COS 17-10 - Impacts of wildfire at a sandstone pavement barren: A collaborative interdisciplinary research approach

Tuesday, August 13, 2019: 11:10 AM
M109/110, Kentucky International Convention Center
Danielle E. Garneau, Mark R. Lesser and Mary Alldred, Center for Earth and Environmental Science, SUNY Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh, NY
Background/Question/Methods

In fall 2018, we began a long-term collaborative, interdisciplinary monitoring program following a wildfire at the Altona flat rock pine barren (Natural Heritage ranking S1G2) in northern NY. In July 2018, wildfire burned >200 hectares of jack pine (Pinus banksiana) and Vaccinium sp. dominated habitat. As part of SUNY Plattsburgh’s Applied Environmental Science Program, we incorporated student research projects into Forest Ecology, Wildlife Ecology, Wetland Ecology, Insect Ecology, and Soils courses. We established a systematic plot network throughout the site that encompassed a fire severity gradient and included unburned (reference) sites to monitor ecosystem response. We assessed seedling regeneration in relation to fire severity, pre-fire stand density, and topographic factors. We erected deer exclosures, paired with game cameras to monitor wildlife usage, and enable long-term evaluation of herbivory on forest recovery. We also inventoried small mammals, turtles, birds, insects, and assessed predation risk using giving up density (GUD) surveys. Preliminary soil data was collected along transects from the edge of a large wetland complex into the forest on burned and reference sites. Soil was analyzed to determine bulk density, moisture, organic content, and extractable nutrient concentrations. Finally, we collected temperature and humidity data using Ibutton sensors located at ground level.

Results/Conclusions

Results from 5 months post-fire demonstrate changes in ecosystem responses between burned and surrounding reference forest. While there is negligible regeneration throughout the reference site, regeneration in the burn averaged >10,000 seedlings/ha, but was highly heterogeneous as a function of fire severity. Game cameras found species richness to be 6 and 9 at burn and reference sites, respectively. No turtles were captured at a wetland located within the burn and water chemistry (TSS, conductivity, pH) supported these findings. However, these same wetlands may serve as carbon sinks within the burn, which otherwise had significantly lower soil organic carbon. Insect order richness was 9 and 10 at burn and reference sites, respectively, with Diptera dominating sites and 11 times greater in the burn. Avian richness was 6 and 2 at burn and reference sites, respectively. Small mammal richness and predation risk was reduced in the burn, which lacked insectivores. Continued monitoring of forest and wildlife succession, soil properties, and environmental factors will facilitate estimates of ecosystem recovery rates and longer term trajectories. Further, this project affords opportunities for integrating core concepts and practices across subdisciplines, creating cross-cutting emergent ecological themes that are often lost on students in any given single class.