Fire Effects on Perennial Vegetation in the Western Colorado Desert, USA

Steers, Robert J.; Allen, Edith B.

doi:10.4996/fireecology.0703059

Fire Ecology

Table 2 Mean density (500 m⁻²) of live perennial species in paired unburned and burned stands per study site. Study sites are named after the years since fire. Only the four most common species, preceded by a ‘K’ superscript, had their density values statistically compared between paired burned (Burn) and unburned (UB) stands within each site, based on Kruskal-Wallis tests. Significantly greater density values in one stand versus its paired burned or unburned stand are indicated by * for P values < 0.0083 (Bonferroni-corrected P < 0.05).

From: Fire Effects on Perennial Vegetation in the Western Colorado Desert, USA

	2a		2b		9		12		20		24		28
Species	UB	Burn	UB	Burn	UB	Burn	UB	Burn	UB	Burn	UB	Burn	UB	Burn
Shrubs
Acacia greggii ^a	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Acamptopappus sp.^b	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
^K Ambrosia dumosa	16.5*	0.2	53.3*	6.7	1.2	0.0	20.5*	3.0	62.7*	3.2	26.7	6.5	5.7	2.0
Asclepias subulata	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Bebbia juncea	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5
^K Encelia farinosa	0.8	1.5	5.2	3.8	0.0	0.0	26.3	94.5*	9.8	281*	12.5	60.7*	3.5	82.5*
Ephedra californica	0.0	0.0	7.5	1.0	2.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.3
Eriogonum fasciculatum ^c	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Hymenoclea salsola	0.0	0.0	1.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.2	2.0	0.0	6.0
Isomeris arborea ^d	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0
^K Krameria grayi	0.0	0.0	6.5*	0.7	11.5*	0.8	1.3	0.0	16.3*	0.3	4.5*	0.0	3.0*	0.0
^K Larrea tridentata	16.8*	1.5	10.5*	0.7	25.0*	4.7	13.0*	0.2	10.3*	3.0	9.7*	0.3	10.0*	0.3
Psorothamnus arborescens	0.0	0.0	1.5	1.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	4.8	0.0	0.0
Thamnosma montana	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Viguiera parishii ^e	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.2	1.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Yucca schidigera ^f	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.2	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0
Cacti
Echinocereus engelmannii	0.8	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.2	0.5
Ferocactus cylindraceus	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.7	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	8.8	0.2
Mammillaria tetrancistra	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.0
Opuntia basilaris	0.0	0.0	0.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	2.7	0.5
Opuntia bigelovii	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.7	2.2	0.0
Opuntia echinocarpa	2.7	0.0	1.8	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.0	7.0	0.0	1.2	0.0	6.5	0.3
Herbaceous perennials
Croton californicus	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	25.5	0.0	0.0
Cucurbita palmata ^g	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Datura wrightii	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0
Ditaxis neomexicana	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.0	4.8
Mirabilis bigelovii	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.5	0.3	0.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.3	6.5
Sphaeralcea ambigua	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0
Stephanomeria pauciflora	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.5	1.5	0.0	0.0	0.5	3.2	0.0	0.5
Stillingia linearifolia	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	4.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

^a Acacia greggii A. Gray
^b Acamptopappus sphaerocephalus
^c Eriogonum fasciculatum Benth.
^d Isomeris arborea Nutt.
^e Viguiera parishii Greene
^f Yucca schidigera Roezl. Ex Ortgies
^g Cucurbita palmata S. Watson

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