Historical and recent fire ecology on national wildlife refuges: a case study on Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

IF 3.6 3区 环境科学与生态学 Q1 ECOLOGY Fire Ecology Pub Date : 2024-05-08 DOI:10.1186/s42408-024-00273-z
Katherine E. Golden, Benjamin L. Hemingway, Amy E. Frazier, Wade Harrell, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, Craig A. Davis
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Abstract

The southeastern United States consists of diverse ecosystems, many of which are fire-dependent. Fires were common during pre-European times, and many were anthropogenic in origin. Understanding how prescribed burning practices in use today compare to historic fire regimes can provide perspective and context on the role of fire in critical ecosystems. On the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), prescribed burning is conducted to prevent live oak (Quercus fusiformis) encroachment and preserve the openness of the herbaceous wetlands and grasslands for endangered whooping cranes (Grus americana) and Aplomado falcons (Falco femoralis). This field note builds a digital fire atlas of recent prescribed burning on the refuge and compares it to the historical fire ecology of ANWR. Findings indicate that the refuge is maintaining fire-dependent ecosystems with an extensive burn program that includes a fire return interval between 2 and 10 years on a majority of the refuge, with some locations experiencing much longer intervals. These fire return intervals are much shorter than the historic burn regime according to LANDFIRE. Following the fire return intervals projected by LANDFIRE, which project longer intervals than the prescribed fire program, would likely be detrimental to endangered species management by allowing increased woody plant encroachment and loss of open habitat important to whooping cranes and Aplomado falcons. Since prescribed fire is part of the management objectives on many national wildlife refuges in the United States, quantifying recent and historical fire ecology can provide useful insights into future management efforts, particularly in cases where endangered species are of special concern and management efforts may be counter to historical disturbance regimes.
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国家野生动物保护区的历史和近期火灾生态:阿兰萨斯国家野生动物保护区案例研究
美国东南部由多种多样的生态系统组成,其中许多都依赖于火灾。火灾在前欧洲时代就很常见,其中许多是人为造成的。了解当今使用的规定焚烧方法与历史上的火灾机制相比有何不同,可以为了解火灾在重要生态系统中的作用提供视角和背景。在阿兰萨斯国家野生动物保护区(ANWR),进行规定焚烧是为了防止栎树(Quercus fusiformis)蚕食,并为濒危百灵鹤(Grus americana)和阿普洛马多隼(Falco femoralis)保护草本湿地和草地的开阔性。本实地考察报告建立了一个数字火灾地图集,记录了避难所最近的规定焚烧情况,并将其与 ANWR 的历史火灾生态进行了比较。研究结果表明,该保护区正在通过广泛的燃烧计划来维持依赖于火的生态系统,该计划包括在大部分保护区内进行 2 到 10 年的火灾恢复间隔,有些地方的间隔时间更长。根据 LANDFIRE 的数据,这些复燃间隔比历史上的燃烧制度要短得多。按照 LANDFIRE 预测的复燃间隔(比规定火灾计划预测的间隔更长),很可能会增加木本植物的侵占,失去对百灵鹤和阿普洛马多隼非常重要的开阔栖息地,从而不利于濒危物种的管理。由于规定用火是美国许多国家野生动物保护区管理目标的一部分,量化近期和历史用火生态学可为未来管理工作提供有用的见解,尤其是在濒危物种受到特别关注、管理工作可能与历史干扰机制背道而驰的情况下。
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来源期刊
Fire Ecology
Fire Ecology ECOLOGY-FORESTRY
CiteScore
6.20
自引率
7.80%
发文量
24
审稿时长
20 weeks
期刊介绍: Fire Ecology is the international scientific journal supported by the Association for Fire Ecology. Fire Ecology publishes peer-reviewed articles on all ecological and management aspects relating to wildland fire. We welcome submissions on topics that include a broad range of research on the ecological relationships of fire to its environment, including, but not limited to: Ecology (physical and biological fire effects, fire regimes, etc.) Social science (geography, sociology, anthropology, etc.) Fuel Fire science and modeling Planning and risk management Law and policy Fire management Inter- or cross-disciplinary fire-related topics Technology transfer products.
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