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Partner Webinar: Invasive grass-fire feedbacks in Shawnee National Forest
December 14, 2021 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
This webinar is brought to you by the Oak Woodlands & Forests Fire Science Consortium and is the first webinar of the Fall Webinar Series
This webinar will be presented by Ron Salemme, University of Illinois
Registration is required (link below)!!
Webinar title: Invasive grass-fire feedbacks in Shawnee National Forest
Date/Time: December 14, 2021 at 1pm central time
The Wildlife Society and The Society of American Foresters continuing education credits (1 hour Cat 1) approved
Register here: https://umsystem.zoom.
A unique Zoom Meeting link will be emailed to you. Enter the meeting room beginning at 12:45 pm (central time) on the day of the webinar.
Webinar Abstract:
Non-native grass invasions are altering fuels and fire behavior in forests, with uncertain consequences for tree regeneration and forest dynamics. We examined whether invasion by Microstegium vimineum, the most widespread invasive grass in the eastern United States, interacts with prescribed fire to reduce tree regeneration and evaluated how such interactions might influence long-term regeneration dynamics in the Central Hardwoods Region. Using paired invaded and uninvaded plots subjected to fall or spring burning, we quantified differences in pre-fire juvenile tree regeneration, fire intensity, and survival and resprouting rates of naturally established juvenile trees of varying sizes and species. Our results suggest that, while grass invasion can have varying effects on fire intensity, it consistently alters forest dynamics by reducing the resilience of tree regeneration to fire. Lengthening the time between prescribed fire applications in grass-invaded forests may be necessary to allow juvenile trees to reach an adequate size to survive burning.