Fire Ecology
Volume 9, Issue 1 - 2013
DOI: 10.4996/fireecology.0901
About the cover
Introduction
Fire and Water: New Perspectives on Fire's Role In Shaping Wetland Ecosystems
Authors: Todd Z. Osborne, Leda N. Kobziar, and Patrick W. Inglett
Pages: 1-5
DOI: 10.4996/fireecology.0901001
This special issue of
Fire Ecology is dedicated to furthering scientific understanding of the role fire plays in the development and functioning of wetland ecosystems.
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Research Articles
Fire Effects on Nitrogen Cycling in Native and Restored Calcareous Wetlands
Authors: Xiaolin Liao, Patrick W. Inglett, and Kanika S. Inglett
Pages: 6-20
DOI: 10.4996/fireecology.0901006
Fire is an important natural process and management tool in the Florida Everglades, but few studies have examined its effects on nutrients; nitrogen (N) in particular has received little attention across the whole Everglades system.
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Impacts of Fire on Microbial Carbon Cycling in Subtropical Wetlands
Authors: Cassandra A. Medvedeff, Kanika S. Inglett, Leda N. Kobziar, and Patrick W. Inglett
Pages: 21-37
DOI: 10.4996/fireecology.0901021
Fire is a major determinant of the global carbon (C) balance. While it is known that C is lost through organic matter combustion, the effect fire has on soil C biogeochemistry is unclear. Studies investigating the role of fire on C greenhouse gas production (CO
2 and CH
4) have been conducted in forested and grassland ecosystems, yet research in wetlands has been limited.
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Tree Island Response to Fire and Flooding in the Short-Hydroperiod Marl Prairie Grasslands of the Florida Everglades, USA
Authors: Pablo L. Ruiz, Jay P. Sah, Michael S. Ross, and Adam A. Spitzig
Pages: 38-54
DOI: 10.4996/fireecology.0901038
Within the marl prairie grasslands of the Florida Everglades, USA, the combined effects of fire and flooding usually lead to very significant changes in tree island structure and composition. Depending on fire severity and post-fire hydroperiod, these effects vary spatially and temporally throughout the landscape, creating a patchy post-fire mosaic of tree islands with different successional states.
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Multi-Year Salutary Effects of Windstorm and Fire on River Cane
Authors: Paul R. Gagnon, Heather A. Passmore, and William J. Platt
Pages: 55-65
DOI: 10.4996/fireecology.0901055
Canebrakes are monodominant stands of cane (
Arundinaria gigantea [Walter] Muhl .), a bamboo native to and once prominent in the southeastern USA. Canebrakes were important wildlife habitat within the bottomland hardwood forest ecosystem. They have been reduced in areal coverage by an estimated 98 % since European settlement due to land conversion and the drastic alteration of disturbance regimes in their floodplain habitat.
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Dynamics of Mangrove-Marsh Ecotones in Subtropical Coastal Wetlands: Fire, Sea-Level Rise, and Water Levels
Authors: Thomas J. Smith III, Ann M. Foster, Ginger Tiling-Range, and John W. Jones
Pages: 66-77
DOI: 10.4996/fireecology.0901066
Ecotones are areas of sharp environmental gradients between two or more homogeneous vegetation types. They are a dynamic aspect of all landscapes and are also responsive to climate change. Shifts in the position of an ecotone across a landscape can be an indication of a changing environment. In the coastal Everglades of Florida, USA, a dominant ecotone type is that of mangrove forest and marsh.
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Foraging Wading Bird (Ciconiiformes) Attraction to Prescribed Burns in an Oligotrophic Wetland
Authors: Louise S. Venne and Peter C. Frederick
Pages: 78-95
DOI: 10.4996/fireecology.0901078
Many wetland communities are fire prone or fire dependent, especially those dominated by forbs and grasses. Despite our considerable knowledge about fire effects on wildlife in uplands, there is a relative paucity of information about effects of fire in wetland systems. Long-legged wading birds (herons, egrets, ibises, storks, spoonbills; order Ciconiiformes) may benefit from fire through the exposure of prey after vegetation removal, or through a trophic response of prey to increased availability of nutrients and increased light.
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Evaluating Methods to Restore Amphibian Habitat in Fire-Suppressed Pine Flatwoods Wetlands
Authors: Thomas A. Gorman, Carola A. Haas, and John G. Himes
Pages: 96-109
DOI: 10.4996/fireecology.0901096
Although fire is recognized as an important disturbance in longleaf pine uplands of the southeastern US, less is known about the importance of fire or other disturbances in the wetlands embedded within this ecosystem. The reticulated flatwoods salamander (
Ambystoma bishopi), a federally endangered species, and other rare and declining amphibians, are less likely to breed in low-quality wetlands with high canopy cover and low herbaceous groundcover that typically occur from fire exclusion.
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Successional and Transitional Models of Natural South Florida, USA, Plant Communities
Authors: Michael J. Duever and Richard E. Roberts
Pages: 110-123
DOI: 10.4996/fireecology.0901110
We developed a conceptual successional model for South Florida that describes relationships among major natural plant communities in terms of the region’s two major environmental processes, hydrology and fire regime.
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Smoldering Combustion and Ground Fires: Ecological Effects and Multi-Scale Significance
Authors: Adam C. Watts and Leda N. Kobziar
Pages: 124-132
DOI: 10.4996/fireecology.0901124
Although fires in wetlands would seem to be rare or impossible by definition, these ecosystems do occasionally experience fire. A common feature of fires in wetlands is smoldering combustion in organic soils, such as peat and muck.
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Wetland Fire Scar Monitoring and Analysis Using Archival Landsat Data for the Everglades
Authors: John W. Jones, Annette E. Hall, Ann M. Foster, and Thomas J. Smith III
Pages: 133-150
DOI: 10.4996/fireecology.0901133
The ability to document the frequency, extent, and severity of fires in wetlands, as well as the dynamics of post-fire wetland land cover, informs fire and wetland science, resource management, and ecosystem protection.
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