Journal Article

Reassessment of the Use of Fire as a Management Tool in Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America

MATLACK, GLENN R.

2013

Overview

Prescribed burning is increasingly being used in the deciduous forests of eastern North America. Recent work suggests that historical fire frequency has been overestimated east of the prairie–woodland transition zone, and its introduction could potentially reduce forest herb and shrub diversity. Fire‐history recreations derived from sedimentary charcoal, tree fire scars, and estimates of Native American burning suggest point‐return times ranging from 5–10 years to centuries and millennia. Actual return times were probably longer because such records suffer from selective sampling, small sample sizes, and a probable publication bias toward frequent fire. Archeological evidence shows the environmental effect of fire could be severe in the immediate neighborhood of a Native American village. Population density appears to have been low through most of the Holocene, however, and villages were strongly clustered at a regional scale. Thus, it appears that the majority of forests of the eastern United States were little affected by burning before European settlement. Use of prescribed burning assumes that most forest species are tolerant of fire and that burning will have only a minimal effect on diversity. However, common adaptations such as serotiny, epicormic sprouting, resprouting from rhizomes, and smoke‐cued germination are unknown across most of the deciduous region. Experimental studies of burning show vegetation responses similar to other forms of disturbance that remove stems and litter and do not necessarily imply adaptation to fire. The general lack of adaptation could potentially cause a reduction in diversity if burning were introduced. These observations suggest a need for a fine‐grained examination of fire history with systematic sampling in which all subregions, landscape positions, and community types are represented. Responses to burning need to be examined in noncommercial and nonwoody species in rigorous manipulative experiments. Until such information is available, it seems prudent to limit the use of prescribed burning east of the prairie–woodland transition zone. Reevaluación del Uso de Fuego como Herramienta de Manejo en Bosques Deciduos de América del Norte

• Publisher: Blackwell Scientific Publications,Blackwell Publishing Ltd,Wiley-Blackwell
• Subject: adaptación / adaptation / Adaptation, Physiological / Animal, plant and microbial ecology / Applied ecology / Aquatic plants / Biological and medical sciences / carbón / Charcoal / cicatriz de fuego / Conservation of Natural Resources - history / Conservation of Natural Resources - methods / Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife / Deciduous forests / Eastern United States / Environmental effects / Environmental management / fire scar / fire scars / Fires / Forest & brush fires / Forestry / Forests / Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology / General aspects / General forest ecology / Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology / germination / historia de vegetación / History, 19th Century / History, 20th Century / Holocene / Humans / Indians, North American / landscapes / Native American / nativo americano / Neighborhoods / North America / oak / Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking / Population Density / Prairies / prescribed burning / Prescribed fire / Quercus - physiology / Review / rhizomes / roble / shrubs / Species Specificity / sprouting / Transition zone / Trees / vegetation history / villages / Woodlands