Abstract
We studied the long-term impacts of natural burning on herbaceous species diversity 37 years after a fire occurred in the Roudbar forests of Guilan Province, northern Iran. Numerous studies have examined short-term changes in understory vegetation following wildfire; however, very few long-term studies are available or changes inferred from retrospective studies based on chronosequences. For this study, 170 ha of forest (85 ha, burned areas; 85 ha, unburned areas) were surveyed. Because the 1000 m2 plots were too large for detailed measurements of herbaceous species, we determined a sub-sample size according to the Whittaker’s nested plot sampling protocol and minimal areas method. Hence, sub-plots of 32 m2 were used for herbaceous species measurements, which consisted of percent cover of each species based on the Domin criterion. We measured plant diversity (Shannon-Wiener index), species richness (Margalef’s index), and evenness (Smith-Wilson index). Mean percent cover, together with diversity, richness and evenness, increased markedly in burned areas compared to unburned controls. This suggests that the biodiversity of these forests could be restored within 37 years after fire. However, the abundance of invasive species such as Rubus fruticosus and Bromus benekenii increased significantly in burned areas, but these could be controlled by relevant silvicultural operations.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Abrahamson W G, Hartnett D C. 1990. Pine flatwoods and dry prairies. In: Myers R L, Ewel J J, eds. Ecosystems of Florida. Orlando, USA: University of Central Florida Press, 103–149
Akinsoji A. 1988. Postfire vegetation dynamics in a sagebrush steppe in southeastern Idaho, USA. Vegetatio, 78: 151–155
Anderson R C, Loucks O L, Swain A M. 1968. Herbaceous response to canopy cover, light intensity, and throughfall precipitation in coniferous forests. Ecology, 50: 255–263
Arthur M A, Paratley R D, Blankenship B A. 1998. Single and repeated fires affect survival and regeneration of woody and herbaceous species in an oak-pine forest. J Tor Bot Soc, 125: 225–236
Auchmoody L R. 1979. Nitrogen fertilization stimulates of dormant pin cherry seed. Can J For Res, 9: 514–516
Banj Shafiei A, Akbarinia M, Jalali G, Hosseini M. 2010. Forest fire effects in beech dominated mountain forest of Iran. For Ecol Manage, 259: 2191–2196
Bataineh A L, Oswald B P, Bataineh M M, Williams H M, Coble D W. 2006. Change in understory vegetation of a ponderosa pine forest in northern Arizona 30 years after a wild-fire. For Ecol Manage, 235: 283–294
Bazzaz F A. 1975. Plant species diversity in old-growth successional ecosystems in southern Illinois. Ecology, 56: 485–488
Bernhardt E L, Hollingsworth T N, Chapin III F S. 2011. Fire severity mediates climate-driven shifts in understorey community composition of black spruce stands of Interior Alaska. J Veg Sci, 22: 32–44
Boerner R E J, Brinkman J A, Sutherland E K. 2003. Effects of fire at two frequencies on nitrogen transformations and soil chemistry in a nitrogen-enriched forest landscape. Can J For Res, 34: 609–618
Brockway D G, Lewis C E. 1997. Long-term effect of dormantseason prescribed fire on plant community diversity, structure and productivity in a longleaf pine-wiregrass ecosystem. For Ecol Manage, 96: 167–183
Cain S A. 1938. The species-area Curve. Am Midland Nat, 19: 81–573
Coop J D, Massatti R T, Schoettle A W. 2010. Subalpine vegetation pattern three decades after stand-replacing fire: Effects of landscape context and topography on plant community composition, tree regeneration, and diversity. J Veg Sci, 21: 472–487
Dagett P. 1977. Le bioclimat mediterraneen: Analyse des formes climatiques par le systeme d’Emberger. Vegetatio, 34: 87–103
Elliott K J, Hendrick L, Major A E, Vose J M, Swank W T. 1999. Vegetation dynamics after prescribed fire in the southern Appalachians. For Ecol Manage, 114: 199–213
Elliott K J, Vose J M, Hendrick R L. 2009. Long-term effects of high intensity prescribed fire on vegetation dynamics in the Wine Spring Creek Watershed, western North Carolina, USA. Fire Ecol, 5(2): 66–85
Fernandez-Abascal I, Tarrega R, Luis-Calabuig E. 2004. Ten years of recovery after experimental fire in a heathland: effects of sowing native species. For Ecol Manage, 203: 147–156
Ffolliott P F, Stropki C L, Kauffman A T. 2009. A 43-year evaluation of a prescribed fire: an Arizona case study. Fire Ecol, 5(1): 79–84
Franklin J, Spears-Lebrun L, Deutschman D H, Marsden K. 2006. Impact of a high-intensity fire on mixed evergreen and mixed conifer forests in the Peninsular Ranges of southern California, USA. For Ecol Manage, 235: 18–29
Gilliam F S. 2007. The ecological significance of the Herbaceous layer in temperate forest ecosystems. BioScience, 57(10): 845–858
Gilliam F S, Christensen N L. 1986. Herb-layer response to burning in pine flatwoods of the lower Coastal Plain of South Carolina. Bull Torr Bot Club, 113: 42–45
Glasgow L S, Matlack G R. 2007. Prescribed burning and understory composition in a temperate deciduous forest, Ohio, USA. For Ecol Manage, 238: 54–64
Hall G M J, Wiser S K, Allen R B, Beets P N, Goulding C J. 2001. Strategies to estimate national carbon stocks from inventory data: the 1990 New Zealand baseline. Glob Chan Biol, 7: 389–403
Hartman G W, Heumann B. 2004. Prescribed fire effects in the Ozarks of Missouri: the Chilton Creek Project 1996–2001. Proceedings, 2nd International Wildland Fire Ecology and Fire Management Congress.
Orlando, FL Herath D N, Lamont B B, Enright N J, Miller B P. 2009. Impact of fire on plant-species persistence in post — mine restored and natural shrubland communities in southern Australia. Biol Conserv, 142: 2175–2180
Hutchinson T F, Boerner R E J, Sutherland S, Sutherland E K, Ortt M, Iverson L R. 2005. Prescribed fire effects on the herbaceous layer on mixed-oak forests. Can J For Res, 35: 877–890
Hutchinson T F, Sutherland S. 2000. Fire and understory vegetation, a large scale study in Ohio and a search for general response patterns in central hardwood forests. In: Yaussy D, ed. Proceedings, Workshop on Fire, People, and the Central Hardwoods Landscape, General Technical Report GTRNE-299, 64–74
Keeley J E, Fotheringham C J. 1998. Smoke-induced seed germination in California Chaparral. Ecology, 79(7): 2320–2336
Krebs C J. 1989. Ecological Methodology, 1st edn. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 654
Kuddes-Fischer L M, Arthur M A. 2002. Response of understory vegetation and tree regeneration to a single prescribed fire in oak-pine forests. Nat Areas J, 22: 43–52
Laughlin D C, Bakker J D, Stoddard M T, Daniels M L, Springer J D, Gildar C N, Green A M, Covington W W. 2004. Toward reference conditions: Wildfire effects on flora in an old-growth ponderosa pine forest. For Ecol Manage, 199: 137–152
Lecomte N, Simard M, Bergeron Y, Larouche A, Asnong H, Richard P J H. 2005. Effects of fire severity and initial tree composition on understory vegetation dynamics in a boreal landscape inferred from chronosequence and paleoecological data. J Veg Sci, 16: 665–674
Lloret F, Zedler P H. 2007. The effect of forest fire on vegetation. In: Cerda A, Robichaud P R, eds. Fire Effect on Soils and Restoration Strategies. Enfield, NH: Science publisher, 589
Loucks E, Arthur M A, Lyons J E, Loftis D L. 2008. Characterization of fuel before and after a single prescribed fire in an Appalachian forest. S J Appl For, 32: 80–88
Lowe P O, Ffolliott P F, Dieterich J H, Patton D R. 1978. Determining potential wildfire benefits from wildfire in Arizona ponderosa pine forests. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Fort Collins, CO. General Technical Report RM-52, 12
Ludwig F, de Kroon H, Berendse F, Prins H H T. 2004. The influence of savanna trees on nutrient, water and light availability and the understory vegetation. Plant Ecol, 170: 93–105
Ludwig A J, Reynolds F J. 1988. Statistical Ecology: a Primer of Methods and Computing. New York: Wiley Press, 337
Magurran A E. 1988. Ecological Diversity and Its Measurement. London: Croom Helm, 179
McConnell K, Menges E S. 2002. Effects of fire and treatments that mimic fire on Florida endemic scrub buckwheat (Eriogonum longifolium Nutt. var. gnaphalifolium Gand). Nat Areas J, 22: 194–201
Mohadjer M R. 2006. Silviculture. Tehran, Iran: Tehran University Press, 387
Moore M M, Casey C A, Bakker J D, Springer J D, Fule P Z, Covington W W, Laughlin D C. 2006. Herbaceous vegetation response (1992–2004) to restoration treatment in a ponderosa pine forest. Range Ecol Manage, 59: 135–144
Moreira F, Delgado A, Ferreira S, Borralho R, Oliveira N, Inacio M, Silva J S, Rego F. 2003. Effects of prescribed fire on vegetation structure and breeding birds in young Pinus pinaster stands of Northern Portugal. For Ecol Manage, 184: 225–237
Moretti M, Barbalat M. 2004. The effects of wildfire on wood-eating beetles in deciduous forests on the southern slope of the Swiss Alps. For Ecol Manage, 187: 85–103
Nuzzo V A, McClain W, Strole T. 1996. Fire impact on ground layer flora in a sand forest 1990–1994. Am Midl Nat, 136: 207–221
Rees D C, Juday G P. 2002. Plant species diversity on logged versus burned sites in central Alaska. For Ecol Manage, 155: 291–302
Reinhardt E D, Ryan K C. 1988. Eight-year tree growth following prescribed under-burning in a Western Montana Douglas-fir/western larch stand. USDA Forest Service. Intermountain Research Station
Sagheb-Talebi K, Sajedi T, Yazdian F. 2004. Forests of Iran. Research Institute of forests and Rangelands, Tehran, Iran. 28
Smith B, Wilson J B. 1996. A consumer’s guide to evenness indices. Oikos, 76: 70–82
van Mantgem P, Schwarts M. 2001. Monitoring fire effects for managed burns and wildfires: Coming to terms with pseudoreplication. Nat Area J, 21: 266–273
Veblen T T. 2003. Key issues in fire regime research for fuels management and ecological restoration. In: Omi P, Joyce L, eds. Conference Proceedings on Fire, Fuel Treatments and Ecological Restoration. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 259–276
Vickery P D. 2002. Effect of the size of prescribed fire on insect predation of northern blazing star, a rare grassland perennial. Conserv Biol, 16: 413–421
Wardle J A. 1984. The New Zealand beeches: Ecology, utilization and management. New Zealand Forest Service, Wellington, NZ
Wright H A, Bailey A W. 1982. Fire Ecology: United States and Southern Canada. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons
Zimmerman G T. Neuenschwander L F. 1984. Livestock grazing influences on community structure, fire intensity, and fire frequency within the Douglas-fir/ninebark habitat type. J Range Manage, 37: 104–110
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Adel, M.N., Pourbabaei, H., Omidi, A. et al. Long-term effect of fire on herbaceous species diversity in oriental beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) forests in northern Iran. For. Stud. China 14, 260–267 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11632-012-0401-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11632-012-0401-1