Long-term study of resprouting after fire reveals that five foot tall hardwoods can take the heat
Higher survival and taller hardwood trees in gaps supports the hypothesis that fires in gaps are less intense and less effective at keeping hardwoods in shrub form. We identified an important threshold for deciduous hardwoods at ~5 feet tall where they become resistant to typical prescribed fire in longleaf pine woodlands. These results suggest that land managers may need to choose fire weather conditions that result in higher intensity for prescribed fires in stands with large gaps.
- Hardwoods in gaps were 80% more likely to exceed 3 feet in height than hardwoods under unbroken canopy.
- After deciduous oaks (southern red, post, turkey, bluejack) reach 5 feet in height they are more likely to resist top-kill from prescribed fire.
Whelan, A., S. W. Bigelow, M. F. Nieminen, and S. B. Jack. 2018. Fire season, overstory density and groundcover composition affect understory hardwood sprout demography in longleaf pine woodlands. Forests 9: Article 423. https://doi.org/10.3390/f9070423
Andy Whelan, [email protected]