The time required for re-establishment of pre-fire nitrogen levels in tobosagrass (Hilaria mutica) communities in the Rolling Plains of West Texas was studied on five different ages of burns over a 2-year period. Time elapsed after burns varied from one to five growing seasons for both convex and concave topographic sites near Colorado City, Texas. Standing old growth-N returned to pre-fire levels by the end of the third growing season. However, litter-N on the soil surface took 5 years to reach pre-fire levels on concave sites and an estimated 8 years on convex sites. High variation prevented the recognition of any meaningful trends in root or soil nitrogen levels. Based on this data, tobosagrass should not be burned more frequently than 5 to 8 years, depending on the site. This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020
Scholarly peer-reviewed articles published by the Society for Range Management. Access articles on a rolling-window basis from vol. 1, 1948 up to 5 years from the current year. Formerly Journal of Range Management (JRM). More recent content is available by subscription from SRM.