Fire in North American Wetland Ecosystems and Fire-Wildlife Relations: An Annotated Bibliography


20. Barker, W. T. 1983. Manipulations of plant species composition, animal 
         distribution, and herbage production by burning. Bull Ecol. Soc. 
         Am. 64:110. (abstract only)

A 56,658 ha southeastern North Dakota sandhill area characterized by typical sand dune topography supports a mixed-grass prairie community on the uplands, a tall-grass prairie community on the midsites, and a sedge meadow community in the lowlands. Most of the area is grazed using a three pasture deferred rotation grazing system. Without manipulation of lowlands, the lowlands are 10% utilized by livestock and the uplands are overutilized. Shrubs invade the lowlands under these conditions. Burning the lowlands and three year rotation increased lowland utilization to 50%-80%, reduced lowland shrub densities, and decreased overutilization of upland sites. [From author's abstract]

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