The Role of Fire-Return Interval and Season of Burn in Snag Dynamics in a South Florida Slash Pine Forest

Fire Ecology

Table 3 Variation in density of lightly to moderately decayed snags in a slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa) forest in south Florida after experimental burning was best explained by the effect of pre-treatment snag density (baseline) and the additive and interactive effects of season of burn (season) and fire-return interval (interval).

Model	Δ AIC_c ^a	Akaike weight^b
Baseline + season + interval + season*interval	0	0.99
Baseline + season	9.6	0.01
Baseline + season + interval	10.8	0
Baseline	52.7	0
Baseline + interval	56.0	0
Null	290.0	0

^a ΔAIC_c is the difference between each model’s AIC_c score and the score for the best model; models with lower AIC_c scores are better supported by the data.
^b Akaike weight provides an estimate of the likelihood that each model is the best model in the candidate set.