Work

Floral response of eight forb species to prescribed fire in the southern Great Plains (U.S.A.)

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Prescribed fire is commonly used to restore and maintain grasslands, often mediating the balance between grasses, woody species, and forbs. Forbs provide the majority of plant diversity in grasslands, and the responses of forbs to fire are important to understanding and predicting the effects of fire on pollinators and on plant communities. However, much of the past research on prescribed fire effects in grasslands has focused on woody plant species and grasses, not forbs, despite the importance of their flowering dynamics to pollinators. Thus, we need to know more about the mechanisms underlying the responses of forbs to fire, especially in the understudied southern Great Plains. In this study, we asked whether the floral displays of eight native forb species in this region differed between burned and unburned plots, and, if so, whether the differences were due to plant density (plants/m2), plant size (grams dry above-ground biomass), resource allocation to flowers (flowers/gram plant biomass), or a combination of these factors. We found that fire responses were highly species-specific. Prescribed fire increased floral display (flowers/m2) of five of the eight species. Floral display was proportional to plant size and plant density (plants/m2). In some species both size and density were larger in their burned plot; while other species show opposite or no patterns. The species-specific responses of forbs in this study reinforces the need to better understand and manage for increased forb diversity and overall heterogeneity to recreate or restore ecosystems that can support a wider variety of organisms and conserve biodiversity.

Source: Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas

DOI: 10.17348/jbrit.v19.i3.1425

Authors: Whitney L. Behr, Kyle Simpson, Elinor M. Lichtenberg, Kristen A. Baum, Shalene Jha, Norma Fowler

Institutions: United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas A&M University, University of North Texas, University of Kansas, The University of Texas at Austin

Language: English

Topic: Rangeland and Wildlife Management

Subfield: Ecology

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Life on land

Open Access status: hybrid

OpenAlex ID: W4414425876

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