We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Growth and Recovery of Oak-Saw Palmetto Scrub through Ten Years After Fire.
- Authors
Schmalzer, Paul A.
- Abstract
Oak-saw palmetto scrub, a shrub community of acid, sandy, well-drained soils in Florida. is maintained by periodic, intense fire. Understanding the direction and rates of changes in scrub composition and structure after fire is important to management decisions. We followed changes in vegetation along 15-m line-intercept transects that were established in 1983. Two stands (8 transects) burned in a prescribed fire in December 1986; the stands had previously burned 11 y (N=4) and 7 y (N=4) before. We sampled transects at 6, 12, 18, and 24 mo and then annually through 10 y after the 1986 fire. We measured cover by species in two height classes, > 0.5 m and < 0.5 m, and measured height at four points (0, 5, 10, and 15 m) along each transect. Saw palmetto cover equaled preburn values by one year postburn and changed little after that. Cover of oaks > 0.5 m (Quercus myrtifolia, Q. geminata, Q. chapmanii) equaled preburn values by 5 y postburn and changed little by 10 y postburn. Height growth continued, increasing from a mean of 84.0 cm at 5 y to 125.9 cru at 10 y postburn. Bare gradually declined to <2% by 3 y postburn. Plant species richness increased slightly after fire and then gradually declined. These vegetation changes alter habitat conditions for threatened and endangered animals and plants.
- Subjects
FLORIDA; UNITED States; OAK; PRESCRIBED burning
- Publication
Natural Areas Journal, 2003, Vol 23, Issue 1, p5
- ISSN
0885-8608
- Publication type
Article