COS 195-5 - Effect of fire and grazing interaction in the context of patch-burn grazing on multifunctionality in Tallgrass Prairie

Wednesday, August 9, 2023

2:30 PM – 2:45 PM PDT

Location: D139

Presenting Author(s)

JA

Joshua Adedayo Ajowele

PhD student
Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, United States

Coauthor(s)

AR

Abbi Rodgers

Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, University of Wyoming, United States
JH

Jenny Hanson

Graduate Student
Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, University of Wyoming, United States
SK

Sally E. Koerner, PhD

Assistant Professor
University of North Carolina Greensboro
Greensboro, North Carolina, United States
KW

Kevin Wilcox

University of North Carolina, Greensboro, United States

Abstract: Background/Question/Methods

The heterogeneity of landscape is important for providing multiple ecosystem services, such as bird and small mammal habitat, biodiversity, and stable forage quality/quantity. Common land use patterns in the Great Plains, such as continuous grazing by cattle and annual burning can reduce this heterogeneity, putting these ecosystem services at risk. In tallgrass prairie, land use strategies that rotate fire and grazing throughout the landscape (e.g., patch burn grazing) may promote heterogeneity while maintaining benefits associated with traditional annual burning and continuous grazing methods. Although research has shown the effects of patch burn grazing on forage production and bird populations, there is less understanding of the effect on multiple ecosystem functions especially through time. Here, we address a major question: (1) what is the effect of patch-burn grazing on ecosystem functions/services across multiple trophic levels through time?

We leveraged long-term data (11 years) from the Konza Prairie Long-Term Ecological Research program within a patch burn grazing experiment to answer our questions. Specifically, we used data describing vegetation, grasshopper, and bird community to compare areas where patch burn grazing (PBG) management has occurred for the last 11 years with paired areas having traditional annual burning and continuous grazing (ABG).

Results/Conclusions

We found that PBG increased the beta diversity of grasshopper, bird, and plant communities in some years while there was no difference in other years. There were significant differences in community composition in some years in grasshopper and plant communities, but not in bird communities. The total number of grasshoppers was consistently higher in ABG, while the total number of birds was higher in PBG across 11 years. These findings highlight the need to consider multiple ecosystem services simultaneously and assess the effects of management at longer time frames.