Fire Frequency and Mosaic Burning Effects on a Tallgrass Prairie Ground Beetle Assemblage |
| |
Authors: | William M Cook Robert D Holt |
| |
Institution: | (1) Center for Environmental Studies, Arizona State University, PO Box 873211, Tempe, 85287-3211, AZ, USA;(2) Department of Zoology, 223 Bartram Hall, PO Box 118525, Gainesville, FL 32611-8525, USA |
| |
Abstract: | Fire frequency has significant effects on the biota of tallgrass prairie, including mammals, vascular plants and birds. Recent
concern has been expressed that widespread annual burning, sometimes in combination with heavy livestock grazing, negatively
impacts the biota of remaining prairie remnants. A common management recommendation, intended to address this problem, is
to create a landscape with a mosaic of different burn regimes. Pitfall trapping was used to investigate the impacts of fire
pattern on the diversity and species composition of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) at Konza Prairie Biological Station
in eastern Kansas, USA. Trapping was conducted over three seasons in landscape units burned on average every 1, 4, or 20 years,
and in a fourth season across the available range of vegetative structure to assess the variability of the community within
the study system. In the fifth season communities were also followed immediately after two fire events to detect within-season
effects of fire and to study short-term patterns of post-disturbance community assembly. Fire frequency had comparatively
minimal effects on ground beetle diversity measures, and most numerically common species were observed widely across habitat
and management types. Fire frequency effects were manifested primarily in changes in abundance of common species. Colonization
of burned areas apparently did not occur from juxtaposed non-burned areas, but from underground or from long distances. While
these results suggest that widespread annual burning of tallgrass prairie remnants may not have dramatic effects on prairie
ground beetles, we urge caution regarding the application of these results to other taxa within tallgrass prairie. |
| |
Keywords: | Carabidae Fire frequency Ground beetles Pitfall trapping Species richness Tallgrass prairie |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|