Study

Effects of prescribed fire on the buried seed bank in mixed-hardwood forests of the southern Appalachian Mountains

  • Published source details Keyser T.L., Roof T., Adams J.L., Simon D. & Warburton G. (2012) Effects of prescribed fire on the buried seed bank in mixed-hardwood forests of the southern Appalachian Mountains. Southeastern Naturalist, 11, 669-688.

Actions

This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

Action Category

Use prescribed fire: effect on understory plants

Action Link
Forest Conservation
  1. Use prescribed fire: effect on understory plants

    A replicated, controlled study in 1946-2012 in temperate broadleaf forest in North Carolina, USA (Keyser et al. 2012) found that prescribed fire decreased the soil seed-bank species richness but not species diversity or density. Numbers of emerged species was lower after prescribed fire (before: 12.1-12.3; after: 11.0-11.3/m2), while diversity (Shannon's index in m2 1.9-2.1) and total density (419-603 emergents/m2) were similar between treatments. Five plots (5 ha) were burned in 2009-2010. Data were collected using four 0.06 m2 soil seed-bank samples, two before and two after burning, taken from each of six subplots (0.5 ha) within each plot.

     

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