Grassland Resilience to Woody Encroachment in North America and the Effectiveness of Using Fire in National Parks
The grasslands of North America are threatened by woody encroachment. Restoring historical fire regimes has been used to manage brush encroachment. However, fire management may be insufficient due to the nonlinear and hysteretic responses of vegetation recovery following encroachment and the social–...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Climate |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/11/11/219 |
| _version_ | 1797459713715077120 |
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| author | Han Ling Guangyu Wang Wanli Wu Anil Shrestha John L. Innes |
| author_facet | Han Ling Guangyu Wang Wanli Wu Anil Shrestha John L. Innes |
| author_sort | Han Ling |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The grasslands of North America are threatened by woody encroachment. Restoring historical fire regimes has been used to manage brush encroachment. However, fire management may be insufficient due to the nonlinear and hysteretic responses of vegetation recovery following encroachment and the social–political constraints affecting fire management. We synthesized the fire thresholds required to control woody encroachment by typical encroaching species in North America, especially the Great Plains region, and identified the social–political constraints facing fire management in selected grassland national parks. Our synthesis revealed the resistance, hysteresis, and irreversibility of encroached grasslands using fire and emphasized the need for a combination of brush management methods if the impacts of climate change are to be addressed. Frequent fires alone may maintain grassland states, reflecting resistance. However, high-intensity fires exceeding fire-mortality thresholds are required to exclude non-resprouting shrubs and trees, indicating hysteresis. Fire alone may be insufficient to reverse encroachment by resprouting species, exhibiting reversibility. In practice, appropriate fire management may restore resistant grassland states. However, social–political constraints have restricted the use of frequent and high-intensity fires, thereby reducing the effectiveness of management actions to control woody encroachment of grasslands in national parks. This research proposes a resilience-based framework to manage woody encroachment in grassland national parks and similar protected areas. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:55:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f4d6421ac45446fb9e72d95b941ff945 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2225-1154 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:55:17Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Climate |
| spelling | doaj.art-f4d6421ac45446fb9e72d95b941ff9452023-11-24T14:36:15ZengMDPI AGClimate2225-11542023-11-01111121910.3390/cli11110219Grassland Resilience to Woody Encroachment in North America and the Effectiveness of Using Fire in National ParksHan Ling0Guangyu Wang1Wanli Wu2Anil Shrestha3John L. Innes4Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, CanadaFaculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, CanadaFaculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, CanadaFaculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, CanadaFaculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, CanadaThe grasslands of North America are threatened by woody encroachment. Restoring historical fire regimes has been used to manage brush encroachment. However, fire management may be insufficient due to the nonlinear and hysteretic responses of vegetation recovery following encroachment and the social–political constraints affecting fire management. We synthesized the fire thresholds required to control woody encroachment by typical encroaching species in North America, especially the Great Plains region, and identified the social–political constraints facing fire management in selected grassland national parks. Our synthesis revealed the resistance, hysteresis, and irreversibility of encroached grasslands using fire and emphasized the need for a combination of brush management methods if the impacts of climate change are to be addressed. Frequent fires alone may maintain grassland states, reflecting resistance. However, high-intensity fires exceeding fire-mortality thresholds are required to exclude non-resprouting shrubs and trees, indicating hysteresis. Fire alone may be insufficient to reverse encroachment by resprouting species, exhibiting reversibility. In practice, appropriate fire management may restore resistant grassland states. However, social–political constraints have restricted the use of frequent and high-intensity fires, thereby reducing the effectiveness of management actions to control woody encroachment of grasslands in national parks. This research proposes a resilience-based framework to manage woody encroachment in grassland national parks and similar protected areas.https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/11/11/219woody encroachmentfire thresholdsresiliencehysteresisnational park |
| spellingShingle | Han Ling Guangyu Wang Wanli Wu Anil Shrestha John L. Innes Grassland Resilience to Woody Encroachment in North America and the Effectiveness of Using Fire in National Parks Climate woody encroachment fire thresholds resilience hysteresis national park |
| title | Grassland Resilience to Woody Encroachment in North America and the Effectiveness of Using Fire in National Parks |
| title_full | Grassland Resilience to Woody Encroachment in North America and the Effectiveness of Using Fire in National Parks |
| title_fullStr | Grassland Resilience to Woody Encroachment in North America and the Effectiveness of Using Fire in National Parks |
| title_full_unstemmed | Grassland Resilience to Woody Encroachment in North America and the Effectiveness of Using Fire in National Parks |
| title_short | Grassland Resilience to Woody Encroachment in North America and the Effectiveness of Using Fire in National Parks |
| title_sort | grassland resilience to woody encroachment in north america and the effectiveness of using fire in national parks |
| topic | woody encroachment fire thresholds resilience hysteresis national park |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/11/11/219 |
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