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- Title
Ecological Restoration of an Oak Woodland within the Forest-Prairie Ecotone of Kansas.
- Authors
Galgamuwa, G A Pabodha; Barden, Charles J; Hartman, Jason; Rhodes, Thad; Bloedow, Nicholas; Osorio, Raúl J
- Abstract
Conversion of mature oak (Quercus spp.) dominated woodlands to shade-tolerant species is a well-documented problem across the eastern United States. However, oak woodland restoration within the woodland-prairie ecotone of Kansas at the western edge of the eastern deciduous forests has not been systematically studied before. Hence, an oakdominated woodland is being used to study the effects of prescribed burning and mechanical thinning to encourage oak regeneration within this region. A repeated measures design is employed with burn and thin treatments, administered in 2015 after conducting a pretreatment stand inventory. Resampling was done after two growing seasons. Pretreatment inventory revealed oak dominance in the tree class, while competitive species such as Cercis canadensis, Ulmus americana, and Juniperus virginiana collectively dominated the seedling and sapling classes. Thinning reduced the tree density significantly, but when thinning was not followed by a burn, both total and Cercis canadensis seedling densities increased significantly. The burn treatment, on the other hand, controlled Juniperus virginiana seedlings successfully while oak regeneration increased. Hence, the most promising results were observed when thinning and burning were combined. However, control of C. canadensis seedlings remains the major challenge in the future given its vigorous recovery two growing seasons after burning.
- Subjects
RESTORATION ecology; OAK; ECOTONES; FOREST density; FOREST regeneration; FOREST fire ecology
- Publication
Forest Science, 2019, Vol 65, Issue 1, p48
- ISSN
0015-749X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/forsci/fxy034