Short-term effects of prescribed fire on mixed oak forests in the southern Appalachians: vegetation response

Published source details Elliott K.J. & Vose J.M. (2010) Short-term effects of prescribed fire on mixed oak forests in the southern Appalachians: vegetation response. The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society, 49-66.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Use prescribed fire: effects on young trees Action Link
	Use prescribed fire: effect on understory plants Action Link

Use prescribed fire: effects on young trees

A controlled study in 2004-2006 in temperate mixed forest in North Carolina and Georgia, USA (Elliott & Vose 2010) found that prescribed fire had mixed effects on density and diversity of young trees depending on site. At one site density of young trees <5 cm diameter at breast height was lower in burned plots (burned: 7,000; unburned: 31,000/ha), while their diversity was similar between treatments (Shannon's index burned: 0.90; unburned: 1.00). At a second site density of young trees was similar between treatments (burned: 9,000; unburned: 14,000) while their diversity was lower in burned plots (burned: 0.87; unburned: 1.44). At a third site, the density of young trees (burned: 3,500; unburned: 1,200) and their diversity (burned: 0.57; unburned: 0.27) were similar between treatments. Data was collected in 2006 in 10-12 plots (10 × 20 m) in a burned area (in 2004) and in 4-6 plots in an adjacent unburned area (control) in each of three sites.
Use prescribed fire: effect on understory plants

A controlled study in 2004-2006 in temperate mixed forest in North Carolina and Georgia, USA (Elliott & Vose 2010) found that prescribed fire increased the cover of herbaceous plants only in one out of three sites. The cover of herbaceous plants was higher in burned than unburned plots at one site (burned: 132; unburned: 88%) and similar between treatments at the second (burned: 55; unburned: 37%) and the third sites (burned: 2; unburned: 1%). Data were collected in 2006 in 10-12 plots (10 × 20 m) in a burned area (in 2004) and in 4-6 plots in an adjacent unburned area (control) in each site.