Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student
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Transcript of Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student
Fire and Wildlife Habitat RestorationJohanna Freeman, PhD student
Johanna Freeman ([email protected])UF School of Forest Resources and Conservation
Florida Fish and WildlifeConservation Commission
Is this good wildlife habitat?
Medium/largeherbivorous
mammals
Large-seeded grasses
Small omnivorous and herbivorous
mammalsOmnivorous birds Invertebrates
Large omnivorous mammals
SquirrelsTortoises/Turtles
Bats
Small carnivorous mammals
Carnivorous/insectivorous
birdsCarnivorous/Insectivorous
reptiles
Large carnivorous mammals
Amphibians
ForbsDwarf Shrubs
Legumes
Longleaf PineWiregrass
Fire-maintainedunderstory
What is a functional group?• Analysis of vegetation often requires that the great diversity of plant
species be reduced to a much smaller number of logical categories.
Mast-producing shrubsLarge-seeded grasses LegumesForbs
Example 1 – Wildlife food emphasis
• Plant Functional Group (or guild) is a general term that groups plants according to their function in ecosystems and their use of resources
• Can be based on taxonomy (i.e. family), size (i.e. tree vs. shrub), or specific traits (i.e. herbaceous vs. woody), depending on the interests of the researcher
Herbaceous plantsPinesOaksShrubs
Example 2 – Fire emphasis
LLP restoration: The Reference System
C4 bunchgrasses
C3 graminoids
Legumes
Dwarf shrubs
Forbs
• These functional groups coexist by exploiting different niches both above and belowground
• Restoration goal: create a similar assemblage of species, by restoring the necessary environmental conditions (e.g. fire) and/or the species themselves
Functional groups important in LLP restoration: Legumes
• Replace N lost to volatilization during fires
• Protein-rich seeds in pods
• N-rich foliage
• Most have associations with symbiotic N-fixing bacteria
• Members of the Fabaceae family
Functional groups important in LLP restoration: C4 grasses
• Members of the Poaceae family
• Fire-carrying fine fuels (best known is wiregrass)
• Some have large seeds, important food for birds
• Many are bunchgrasses, which leave bare ground for seedling recruitment and wildlife movement, and provide nesting cover for small wildlife
• C4 photosynthetic pathway = adaptation to heat and water stress
Functional groups important in LLP restoration: Dwarf shrubs
• Members of various families
• Resprout vigorously after fire, but small size does not disrupt fine fuel structure
• Mast-producing, key wildlife foods
• Examples include numerous blueberry species,huckleberries, runner oak, pawpaw, gopher apple
Community Assembly Theory…attempts to explain the existence of environmentally similar sites with differing assemblages of species.
Site A Site B
EnvironmentT0• Community
formation due to random variation in colonization, migration, and extinction rates
• Assumes species have similar niche requirements
Community Assembly Theory…attempts to explain the existence of environmentally similar sites with differing assemblages of species.
Site A Site BS1
S2
S3
EnvironmentT1
S1
S4
S5
Site A Site B
EnvironmentT2
• Community formation due to random variation in colonization, migration, and extinction rates
• Assumes species have similar niche requirements
Community Assembly Theory
Site A Site BS3
S4
Order is important• Composition of
seed mixes• Planting order• Year of planting
S1
S2
T1
Site A Site BS3
S4
S1
S2
T2
Community Assembly Theory
Site A Site BS1
S2
S3
S4
T1
Site A Site B
T3
Site A Site BS3
S4
S1
S2
T2
Order is important• Composition of
seed mixes• Planting order• Year of planting
Do altered communities have the ability to repair themselves?
Or does history allow for many (infinite?) number of communities?
Community Assembly TheoryEnvironmental filters: suite of factors influencing seed germination, seedling emergence, and species establishment (Harper 1977)
Environment 1
Environment 2
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6
S7
S8
S9
Sn
S1
S2
S4
S3
S7
S8
Species PoolTrait Matrix
Community
filter
filter
filter
Unable to tolerate drought
Unable to tolerate fire
Weak competitors
Community assembly on restored LLP sites
Species traits(i.e. N-fixing, Wind-dispersed)
Niche factors Stochastic factorsLocal seed pool(Mostly ruderal?Reference sites nearby?)
Environmental filters(i.e. fire regime, rainfall)
Species interactions(i.e. competition, facilitation)
Legumes ForbsC4 grassesC3 graminoids
Factors hypothesized to influence community assembly
Community assembly on restored LLP sites: Study #1
Plot 1: All functional groups in Yr 1
Subplot 1A: Fire Only
Subplot 1B: Fire + Irrigation
Subplot 1C: Irrigation Only
Subplot 1D: No Treatment
4m
4m
Plot 2: C4 grasses Yr 1, other groups Yr 2
Subplot 2A: Fire Only
Subplot 2B: Fire + Irrigation
Subplot 2C: Irrigation Only
Subplot 2D: No Treatment
4m
4m
Plot 3: Other groups Yr 1, C4 grasses Yr 2
Subplot 3A: Fire Only
Subplot 3B: Fire + Irrigation
Subplot 3C: Irrigation Only
Subplot 3D: No Treatment
Plot 4: C4 Grasses Only
Subplot 4A: Fire Only
Subplot 4B: Fire + Irrigation
Subplot 4C: Irrigation Only
Subplot 4D: No Treatment
Plot 5: Unplanted, volunteers only
Subplot 5A: Fire Only
Subplot 5B: Fire + Irrigation
Subplot 5C: Irrigation Only
Subplot 5D: No Treatment
Community assembly on restored LLP sites: Study #1
• The treatment plots will be established on four Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sites: Half Moon, Three Lakes, Caravelle Ranch, and Hilochee Wildlife Management Areas
• The pre-treatment condition at each study site is bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum) pasture
• All four pastures occur on Spodosols that historically supported longleaf pine flatwoods vegetation
• FWC’s Wildlife Management Area system includes over 100,000 acres of abandoned pasture. The agency is interested in restoring these pastures because they are poor habitat for native wildlife.
Community assembly on restored LLP sites: Study #2
“If you build it, they will come…?”
Community assembly on restored LLP sites: Study #2• Beneficial effects of fuel treatments on understory structural
parameters (i.e. decreased woody cover/increased herbaceous cover) have been documented by several researchers in longleaf pine systems….
• But it appears that certain plant functional groups important to wildlife may be chronically underrepresented on restored sites (Provencher et al 2001, Kirkman et al. 2004, Kreye et al. 2013).
• Few studies have isolated and examined the functional group composition of restored longleaf pine understories, and those that have addressed these parameters have been experimental studies at a single location
• The proposed project will offer a new perspective by surveying plant communities on numerous restored sites across a wide geographic area
Community assembly on restored LLP sites: Study #2
Agency Soil Type Treatment Type Restored Sites
King Sale Tract (Big Bend WMA) Florida FWC Sandhill Root rake + Fire Tide Swamp Unit (Big Bend WMA) Florida FWC Sandhill Root rake + Fire Belle Glade WMA Florida FWC Sandhill Thin + Fire Watermelon Pond WEA Florida FWC Sandhill Thin + Fire Ocala National Forest USFS Sandhill Fire Only Half Moon WMA Florida FWC Flatwoods Fire Only Three Lakes WMA Florida FWC Flatwoods Fire Only Caravelle Ranch WMA Florida FWC Flatwoods Fire Only Austin Cary Memorial Forest Univ. of FL Flatwoods Fire Only Osceola National Forest USFS Flatwoods Mastication + Fire Apalachicola River WEA Florida FWC Flatwoods Mastication + Fire Apalachicola River WEA Florida FWC Flatwoods Chemical + Fire Apalachicola River WEA Florida FWC Flatwoods Roller chop + Fire Aucilla WEA Florida FWC Flatwoods Roller chop + Fire Reference Sites (long term maintenance with historic fire interval, representative of “target” community) St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge USFWS Sandhill Long term prescribed fire Gold Head Branch State Park Florida DEP Sandhill Long term prescribed fire Withlacoochee State Forest FFS Sandhill Long term prescribed fire Myakka River State Park Florida DEP Flatwoods Long term prescribed fire Triple N Ranch Wildlife Mgmt Area Florida FWC Flatwoods Long term prescribed fire Apalachicola National Forest USFS Flatwoods Long term prescribed fire Jennings State Forest FFS Flatwoods Long term prescribed fire
List of study sites so far:
Community assembly on restored LLP sites: Study #2All of the plant species found in this study will be classified according to
- functional group (legume, shrub, grass, or forb), - seed dispersal type (wind, gravity, animal, or ant), - seed bank longevity (persistent vs. not persistent), - reproductive strategy (seed, vegetative, or both), - life span (annual vs. perennial) and - life history strategy
Site variables will include: -pre-treatment fire-free interval; -type, frequency, and seasonality of treatment; -time since treatment; and -proximity to reference sites
Medium/largeherbivorous
mammals
Large-seeded grasses
Small omnivorous and herbivorous
mammalsOmnivorous birds Invertebrates
Large omnivorous mammals
SquirrelsTortoises/Turtles
Bats
Small carnivorous mammals
Carnivorous/insectivorous
birdsCarnivorous/Insectivorous
reptiles
Large carnivorous mammals
Amphibians
ForbsDwarf Shrubs
Legumes
Longleaf PineWiregrass
Fire-maintainedunderstory