Changes in community composition and biomass in Juncus roemerianus scheele and Spartina bakeri merr. marshes one year after a fire

Published source details Schmalzer P.A., Hinkle C.R. & Mailander J.L. (1991) Changes in community composition and biomass in Juncus roemerianus scheele and Spartina bakeri merr. marshes one year after a fire. Wetlands, 11, 67-86.
Share Tweet Email

Actions

This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Use prescribed fire to maintain or restore disturbance: brackish/salt marshes Action Link

Use prescribed fire to maintain or restore disturbance: brackish/salt marshes

A replicated, before-and-after study in 1988–1989 in two brackish marshes in Florida, USA (Schmalzer et al. 1991) found that a prescribed burn reduced vegetation biomass, increased cover of tall vegetation and increased species richness of short vegetation. In both marshes, above-ground vegetation biomass was lower one year after burning (530 g/m²) than before (1,730–1,810 g/m²). The same was true for live and dead biomass separately, but the ratio of live to dead biomass increased after burning (see original paper for data). Cover of plants >50 cm tall was greater one year after burning than before (before: 107–108%; after: 120–131%). Richness of plants <50 cm tall increased in both marshes (before: 0.5–1 species/transect; after: 3–4 species/transect). There were no significant changes in cover of shorter plants, richness of taller plants, or total richness (see original paper for data). Results for the dominant species in each marsh (black rush Juncus roemerianus and sand cordgrass Spartina bakeri) mirrored overall results: lower biomass after burning (rush: 465 g/m²; cordgrass: 400 g/m²) than before (rush: 1,576 g/m²; cordgrass: 1,312 g/m²), but greater cover after burning (rush: 99%; cordgrass: 92%) than before (rush: 92%; cordgrass: 70%). Statistical significance of these dominant species results was not assessed. Methods: Two marshes, one rush-dominated and one cordgrass-dominated, were burned in November 1988. The marshes had “long been exposed to fire” but had last burned in 1985. Plant species and their cover were recorded immediately before and one year after the prescribed burn, along four or five 15-m-long transects/marsh. Vegetation was cut from twenty-five 0.25-m² quadrats/marsh, then dried and weighed.

(Summarised by: Nigel Taylor)