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SEASON OF PRESCRIBED BURNING ON KLEBERG BLUESTEM (DICHANTHIUM ANNULATUM) IN SOUTH TEXAS.
Author
Toomey, Adam
Rideout-Hanzak, Sandra
Wester, David B.
Ruppert, David
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2016
Body

Kleberg bluestem (Dichanthium annulatum), a warm-season perennial bunchgrass is native to both the Asian and African continents, was introduced to South Texas during the 1930s. Its subsequent invasion of the region has greatly impacted native plant communities and the wildlife that inhabit them. We conducted a season of burning study to evaluate the use of prescribed burning as a control method for Kleberg bluestem. We investigated effects of both summer and winter burning on individual, as well as community-level metrics to better understand the initial impact of the fire treatments. Early results from the first year of burning indicated that summer burning can produce higher mortality rates in Kleberg bluestem than both winter burning and control treatments. However, both burning treatments increased seedling recruitment over control treatments, although we have not had sufficient time to determine whether recruits will become established successfully. Burning in either summer or winter did not affect individual plant production. These early results indicate neither summer nor winter burning is effective for short-term control of Kleberg bluestem as a single treatment, although summer burning is a better choice than winter burning. Treatments will be repeated in future years to investigate the long-term effects of repeat treatments.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Corpus Christi, TX
Collection
SRM Annual Meeting Abstracts