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Reporting Year:
2022
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Park:
Badlands
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Permit Type:
Research
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Name of principal investigator or responsible official:
Dr Amy Symstad
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Office Phone:
605-745-1191
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Mailing Address:
Wind Cave National Park
26611 U.S. Highway 385 Hot Springs, SD 57747 US |
Office Fax:
605-745-1162
Office Email:
asymstad@usgs.gov
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Additional investigators or key field assistants
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Project Title
Effect of repeated fire on annual brome invasion
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Park-assigned Study or Activity #:
BADL-00089
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Park-assigned Permit #:
BADL-2019-SCI-0018
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Permit Start Date:
Jun 25, 2019
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Permit Expiration Date:
Jul 31, 2022
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Scientific Study Starting Date:
Jun 10, 2019
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Estimated Scientific Study Ending Date:
Dec 31, 2022
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Study Status:
Completed
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Study Closeouts:
_X_ A final report has been provided to the park or will be provided to the park within the next two years
___ Copies of field notes, data files, photos, or other study records, as agreed, have been provided to the park
___ All collected and retained specimens and retained material originating from such specimens have been cataloged into the NPS catalog system and NPS has processed loan agreements as needed.
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Activity Type:
Research
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Subject/Discipline:
Vascular Plants
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Purpose of Scientific Study or Science Education Activity during the reporting year:
Prescribed fire is used to combat exotic plant species in mixed-grass prairie of Northern Great Plains parks. However, prescribed fires rarely occur at a frequency likely to maintain any gains against exotic species. The unusual circumstance of experimental plots being burned twice in 2 years provides a unique opportunity to investigate the effect of more frequent fire on invasive annual brome grasses. I established 40 plots on Sheep Mountain Table at Badlands National Park in 2015 to examine the relative effectiveness of prescribed fire alone or in combination with imazapic (an herbicide) application or with native seeding. Ten of the 40 plots were controls, with no experimental treatment; the remainder were burned with a prescribed fire in November 2016, and the herbicide and seeding treatments were applied soon thereafter to 10 plots each. In the 2018 growing season, annual brome abundance remained lower in the burned plots than in the controls, but monitoring by the National Park Service’s Northern Great Plains Fire Effects programs suggests that, by 5 years (or perhaps earlier) following a prescribed fire, annual brome abundance will return to its pre-fire level. Repeated fires may prevent this return if they sufficiently reduce the annual brome seedbank or produce conditions less conducive to annual brome growth (reduced litter layer or increased competition, for example). All plots in this experiment burned as part of a larger prescribed fire in fall 2018. This extension of the original study measures plant community composition (to species level) in the experimental plots (original control and burn only) after the 2018 prescribed fire; this report provides the results from the fourth growing season after that fire.
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Findings and status of Scientific Study or accomplishments of Science Education Activity during the reporting year:
The attached document presents the findings from 2022.
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For Scientific Studies (not Science Education Activities), were any specimens collected and removed from the park but not destroyed during analysis?
No
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Funding (specific for this Park and this year) |
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| NPS Funding $6,437.00 | |
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Other Governmental Agencies Funding
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| All other Funding $0.00 | |
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OMB # 1024-0236 Exp.Date 09/30/2023 Form No. 10-226 |