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Page 1: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Fire and Wildlife Habitat RestorationJohanna Freeman, PhD student

Johanna Freeman ([email protected])UF School of Forest Resources and Conservation

Florida Fish and WildlifeConservation Commission

Page 2: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Is this good wildlife habitat?

Page 3: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Medium/largeherbivorous

mammals

Large-seeded grasses

Small omnivorous and herbivorous

mammalsOmnivorous birds Invertebrates

Large omnivorous mammals

SquirrelsTortoises/Turtles

Bats

Small carnivorous mammals

Carnivorous/insectivorous

birdsCarnivorous/Insectivorous

reptiles

Large carnivorous mammals

Amphibians

ForbsDwarf Shrubs

Legumes

Longleaf PineWiregrass

Fire-maintainedunderstory

Page 4: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

What is a functional group?• Analysis of vegetation often requires that the great diversity of plant

species be reduced to a much smaller number of logical categories.

Mast-producing shrubsLarge-seeded grasses LegumesForbs

Example 1 – Wildlife food emphasis

• Plant Functional Group (or guild) is a general term that groups plants according to their function in ecosystems and their use of resources

• Can be based on taxonomy (i.e. family), size (i.e. tree vs. shrub), or specific traits (i.e. herbaceous vs. woody), depending on the interests of the researcher

Herbaceous plantsPinesOaksShrubs

Example 2 – Fire emphasis

Page 5: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

LLP restoration: The Reference System

C4 bunchgrasses

C3 graminoids

Legumes

Dwarf shrubs

Forbs

• These functional groups coexist by exploiting different niches both above and belowground

• Restoration goal: create a similar assemblage of species, by restoring the necessary environmental conditions (e.g. fire) and/or the species themselves

Page 6: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Functional groups important in LLP restoration: Legumes

• Replace N lost to volatilization during fires

• Protein-rich seeds in pods

• N-rich foliage

• Most have associations with symbiotic N-fixing bacteria

• Members of the Fabaceae family

Page 7: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Functional groups important in LLP restoration: C4 grasses

• Members of the Poaceae family

• Fire-carrying fine fuels (best known is wiregrass)

• Some have large seeds, important food for birds

• Many are bunchgrasses, which leave bare ground for seedling recruitment and wildlife movement, and provide nesting cover for small wildlife

• C4 photosynthetic pathway = adaptation to heat and water stress

Page 8: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Functional groups important in LLP restoration: Dwarf shrubs

• Members of various families

• Resprout vigorously after fire, but small size does not disrupt fine fuel structure

• Mast-producing, key wildlife foods

• Examples include numerous blueberry species,huckleberries, runner oak, pawpaw, gopher apple

Page 9: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Community Assembly Theory…attempts to explain the existence of environmentally similar sites with differing assemblages of species.

Site A Site B

EnvironmentT0• Community

formation due to random variation in colonization, migration, and extinction rates

• Assumes species have similar niche requirements

Page 10: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Community Assembly Theory…attempts to explain the existence of environmentally similar sites with differing assemblages of species.

Site A Site BS1

S2

S3

EnvironmentT1

S1

S4

S5

Site A Site B

EnvironmentT2

• Community formation due to random variation in colonization, migration, and extinction rates

• Assumes species have similar niche requirements

Page 11: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Community Assembly Theory

Site A Site BS3

S4

Order is important• Composition of

seed mixes• Planting order• Year of planting

S1

S2

T1

Site A Site BS3

S4

S1

S2

T2

Page 12: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Community Assembly Theory

Site A Site BS1

S2

S3

S4

T1

Site A Site B

T3

Site A Site BS3

S4

S1

S2

T2

Order is important• Composition of

seed mixes• Planting order• Year of planting

Do altered communities have the ability to repair themselves?

Or does history allow for many (infinite?) number of communities?

Page 13: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Community Assembly TheoryEnvironmental filters: suite of factors influencing seed germination, seedling emergence, and species establishment (Harper 1977)

Environment 1

Environment 2

S1

S2

S3

S4

S5

S6

S7

S8

S9

Sn

S1

S2

S4

S3

S7

S8

Species PoolTrait Matrix

Community

filter

filter

filter

Unable to tolerate drought

Unable to tolerate fire

Weak competitors

Page 14: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Community assembly on restored LLP sites

Species traits(i.e. N-fixing, Wind-dispersed)

Niche factors Stochastic factorsLocal seed pool(Mostly ruderal?Reference sites nearby?)

Environmental filters(i.e. fire regime, rainfall)

Species interactions(i.e. competition, facilitation)

Legumes ForbsC4 grassesC3 graminoids

Factors hypothesized to influence community assembly

Page 15: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Community assembly on restored LLP sites: Study #1

Plot 1: All functional groups in Yr 1

Subplot 1A: Fire Only

Subplot 1B: Fire + Irrigation

Subplot 1C: Irrigation Only

Subplot 1D: No Treatment

4m

4m

Plot 2: C4 grasses Yr 1, other groups Yr 2

Subplot 2A: Fire Only

Subplot 2B: Fire + Irrigation

Subplot 2C: Irrigation Only

Subplot 2D: No Treatment

4m

4m

Plot 3: Other groups Yr 1, C4 grasses Yr 2

Subplot 3A: Fire Only

Subplot 3B: Fire + Irrigation

Subplot 3C: Irrigation Only

Subplot 3D: No Treatment

Plot 4: C4 Grasses Only

Subplot 4A: Fire Only

Subplot 4B: Fire + Irrigation

Subplot 4C: Irrigation Only

Subplot 4D: No Treatment

Plot 5: Unplanted, volunteers only

Subplot 5A: Fire Only

Subplot 5B: Fire + Irrigation

Subplot 5C: Irrigation Only

Subplot 5D: No Treatment

Page 16: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Community assembly on restored LLP sites: Study #1

• The treatment plots will be established on four Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sites: Half Moon, Three Lakes, Caravelle Ranch, and Hilochee Wildlife Management Areas

• The pre-treatment condition at each study site is bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum) pasture

• All four pastures occur on Spodosols that historically supported longleaf pine flatwoods vegetation

• FWC’s Wildlife Management Area system includes over 100,000 acres of abandoned pasture. The agency is interested in restoring these pastures because they are poor habitat for native wildlife.

Page 17: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Community assembly on restored LLP sites: Study #2

“If you build it, they will come…?”

Page 18: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Community assembly on restored LLP sites: Study #2• Beneficial effects of fuel treatments on understory structural

parameters (i.e. decreased woody cover/increased herbaceous cover) have been documented by several researchers in longleaf pine systems….

• But it appears that certain plant functional groups important to wildlife may be chronically underrepresented on restored sites (Provencher et al 2001, Kirkman et al. 2004, Kreye et al. 2013).

• Few studies have isolated and examined the functional group composition of restored longleaf pine understories, and those that have addressed these parameters have been experimental studies at a single location

• The proposed project will offer a new perspective by surveying plant communities on numerous restored sites across a wide geographic area

Page 19: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Community assembly on restored LLP sites: Study #2

Agency Soil Type Treatment Type Restored Sites

King Sale Tract (Big Bend WMA) Florida FWC Sandhill Root rake + Fire Tide Swamp Unit (Big Bend WMA) Florida FWC Sandhill Root rake + Fire Belle Glade WMA Florida FWC Sandhill Thin + Fire Watermelon Pond WEA Florida FWC Sandhill Thin + Fire Ocala National Forest USFS Sandhill Fire Only Half Moon WMA Florida FWC Flatwoods Fire Only Three Lakes WMA Florida FWC Flatwoods Fire Only Caravelle Ranch WMA Florida FWC Flatwoods Fire Only Austin Cary Memorial Forest Univ. of FL Flatwoods Fire Only Osceola National Forest USFS Flatwoods Mastication + Fire Apalachicola River WEA Florida FWC Flatwoods Mastication + Fire Apalachicola River WEA Florida FWC Flatwoods Chemical + Fire Apalachicola River WEA Florida FWC Flatwoods Roller chop + Fire Aucilla WEA Florida FWC Flatwoods Roller chop + Fire Reference Sites (long term maintenance with historic fire interval, representative of “target” community) St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge USFWS Sandhill Long term prescribed fire Gold Head Branch State Park Florida DEP Sandhill Long term prescribed fire Withlacoochee State Forest FFS Sandhill Long term prescribed fire Myakka River State Park Florida DEP Flatwoods Long term prescribed fire Triple N Ranch Wildlife Mgmt Area Florida FWC Flatwoods Long term prescribed fire Apalachicola National Forest USFS Flatwoods Long term prescribed fire Jennings State Forest FFS Flatwoods Long term prescribed fire

List of study sites so far:

Page 20: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Community assembly on restored LLP sites: Study #2All of the plant species found in this study will be classified according to

- functional group (legume, shrub, grass, or forb), - seed dispersal type (wind, gravity, animal, or ant), - seed bank longevity (persistent vs. not persistent), - reproductive strategy (seed, vegetative, or both), - life span (annual vs. perennial) and - life history strategy

Site variables will include: -pre-treatment fire-free interval; -type, frequency, and seasonality of treatment; -time since treatment; and -proximity to reference sites

Page 21: Fire and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Johanna Freeman, PhD student

Medium/largeherbivorous

mammals

Large-seeded grasses

Small omnivorous and herbivorous

mammalsOmnivorous birds Invertebrates

Large omnivorous mammals

SquirrelsTortoises/Turtles

Bats

Small carnivorous mammals

Carnivorous/insectivorous

birdsCarnivorous/Insectivorous

reptiles

Large carnivorous mammals

Amphibians

ForbsDwarf Shrubs

Legumes

Longleaf PineWiregrass

Fire-maintainedunderstory


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