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Impacts of fire history in a semi-arid woodland savanna (SASSCAL Book, Biodiversity & Ecology 6)

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Title Impacts of fire history in a semi-arid woodland savanna (SASSCAL Book, Biodiversity & Ecology 6) ?
Author Dave F. Joubert, Caroline Stolter, Kristin M. Krewenka, Nekulilo Uunona,Vistorina Amputu, Elise Nghalipo, Sylvia Thompson, Kai Schütte, Michael Kruspe, Heather Throop, Pierre du Preez, Piet Beytell, Manie le Roux, Herman Aindongo ?
Abstract Fire is known to be an important element shaping semi-arid ecosystems. Within SASSCAL we conducted several projects in the woodland savanna of the Waterberg Plateau Park to gain a better understanding of the impact of fi re on ecosystem properties and processes (soil characteristics, species composition and structure of the vegetation, changes in plant forage quality, insect biodiversity, and the utilization of habitat and plants by large herbivores). Four adjacent areas of around 2,000 ha?2,500 ha each with diff erent times since last burn were studied (in 2014, when most of the measurements were done, the areas had been burnt 2, 3, 14, and 24 years prior to the study). We found inconsistent eff ects of diff erent fi re histories on soil nutrients, soil organic carbon, and soil respiration, which suggests that soil resources return rapidly (within a year or two) to pre-fi re conditions at our sites. We also assume (based on the standing biomass of the four areas during the study) that the fi res were likely to have not been suffi ciently intense to cause long-term detrimental impacts and impair the recovery of soil resources at our sites. Furthermore, fi re positively aff ected the grass component by increasing grass density and enhancing productivity. Fire maintained open savannas through the top-kill of woody plants but did not alter plant species composition. The infl uence of burning on the quality of grasses was relatively short-lived (two years after burning, grass quality in burnt sites was comparable with that of unburnt sites). However, trees, whose leaves are generally higher in protein, remained at a higher quality for longer periods after fi re and thus served as supplementary food not only for browsers and mixed feeders but also for herbivores generally considered to be ?pure? grazers (e.g., red hartebeest, buff alo). Fire had a negative impact on small ground-nesting bees, whereas bigger and above-ground-nesting bees seemed to be favoured by fi re. Ground-dwelling invertebrate communities diff ered with time since last burn, the main driver of the diff erences being litter cover. Our fi ndings in relation to fi re illustrate that heterogeneous habitats, as a result of pyrodiversity, are of great benefi t for the habitat utilization and plant utilization of large herbivores as well as increasing the overall diversity of invertebrates. Managers can maximise biodiversity and diversity in resource and habitat utilization by maximising the diversity of fi re histories in the managed areas (commonly termed patch-mosaic burning). ?
Citation Joubert, D.F., Stolter, C., Krewenka, K.M., Uunona, N., Amputu, V., Nghalipo, E., Thompson, S., Schütte, K., Kruspe, M., Throop, H., du Preez, P., Beytell, P., le Roux, M. & Aindongo, H. (2018) Impacts of fire history in a semi-arid woodland savanna In: Climate change and adaptive land management in southern Africa – assessments, changes, challenges, and solutions (ed. by Revermann, R., Krewenka, K.M., Schmiedel, U., Olwoch, J.M., Helmschrot, J. & Jürgens, N.), pp. 207-218, Biodiversity & Ecology, 6, Klaus Hess Publishers, Göttingen & Windhoek. doi:10.7809/b-e.00326 ?
DOI 10.7809/b-e.00326 ?
Dataset
Document Reference Date Type publication ?
Date 2018-04-24 ?
Language English ?
Online Linkage http://www.biodiversity-plants.de/biodivers_ecol/article_meta.php?DOI=10.7809/b-e.00326&art_volume=6&lang=en ?
Associated project SASSCAL (Phase 1) ?
Dataset Classification
Type PDF ?
Category publication ?
Geographic Location
Study site Waterberg Plateau Park ?
Metadata
Metadata Contact Person Strohbach, Ben, Dr ?
Metadata Date Stamp 2019-06-04 ?
Identifier
Internal identifier sdp_doc_documents_6535 (Link)