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Burn-based smooth brome management in tallgrass prairie
Abstract
The invasion and persistence of smooth brome (Bromus inermis Leyss.) is a serious problem facing managers of prairie remnants on the northern Great Plains. This study, conducted from 1988-91 at Mead, Nebraska, and from 1989-91 at Pipestone National Monument, Minnesota, consisted of 3 components. The first component measured changes in smooth brome tiller density and biomass and big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii Vitman) flower culm density in mixed stands following spring burns. Burning was timed to coincide with four smooth brome growth stages and included repeated burns in consecutive years. Burning during smooth brome tiller elongation, heading, and flowering significantly reduced tiller density and biomass. Burning early, at tiller emergence, had no effect on smooth brome in years when precipitation was normal or below normal. However, with above normal precipitation, biomass more than doubled after an early burn. Repeated burns, at the time of tiller elongation and later stages, maintained low tiller density and biomass. A single burn, however, allowed full to partial recovery. The greatest increase in big bluestem flower culm density was coincident with the greatest decrease in smooth brome tiller density. A second component of the study compared differences in the microenvironment between sites dominated by smooth brome and those dominated by big bluestem following early spring burning. Burning smooth brome dominated sites during a dry period resulted in lower soil moisture and lower soil temperatures when compared to burned sites dominated by big bluestem. The third component of this study compared the effectiveness of burning a pure stand of smooth brome at tiller elongation to other methods of smooth brome suppression before sod seeding big bluestem. Atrazine was the only treatment effective in reducing smooth brome tiller density. Burning did not suppress smooth brome tiller density to the degree found in other studies where warm-season grasses were present. Sod seeded big bluestem failed in all treatments. Results from the three components of the study were combined and used to construct a burn-based model for smooth brome management.
Subject Area
Range management|Ecology
Recommended Citation
Willson, Gary D, "Burn-based smooth brome management in tallgrass prairie" (1994). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9430180.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9430180