Abstract
A season of burn study was initiated in 1973 on the Escambia Experimental Forest, near Brewton, Alabama. All study plots were established in the 14-year-old longleaf pine (
Pinus palustris) stands. Treatments consisted of biennial burns in winter, spring, and summer, plus a no-burn check. Objectives of the current study were to determine composition and structure of understory plant communities after 22 years of seasonal burning, identify changes since last sampling in 1982, and assess the structure of the communities that stablized under each treatment regime. There were 114 species on biennial winter-burned plots, compared ot 104 on spring- and summer-burned and 84 with no burning. The woody understory biomass (<1 centimeter diamter at breast height) increased with all treatments compared with 1982. Grass and legume biomass increased with winter and spring burning. Forb biomass decreased across treatments.
Keywords
biomass,
longleaf pine,
Pinus palustris,
plant response,
prescribed fire,
south Alabama,
understory
Citation
Kush, John S.; Meldahl, Ralph S.; Boyer, William D. 2000. Understory Plant Community Response to Season of Burn in Natural Longleaf Pine Forests. In: Moser, W. Keith; Moser, Cynthia E., eds. Fire and forest ecology: innovative silviculture and vegetation management. Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference Proceedings, No. 21. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station: 32-39
