Examining the assumptions of heterogeneity-based management for promoting plant diversity in a disturbance-prone ecosystem.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Patch-burn management approaches attempt to increase overall landscape biodiversity by creating a mosaic of habitats using a patchy application of fire and grazing. We tested two assumptions of the patch-burn approach, namely that: (1) fire and grazing drive spatial patch differentiation in community structure and (2) species composition of patches change through time in response to disturbance.

Methods

We analyzed species cover data on 100 m² square quadrats from 128 sites located on a 1 × 1 km UTM grid in the grassland habitats of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. A total of 20 of these sites were annually sampled for 12 years. We examined how strongly changes in species richness and species composition correlated with changes in management variables re

SUBMITTER: McGlinn DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6503835 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature