Fire Effects on Herbaceous Plants and Shrubs in the Oak Savannas of the Southwestern Borderlands

Book excerpt: Much has been learned in recent years about the ecological, hydrologic, and environmental characteristics of the oak (encinal) woodlands of the Southwestern Borderlands. Comparable information for the lower-elevation oak savannas, including the impacts of fire on ecosystem resources, is also necessary to enhance the knowledge of the oak ecosystems in the region. Oak savannas are more open in stand structure than are the oak woodlands and, as a consequence, a higher level of herbaceous production might be expected in this ecosystem than in the oak woodlands. The effects of prescribed burning treatments and a wildfire on species compositions, production of grass and forb components, growth of shrubs, utilization of forage and browse plants by herbivores, and ecological diversity in a oak savanna are described in this paper.