This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Furley, P. A. Articles by Saiz, G. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Savanna burning and the assessment of long-term fire experiments with particular reference to Zimbabwe

Institute of Geography, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, paf{at}geo.ed.ac.uk

Robert M. Rees

Scottish Agricultural College, King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG

Casey M. Ryan

Institute of Atmospheric and Environmental Science, School of GeoSciences, The King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JN

Gustavo Saiz

School of Geography and Geosciences, Irvine Building, University of St Andrews, North Street, St Andrews KY16 9AL

Long-term fire experiments in savannnas are rare, given the difficulties and demands of operation. Controlled fire experiments date from colonial times in West Africa, although the largest and best-known is located in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. The achievements of these experiments are assessed from examples in Africa, South America and Australia. A less well-known experiment in Zimbabwe was sited at the Marondera Grassland Research Station and ran from 1953 to 1991. Some of the preliminary results on the impact of fire on vegetation are analysed and compared with further vegetation surveys in 2007. Studies on tree growth in this miombo savanna woodland indicate that the plots burned at three- and four-year intervals recovered to greater mean heights than the unburned control plots. There was no significant variation between treatments, suggesting that the few trees that did survive in the frequently burned plots were large specimens. Brachystegia and Julbernadia dominated the plots throughout and after the experiment. Basal area and stocking density were highest in the four-yearly burned plots but there was a high variability throughout the experiment, suggesting that many trees may have attained heights and bark thicknesses sufficient to protect from fire damage. Fire also affected the composition of the herbaceous plant community, but not the number of species. By the end of the experiment some grass and sedge species had flourished while others revealed greater susceptibility to fire, and fire-tolerant species predominated in the most frequently burned areas. The experimental design appeared to cope well with the variability between plots and indicated the soundness of the initial design and its implementation.

Key Words: fire experiments • Marondera • miombo • savanna woodlands • Zimbabwe.

Progress in Physical Geography, Vol. 32, No. 6, 611-634 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0309133308101383


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?