Effects of prescribed fire timing on vigor of sericea lespedeza in the Kansas Flint Hills
dc.contributor.author | Alexander, Jonathan Andrew | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2018-01-10T16:17:30Z | |
dc.date.available | 2018-01-10T16:17:30Z | |
dc.date.graduationmonth | May | en_US |
dc.date.issued | 2018-05-01 | en_US |
dc.date.published | 2018 | en_US |
dc.description.abstract | We evaluated effects of annual, prescribed burning on vigor of the noxious weed, sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata; SL) in native tallgrass prairie over a 4-yr period. We hypothesized that annual prescribed burning conducted during the growing season would selectively pressure SL, whereas locally-conventional, dormant-season prescribed burning would have no effect on SL. A 50-ha native tallgrass pasture infested with SL (initial basal frequency = 2 ± 1.3%, initial aerial frequency = 36 ± 3.4%) was used for our study. It was divided along watershed boundaries into 9 fire-management units (5 ± 2.6 ha) for this experiment. Burn units were assigned randomly to 1 of 3 prescribed-burning times (n = 3 / treatment): early spring (1 April; EARLY), mid-summer (1 August; MID), or late summer (1 September; LATE). Forage biomass, SL aerial frequency, SL stem length, SL seed production, soil cover, and plant species composition were measured along single, permanent 100-m transects in each burn unit. Treatment and measurement date influenced forage biomass and SL stem length (treatment × time). Forage biomass was not different (P ≥ 0.43) between treatments on 17 July; however, forage biomass was greater (P < 0.01) in EARLY than MID and greater in MID than LATE on 10 October. Maximum stem length of SL was less (P ≤ 0.02) in MID and LATE than in EARLY on 17 July and on 10 October. Aerial frequency of SL was least (main effect – P < 0.01) in LATE, intermediate in MID, and greatest in EARLY, whereas basal frequency of SL was less (P < 0.01) in MID and LATE compared with EARLY. Whole-plant dry weight and seed production of SL at dormancy were greatly diminished (P ≤ 0.02) in MID and LATE compared with EARLY. Occurrence of bare soil, litter cover, and total basal plant cover were not different (P ≥ 0.21) between treatments. Similarly, basal cover of grasses, forbs, and shrubs were not different (P ≥ 0.24) between treatments. We interpreted these data to indicate that annual prescribed burning during the growing season had strong suppressive effects on SL compared to locally-conventional, early-season prescribed burning and produced no apparent detrimental effects on soil cover or non-target plant species. Post-fire regrowth was sufficient to prevent erosion and soil-moisture loss during the subsequent dormant season and would have allowed light to moderate grazing during the ensuing winter. Key words: Lespedeza cuneata, prescribed fire, range improvement | en_US |
dc.description.advisor | K. C. Olson | en_US |
dc.description.degree | Master of Science | en_US |
dc.description.department | Department of Animal Sciences and Industry | en_US |
dc.description.level | Masters | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/2097/38567 | |
dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
dc.publisher | Kansas State University | en |
dc.subject | Sericea Lespedeza | en_US |
dc.subject | Lespedeza cuneata | en_US |
dc.subject | Prescribed burning | en_US |
dc.subject | Tallgrass prairie | en_US |
dc.subject | Range restoration | en_US |
dc.subject | Invasive species | en_US |
dc.title | Effects of prescribed fire timing on vigor of sericea lespedeza in the Kansas Flint Hills | en_US |
dc.type | Thesis | en_US |