Index of Species Information
SPECIES: Bouteloua dactyloides
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| Buffalograss growing in White Rock, New Mexico. Photo by Marilyn Phillips,
rockymountainsflora.com. |
Introductory
SPECIES: Bouteloua dactyloides
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION:
Howard, Janet L. 1995. Bouteloua dactyloides. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/graminoid/boudac/all.html [].
Revisions:
On 17 October 2018, the scientific name of this species was changed in FEIS
from: Buchloe dactyloides
to: Bouteloua dactyloides. Images were also added.
ABBREVIATION:
BOUDAC
SYNONYMS:
Buchloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm. [48,53,60,61,119]
NRCS PLANT CODE:
BODA2
COMMON NAMES:
buffalograss
TAXONOMY:
The scientific name of buffalograss is Bouteloua dactyloides (Nutt.) J.T.
Columbus (Poaceae) [61,94,118].
LIFE FORM:
Graminoid
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS:
No special status
OTHER STATUS:
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Bouteloua dactyloides
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:
Buffalograss is distributed from central Canada south to eastern
coastal Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, eastern Arizona, and northern
Mexico [48,53]. It is incidental in northern Idaho [95] and
Virginia [79].
 |
| Distribution of buffalograss. Map courtesy of USDA, NRCS. 2018. The PLANTS Database.
National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC. [2018, October 17] [94]. |
ECOSYSTEMS:
FRES15 Oak-hickory
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES32 Texas savanna
FRES33 Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES35 Pinyon-juniper
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES39 Prairie
FRES40 Desert grasslands
STATES:
AZ CO ID IA KS LA MN MO MT NE
NM ND OK SD TX VA WY
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS:
7 Lower Basin and Range
10 Wyoming Basin
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
13 Rocky Mountain Piedmont
14 Great Plains
15 Black Hills Uplift
16 Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:
K017 Black Hills pine forest
K023 Juniper-pinyon woodland
K031 Oak-juniper woodlands
K044 Creosotebush-tarbush
K053 Grama-galleta steppe
K054 Grama-tobosa prairie
K058 Grama-tobosa shrubsteppe
K059 Trans-Pecos shrub savanna
K060 Mesquite savanna
K061 Mesquite-acacia savanna
K064 Grama-needlegrass-wheatgrass
K065 Grama-buffalograss
K066 Wheatgrass-needlegrass
K067 Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass
K068 Wheatgrass-grama-buffalograss
K069 Bluestem-grama prairie
K074 Bluestem prairie
K075 Nebraska Sandhills prairie
K084 Cross Timbers
K085 Mesquite-buffalograss
K087 Mesquite-oak savanna
K096 Northeastern spruce-fir forest
SAF COVER TYPES:
40 Post oak-blackjack oak
66 Ashe juniper-redberry (Pinchot) juniper
68 Mesquite
237 Interior ponderosa pine
239 Pinyon-juniper
242 Mesquite
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES:
412 Juniper-pinyon woodland
504 Juniper-pinyon pine woodland
505 Grama-tobosa shrub
601 Bluestem prairie
604 Bluestem-grama prairie
605 Sandsage prairie
606 Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass
607 Wheatgrass-needlegrass
608 Wheatgrass-grama-needlegrass
609 Wheatgrass-grama
611 Blue grama-buffalograss
615 Wheatgrass-saltgrass-grama
701 Alkali sacaton-tobosagrass
703 Black grama-sideoats grama
704 Blue grama-western wheatgrass
705 Blue grama-galleta
706 Blue grama-sideoats grama
709 Bluestem-grama
710 Bluestem prairie
711 Bluestem-sacahuista prairie
712 Galleta-alkali sacaton
713 Grama-muhly-threeawn
714 Grama-bluestem
715 Grama-buffalograss
717 Little bluestem-Indiangrass-Texas wintergrass
718 Mesquite-grama
720 Sand bluestem-little bluestem (dunes)
727 Mesquite-buffalograss
728 Mesquite-granjeno-acacia
729 Mesquite
732 Cross timbers-Texas (little bluestem-post oak)
733 Juniper-oak
734 Mesquite-oak
802 Missouri prairie
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:
Buffalograss is codominant with blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) over
most of the shortgrass prairie [51]. It is a common component in
mixed-grass prairie [3,30], semidesert grassland of New Mexico [17], and
coastal prairie of Louisiana and Texas [33]. It is usually a minor
element in undisturbed tallgrass prairie [26,46]. Buffalograss also
occurs in the understory of pinyon-juniper (Pinus-Juniperus spp.),
mesquite (Prosopis spp.), and eastern ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)
woodland [8], and in oak-hickory (Quercus-Carya spp.) savanna of the
Cross Timbers region of Texas [39].
Plant community classifications naming buffalograss as a community
dominant are as follows:
A framework for plant community classification and conservation in
Texas [33]
Remnant grassland vegetation and ecological affinities of the upper
coastal prairie of Texas [34]
A vegetation classification system for New Mexico, U.S.A. [37]
Characteristics of major grassland types in western North Dakota [49]
Distribution and ecology of loess hill prairies in Atchison and Holt
counties in northwestern Missouri [58]
A study of the vegetation of the sandhills of Nebraska [75]
Plant communities of Texas [91]
Analysis of grassland vegetation on selected key areas in southwestern
North Dakota [109]
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Bouteloua dactyloides
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE:
Buffalograss is one of the most important forage grasses of the
shortgrass and mixed-grass prairies. All classes of livestock graze it
during all seasons [59]. The foliage is nutritious and palatable when
green, and its nutritional quality does not decline greatly as it cures
[52,68].
Buffalograss is also important wildlife forage. Wildlife consumers of
Buffalograss include white-tailed deer [22], bison [73], pronghorn,
black-tailed jackrabbit [38], and prairie dogs [24]. Buffalograss is
especially important in bison [73] and black-tailed prairie dog diets
[24]. Bison in northeastern Colorado consumed it year-round, with mean
percent composition in their diet least in May (41%) and highest in
August (84%) [73]. Black-tailed prairie dog also use it year-round,
consuming all parts of the plant [13]. Annual black-tailed prairie dog
consumption of buffalograss averaged 23 percent in western South
Dakota, peaking in June and July (34%) and reaching a low in December
(8%) [90].
Mountain plover nest on blue grama-buffalograss flats in Colorado [47].
PALATABILITY:
Palatability of buffalograss has been rated good for cattle, domestic
sheep, and horses [36]. Reitz and Morris [81] rated it one of the most
palatable grasses in Montana. Livestock utilization may vary by region
and year, however. In a cattle utilization study in South Dakota
mixed-grass prairie, cattle selected several other graminoids over
buffalograss even though buffalograss was the most productive
graminoid on the study site [96].
NUTRITIONAL VALUE:
Nutritional value of fresh, mature buffalograss in the United States
was [70]:
Percent
dry matter 48.9
ash 6.1
crude fiber 13.0
digestible protein
cattle 2.9
domestic sheep 2.9
domestic goats 2.7
horses 2.7
rabbits 2.9
The National Academy of Sciences [70] also provides nutritional analyses
of fresh and cured buffalograss in other phenological stages (immature,
dough stage, ripe, overripe), and for fresh buffalograss-western
wheatgrass-bluestem (Grama spp.) mixes. Energy (calories/kg) and
mineral analyses of buffalograss are given. Harlan [50] published a
nutritional analysis of buffalograss seed.
Dittberner and Olson [36] rated buffalograss fair in energy and protein
value. They rated its nutritional value for wildlife in several states
as follows:
UT CO MT ND
elk good fair poor ----
mule deer good poor poor ----
white-tailed deer ---- ---- ---- poor
pronghorn good ---- ---- poor
upland game birds good good poor poor
waterfowl fair ---- ---- ----
nongame birds good ---- poor ----
small mammals good good poor ----
COVER VALUE:
Dittberner and Olson [36] rated the value of buffalograss in providing
cover for wildlife as follows:
WY ND
upland game birds good poor
small nongame birds good poor
small mammal cover good poor
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES:
Buffalograss sod is ranked superior in controlling erosion [100,106].
It has been ranked first among native grasses in controlling wind
erosion [10]. It is recommended for rehabilitating surface-mined lands
[92], and has been successfully established on bentonite [87] and coal
mine [98] spoils.
OTHER USES AND VALUES:
Buffalograss is planted for lawns [42,66,103] and used in hayfield
mixtures. It is of limited use as a hay grass when planted alone,
however, due to its short stature [89].
The sod houses of early Great Plains settlers were constructed mostly
from buffalograss [52].
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:
Buffalograss is highly resistant to grazing [5,9,16]. It usually
increases under heavy grazing, especially at the expense of tallgrass
species [51,76]. Its response to grazing may vary by site, however. On
the Central Plains Experimental Range in Colorado, Archer and Tieszen
[9] found that buffalograss importance value increased with moderate to
heavy continuous grazing on ridges and midridges, but decreased with
such grazing on swales. Importance value was low on all sites with
light grazing. Buffalograss responses to various other grazing regimes
are described [66,74,93].
Buffalograss is highly drought resistant, although somewhat less so
than blue grama [89].
Buffalograss seed is commercially available [43,81]. Guidelines for
seeding buffalograss onto rangeland, or establishing it from cut sod,
are available [10,21,31,43]
Marcum and Engelke [65] provide field test results on buffalograss
response to various pre- and postemergent herbicides.
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Bouteloua dactyloides
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Buffalograss is a warm-season, native perennial shortgrass [20]. It is
drought-, heat-, and cold-resistant [106]. Foliage is usually 2 to 5
inches (5-13 cm) high, though in the southern Great Plains foliage may
reach 12 inches (30 cm) [55,100]. Buffalograss is usually dioecious.
Plants are occasionally monoecious, sometimes with perfect flowers
[48,49,54,61]. Flowerstalks are 4 to 8 inches (10-20 cm) tall [100].
The male inflorescence is a panicle; the female inflorescence consists
of short spikelets borne in burlike clusters, usually with two to four
spikelets per bur [48,104].
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| Buffalograss stolons. Photo by
Marilyn Phillips, rockymountainsflora.com. |
Buffalograss sends out numerous, branching stolons [54,106];
occasionally it also produces rhizomes [85]. Roots are also numerous
and thoroughly occupy the soil [100]. The numerous stolons and roots
form a dense sod [54,106]. Buffalograss roots are finer than those of
most plains grasses, being less than 1 mm in diameter. Weaver [100]
found that in the Great Plains, buffalograss roots in silty loam
reached 5 feet below ground, with 70 percent of roots (by weight)
occurring in the first 6 inches (15 cm) of soil.
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM:
Hemicryptophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES:
Primarily dioecious, buffalograss usually outcrosses by wind
pollination [77]. The monoecious sex form is more common in peripheral,
sparse populations, and monoecious plants may be self-fertile [56]. Seed
production on native grasslands in Kansas was greatest when
above-average rainfall occurred in May and June; seed production was
lowest when rainfall during that period was below average [27]. At
dispersal the entire bur, with seeds still inside, abscises from the
plant. Burs usually disperse close to the parent plant; they cling only
briefly, if at all, to animals or clothing [76]. Fresh seed is usually
dormant, requiring abrasion or overwintering to break dormancy. Degree
of dormancy, however, has been found to vary between populations [78].
Light is required for germination [43]. Ahring and Todd [2] found that
prechilling at 41 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit (5-10 deg C), drying seeds
for 6 to 48 hours at 104 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit (40-70 deg C), or
soaking seeds 1 to 72 hours in sodium hypochlorite greatly increased
germination. Fulright and others [43] provide a summary of recommended
buffalograss seed stratification regimes. Reports of germinative
capacity of fresh seed that has been stratified and scarified range from
45 to 70 percent. Seed has remained viable in the seedbank for at least
7 years [29]. Twenty-five-year-old seed recovered from the walls of an
abandoned sod house in Kansas was 15 to 78 percent viable [64].
Germination rates are usually better when seed remains within the bur
[76].
In a seedbank study on the Central Plains Experimental Range, Colorado,
buffalograss seedling density in fine-textured soil samples gathered
over a 15-month sampling period averaged 112 plants per square meter
[25]. Seedlings grow rapidly under favorable conditions. They have
produced stolons by 2 months of age. By the end of their first summer,
seedlings grow a thick root mass that extends 2 feet (0.6 m) below
ground [100].
Vegetative reproduction through spreading stolons is rapid given
favorable environmental conditions [29]. Buffalograss stolons have
grown as rapidly as 2.25 inches (5.72 cm) per day [69]. Buffalograss
also spreads by tillering [106]. Following drought in western Kansas,
buffalograss cover increased vegetatively from 2 percent in 1940 to 93
percent in 1943. Buffalograss has been reported to spread vegetatively
following depletion even when heavily grazed [101]. Although blue grama
is more drought resistant, buffalograss usually recovers more quickly
after drought through vegetative reproduction [29].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS:
Buffalograss occurs on all soil textures [10,21]. It is most common on
clay, then fine-textured loam. It is rare on sandy soils [10,81].
Soils supporting buffalograss are usually alkaline [10,19,49], with a
high water-holding capacity (33-66%) [49]. Buffalograss grows mostly
on dry uplands and/or disturbed sites in mixed- and tallgrass prairie
[3,48]. It grows best in regions of the Great Plains where annual
precipitation ranges between 12 and 25 inches (305 and 635 mm) [106].
It is widely adapted, however, to extremes in climate and elevation
[21,106]. Elevation at which buffalograss occurs ranges from 2,000
feet (600 m) in Montana to 6,300 feet (1,890 m) in Wyoming [36].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS:
Buffalograss appears in early to mid-stage secondary succession [4].
Costello [28] described an old-field successional sequence in
north-central Colorado where the initial stage was dominated by annuals,
followed by perennial forbs. Buffalograss appeared after the perennial
forbs, 10 to 20 years after abandonment.
Buffalograss is common on disturbed sites such as prairie dog towns
[1,117]. In a pattern similar to old-field succession, buffalograss
established after forbs and three-awns (Aristida spp.) but before
mid-grasses such as silver bluestem (Bothriochloa saccharoides) and
sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) on an abandoned black-tailed
praire dog town in Oklahoma tallgrass prairie [71].
Buffalograss often establishes dominance in mixed-grass prairie with
drought or heavy grazing, and may invade tallgrass prairie under such
conditions [59,89]. Buffalograss may not require disturbance in order
to maintain dominance on all sites, however. It dominated fine-textured
clay soils in a remnant mixed-grass Kansas prairie that had not been
grazed or burned for 68 years [57]. Van Auken and Bush [97] found that
honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa var. glandulosa) was unable to
invade high-density buffalograsslands in Texas.
Buffalograss is somewhat shade tolerant, but cannot tolerate dense
shade [10,106].
Clements [23] described buffalograss-blue grama shortgrass prairie as
"proclimax:" a community held indefinitely from reaching "climax
condition" by the natural disturbances of grazing and fire.
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT:
Buffalograss growth begins in late spring and continues through summer
[54,89]. In the Great Plains flowering occurs mostly from April to
June, but male plants may flower until late summer or fall [48]. Period
of heaviest flowering varies by location. Flowering is reported from
July through August in eastern Colorado [35]. August flowering is also
reported from Kansas, with male plants beginning flowering slightly
before female plants [103]. Seed ripens from early summer to late fall,
depending upon location. Early July seed ripening is reported from
Kansas [27].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Bouteloua dactyloides
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS:
Fire was an essential component of presettlement prairie ecosystems
[6,18,76,82,99,116]. Prior to European settlement, buffalograss
probably burned in all seasons [12]. Areas dominated by warm-season
grasses such as buffalograss can carry fire even in winter and early
spring [12], and Native Americans apparently burned various portions of
the prairie year-round [7].
Buffalograss survives grassland fire by several mechanisms. Vegetative
regeneration is probably most important. Basal meristems are generally
protected from grassland fire by soil and/or damp litter. Some stolon
apices are usually protected by damp litter [107]. Buffalograss
regenerates after fire by basal tillering and sprouting from unburned
stolon buds. Recovery time greatly accelerates when plants become
vigorous enough to spread by stolons. Buffalograss also regenerates
from seed following fire [108]. Because it is enclosed in a bur,
buffalograss seed is more protected from fire than seed of most grass
species. Buffalograss burs have been shown to greatly reduce fire and
heat damage to enclosed seed [76]. Regeneration from seed is slower
than vegetative regeneration, however, and is probably most important
when severe fire has killed a large proportion of stolon and basal buds.
FIRE REGIMES:
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY:
Caudex, growing points in soil
Ground residual colonizer (on-site, initial community)
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Bouteloua dactyloides
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT:
Buffalograss is not completely consumed in most grassland fires.
Typically the upper part of the plant burns, and damage to basal
portions of the plant is uncommon [45,99]. With grassland fires, flames
fanned by even light winds seldom stay in one spot long enough to
produce high temperatures at the soil surface. Fire intensities lethal
to native perennial grasses such as buffalograss rarely, if ever, occur
during prescribed grassland fire [45]. Even with wildfires,
temperatures near perennating tissues at the soil surface are usually
not lethal. Unburned stubble often remains after fire has passed, and
shallowly placed buds and seeds are unharmed [32 and references
therein]. Wildfire occurring during drought, however, may generate
temperatures high enough to kill buffalograss perennating buds [32,45].
Lethal temperatures may also occur at the soil surface if woody plant
invasion into grassland has occurred. Soil surface temperatures tend to
rise when woody plants burn, and elevated temperatures last for longer
periods of time [32].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT:
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE:
Burning generally either favors buffalograss or has no long-term effect
upon it [108,110]. In some studies, buffalograss productivity is
unchanged or increases in the first postfire year [14,15]. Wright [110]
concluded from several studies that in western Texas, buffalograss was
neither harmed nor favored by fire. In southern Nebraska, April burning
of loess hill mixed-grass prairie had no significant (p=.1) effect on
buffalograss cover the following June or September. However, buffalo
grass cover on burn plots had increased significantly compared to
control plots by the second September after fire [84].
Fire had no long-term effect on buffalograss at the Kansas Agricultural
Experimental Station. Launchbaugh [63] reported that after a March
wildfire in shortgrass prairie there, buffalograss cover at postfire
year 1 was reduced by 48 percent on burned areas as compared to adjacent
unburned areas; height at the end of the first growing season was 6.7
inches (17.0 cm) on burned sites and 11.9 inches (30.2 cm) on unburned
sites. By postfire year 2, buffalograss cover on burned sites was 39
percent less than on unburned sites, and by postfire year 3 there was no
significant difference in buffalograss cover between burned and
unburned sites.
Buffalograss recovery time may vary depending upon phenological stage,
season of burning, fire severity, and/or postfire weather conditions.
In a bluestem (Andropogon gerardii and Schizachyrium scoparium) pasture
in Kansas, buffalograss declined under 10 years of early (20 March) and
late spring (1 May) annual burning compared to annual mid-spring (10
April) and no burning. Buffalograss basal cover (%) after 10 years was
[5]:
Spring Burning
---------------------------------
unburned early mid- late
2.21a 1.08b 2.65a 1.37a
---------------------------------
Percentages followed by the same letter
do not differ significantly (p<0.05).
Spring (April) prescribed burning in mixed-grass prairie in Badlands
National Park, South Dakota, favored buffalograss. Buffalograss began
vegetative expansion and produced seed during the first growing season
after fire [107]. Compared to the control (no burn), buffalograss
standing crop increased for 2 to 3 postfire years, then returned to
approximate prefire levels with onset of a drought [108].
Buffalograss increased significantly (p=0.05) after various treatments
involving prescribed burning on the South Texas Plains-Texas Gulf
Prairie interface. Burning was effected to reduce woody plant invasion.
Treatments were shredding, chopping, or scalping followed by prescribed
burning 2 years later, and a control (prescribed burning only). All
prescribed burning was done in September 1965. Percentage composition
of buffalograss in July 1966 was [14]:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Control Shredded Chopped Scalped Average
------- -------- ------- ------- -------
U B U B U B U B U B
13 15 11 12 6 17 6 17 9 15
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
U=unburned; B=burned
Brush cover was significantly (p=0.05) reduced from prefire levels at
postfire year 1, although less than 15 percent of woody plants were
actually killed by the fire [14].
In another southern Texas study on the Rob and Bessie Welder Wildlife
Refuge, plots were subjected to a fall (September) fire, a winter
(December) fire, or a fall fire with a winter reburn the following year.
Burning was conducted in 1965 and 1966. Buffalograss production
(lb/acre) in August 1967 was [15]:
Control Fall Winter Fall & Winter
355 330 315 401
April prescribed burning in cultivated buffalograss in Kansas reduced
subsequent summer seed yield. Unburned portions of the field produced
303 pounds of buffalograss seed per acre compared to 79 pounds per acre
on the burned portion [27].
See the Research Project Summary, Effects of spring prescribed fire and
chaining on tobosa and buffalograss communities in Lynn County, Texas, for
additional information on buffalograss response to prescribed fire and
other manipulations.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE:
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:
Fall burning in a shortgrass-mixed-grass transition zone of the Flint
Hills of Kansas reduced prairie threeawn (Aristida oligantha), an annual
grass with little to no forage value for livestock, and increased
relative abundance of the dominant perennial grasses, buffalograss and
blue grama. Percentages of total herbage production in fall, 1972, with
no burning, fall burning, and spring burning, were [72]:
prairie threeawn Perennial grasses Western ragweed
---------------- ------------------ ---------------
unburned 73.7 21.2 5.0
spring (1) 84.0 14.0 2.0
fall (2) 13.7 75.8 7.0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1=burned 4 April 1972; 2=burned 8 November 1971
April prescribed fire in mixed-grass prairie of southern Nebraska also
reduced nonnative, cool-season annuals and increased the native,
warm-season dominants, buffalograss and blue grama [84].
There was no significant relationship between fireline intensity and
postfire response of buffalograss after spring burning in western Texas
grassland. High-intensity (approximately 5,570 kW/m) headfire did no
more damage to buffalograss than low-intensity (approximately 70 kW/m)
headfire [83].
Buffalograss mortality may be higher with backfires than headfires.
Being more slow-moving, backfires tend to generate more heat at ground
level [45].
Wright has provided prescriptions for burning buffalograss in the
central and southern Great Plains [111], the Edwards Plateau [115] and
Rio Grande Plains [113,114] regions of Texas, and in chained
mesquite-tobosa communities [112].
FIRE CASE STUDY
SPECIES: Bouteloua dactyloides
FIRE CASE STUDY CITATION:
Howard, Janet L., compiler. 1995. Buffalograss production after spring burning in
Custer State Park, South Dakota. In: Bouteloua dactyloides. In: Fire Effects
Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,
Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer).
Available: https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/graminoid/boudac/all.html#FireCaseStudies [].
REFERENCE:
Easterly, Thomas G.; Jenkins, Kurt J. 1991. Forage production and use on
bighorn sheep winter range following spring burning in grassland and
ponderosa pine habitats. Prairie Naturalist. 23(4): 193-200. [40].
SEASON/SEVERITY CLASSIFICATION:
spring/variable
STUDY LOCATION:
The study area was on the north edge of French Creek Natural Area in
Custer State Park, South Dakota.
PREFIRE VEGETATIVE COMMUNITY:
The study area was a mosaic of mixed-grass prairie and ponderosa pine
(Pinus ponderosa) forest. Prairie was dominated by buffalograss
(Bouteloua dactyloides), bluegrasses (Poa spp.), gramas (Bouteloua spp.),
and western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii). The forest understory was
dominated by sedges (Carex spp.) and bluegrasses.
TARGET SPECIES PHENOLOGICAL STATE:
NO-ENTRY
SITE DESCRIPTION:
General: Site description was not given in detail. Aspect and slope
were variable. Mean annual temperature at Custer, South Dakota (20 km
northwest), was 42 degrees Fahrenheit (6 deg C). Mean annual
precipitation was 18.4 inches (460 mm). Annual precipitation at Custer
State Park was 14.9 inches (372 mm) in 1987 and 13.5 inches (337 mm) in
1988.
Burn days: Peak temperature was 75 deg Fahrenheit (23 deg C) on 27
April 1987 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 deg C) on 28 April 1987.
Relative humidity ranged from 17 to 34 percent. Winds were from the
south to southeast at 13 to 42 miles per hour (8-25 km/hr). Fine fuel
moisture was approximately 5 percent.
FIRE DESCRIPTION:
Primary goals of the study were to reduce encroachment of ponderosa pine
onto the prairie and increase forage available to bighorn sheep. The
235-acre (94-ha) burn was conducted on 27 and 28 April 1987.
Strip-firing techniques were used to meet different burn objectives in
different areas. In meadows and sites dominated by cool-season species,
fire intensity was low and flame length was less than 12 inches (30 cm).
Green-up of cool-season herbaceous species in the fall before the fire
resulted in an incomplete burn pattern with large unburned patches.
Sites dominated by warm-season species including buffalograss burned
hotter than cool-season sites, with flame lengths of 18 to 30 inches
(45-75 cm). Fire intensities in forested areas varied widely depending
upon fuels, aspect, time of day, and width of firing strip. Some direct
mortality of pines occurred due to fire in tree crowns.
FIRE EFFECTS ON TARGET SPECIES:
Percent cover of buffalograss in July was:
1987 1988
__________________ __________________
Burned Unburned Burned Unburned
4 2 5 3
FIRE MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS:
Spring prescribed burning increased buffalograss cover within the
2-year study period, and reduced ponderosa pine cover.
Burning in mixed-grass prairie increased production of forbs and
warm-season grasses including buffalograss. Utilization of herbaceous
species by elk, deer, and bison was higher in burned than unburned
areas. Of all the Park ungulates, bison used the burns most intensively,
with their use peaking in summer. Prescribed burning did not, however,
increase the amount of forage available to bighorn sheep in late summer
and presumably, winter.
Mortality of ponderosa pine over the study area was approximately 50
percent. Pine expansion into mixed-grass prairie was curtailed.
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