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

37. Chabreck, R. H. 1981. Effect of burn date on regrowth rate of Scirpus olneyi 
         and Spartina patens. Proc. Annu. Conf. Southeast. Assoc. Fish 
         Wildl. Agencies 35:201-210.

Olney bulrush and marshhay cordgrass were grown in mixed stands in containers (surface area: 900 cm²) and burned during the fall and winter on six dates (8 and 23 October; 8 and 20 December; 6 and 20 February). Plants in 18 separate containers were burned on each date and 18 containers were left unburned as a control. Biweekly counts were made of the number of culms of each species per container from 5 October to 18 April. A positive linear relationship (P< 0.05) was noted between culm production of both species and minimum temperature following burns. However, the regrowth of Olney bulrush increased at a greater rate with increasing temperature than did marshhay cordgrass. Photoperiod (decreasing day length) reduced the regrowth rate of marshhay cordgrass. The mean density of Olney bulrush approached or equalled preburn densities by the fourth week following burns, but marshhay cordgrass did not approach the preburn density until the eighth week. The mean density of Olney bulrush per container was greatest throughout the study period in the Burn 1 group (k = 52.8) and declined gradually to Burn 6 (k = 21.8). However, the mean density of marshhay cordgrass increased 49.4% from the first three burn dates (~=21.8) to the last dates bE= 47.5). [From author's abstract]

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