil temperature in the burn treatment was an average of 1.6 degrees C higher at both 15 and 30 cm depths compared to the control (P 0.05). Little bluestem [Schizchyrium scoparium (Michx.) Nash] was the species most adversely affected by burning. Percentage composition by weight of little bluestem in August 1996 averaged 8% under the burn treatment compared to 47% in the control. Other species and species groups, however, were more abundant in burned plots, thus offsetting the lesser amounts of little bluestem. Little bluestem exhibited a marked recovery during the second and third growing seasons after the burn. During the third growing season, percent composition of little bluestem averaged 46% and was not different between treatments (P > 0.05). Forbs were more abundant under the burn treatment compared to the control only during the first growing season following the burn (P < 0.05).The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information.Migrated from OJS platform August 202