Survival and growth of <i>Pinus echinata</i> and <i>Quercus</i> seedlings in response to simulated summer and winter prescribed burns

Abstract

First-year seedlings of shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.), southern red oak (Quercus falcata Michx.), and white oak (Quercus alba L.) were subjected to simulated prescribed burns during August (growing season) or January (dormant season) on an Upper Coastal Plain site in southeastern Arkansas, U.S.A. Survival and growth of resprouting rootstocks were compared with control seedlings through one growing season after burning. Although 100% of the oaks and 99% of the pines were topkilled by the fires, survival of resprouting rootstocks exceeded 95% for all three species in the year following the winter burn. No pines resprouted following the summer burn, but rootstock survival of oaks averaged &gt;65%. Compared with controls, winter burns reduced (P &lt; 0.01) mean height and groundline diameter (GLD) of shortleaf pine sprouts through the next growing season. For southern red oak, season of burning did not negatively affect (P &gt; 0.05) the growth of sprouts during the year after burning. Although mean heights and GLDs of white oak sprouts versus controls were reduced (P [Formula: see text] 0.04) when means were averaged across burns, white oak sprouts on winter-burn plots were comparable in size with the control seedlings.