Chapter 11. Vegetative manipulation with prescribed burning

Abstract

Plant responses to fire differ because of phenological variations at the time of burning, inherently different susceptibilities to heat damage, differing regenerative abilities, and different responses to the postfire environment. Individual plants of the same or different species may have different responses to fire because of local variations in fire temperature or microenvironment. The postfire assemblage of plants may have few species changes, as is often the case after grassland fires, or may be dramatically different in both species composition and structure, following some forest fires. When understood, these differential susceptibilities to fire can be used to manipulate plant communities. Prescribed burning can often be used to enhance one species or assemblage of species while reducing another species or assemblage of species (fig. 1).

Parent Publication

• Restoring Western Ranges and Wildlands, vol. 1

Citation

Whisenant, Steven G. 2004. Chapter 11. Vegetative manipulation with prescribed burning. In: Monsen, Stephen B.; Stevens, Richard; Shaw, Nancy L., comps. Restoring western ranges and wildlands, vol. 1. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-136-vol-1. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 101-120