Document

Title

Water relations growth of Bromus inermis Leyss (smooth brome) following spring or autumn burning in a fescue prairie
Document Type: Journal Article
Author(s): Perry L. Grilz; J. T. Romo
Publication Year: 1994

Cataloging Information

Keyword(s):
  • biomass
  • Bromus
  • Bromus inermis
  • Canada
  • competition
  • ecosystem dynamics
  • Festuca
  • field experimental fires
  • fire resistant plants
  • fire sensitive plants
  • fragmentation
  • grasses
  • grasslands
  • introduced species
  • invasive species
  • leaves
  • native species (plants)
  • natural areas management
  • plant growth
  • plant physiology
  • prairies
  • roots
  • Saskatchewan
  • season of fire
  • soil moisture
  • transpiration
  • vulnerable species or communities
  • water
  • weed control
Topic(s):
Region(s):
Record Maintained By:
TTRS Staff; https://talltimbers.org/contact-us
Record Last Modified: June 1, 2018
FRAMES Record Number: 36749
Tall Timbers Record Number: 11158
TTRS Location Status: In-file
TTRS Call Number: Journals-A
TTRS Abstract Status: Okay, Fair use, Reproduced by permission

This bibliographic record was either created or modified by the Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy and is provided without charge to promote research and education in Fire Ecology. The E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database is the intellectual property of the Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.

Description

Bromus inermis Leyss (smooth brome) is an invasive perennial grass in Fescue Prairie in North America. Prescribed burning is a potential method of controlling this exotic, but its responses to burning in this grassland are not known. This study was conducted to determine the impacts of a single burn in the autumn or spring on the growth and water relations of B. inermis in Fescue Prairie in central Saskatchewan. In 1 yr, leaf xylem water potential and stomatal conductance were lower in plants burned in the autumn than the reference and the spring burn. In another year they were generally similar among the burns and reference. Regardless of water stress following burning, tiller densities, standing crop and the leaf area indices of B. inermis were not significantly different among the reference, autumn and spring burns. Because B. inermis is apparently resistant to fire effects and native species are suppressed by burning, fire may increase B. inermis in Fescue Prairie. Unlike grasslands dominated by C4 species, a single burn in autumn or spring while plants are dormant is not expected to reduce B. inermis in the C3-dominated Fescue Prairie. © American Midland Naturalist. Abstract reproduced by permission.

Citation:
Grilz, P. L., and J. T. Romo. 1994. Water relations growth of Bromus inermis Leyss (smooth brome) following spring or autumn burning in a fescue prairie. American Midland Naturalist, v. 132, no. 2, p. 340-348.