To: Joint Fire Science Program
Re: Interim Report
Project Title: Consequences and correlates of fire in
wetlands
Date: 9-30-02
David
Brownlie
US
Fish and Wildlife Service
Tall
Timbers Research Station
13903
Henry Beadel Dr.
Tallahassee,
FL 32313
Monica
Folk
The
Nature Conservancy
2700
Scrub Jay Trail
Kissimmee,
FL 34759
Gordon
Fox
University
of South Florida
Department
of Biology
4202
E Fowler Ave
Tampa,
FL 33620
Tasks 1 through 15 are from
the Response to Proposal (RTP) titled “Consequences and correlates of fire in
wetlands” submitted in August, 2001.
Tasks 16 (Advisory Committee) and 17 (Website) were added later to meet
the conditions of the JFSP review board and do not appear in the original RTP.
TASK 1: Collect post fire
vegetation data.
Status: Two years of post-fire vegetation data
have been collected.
W/I Budget? Yes
TASK 2: Collect photopoint images.
Status: Two years of post-fire
photopoints have been collected.
W/I Budget? Yes
TASK 3: Document
canopy scorch height and other post-fire conditions.
Status:
Collection of canopy char height
data is 90% complete and will be completed in the coming quarter.
W/I Budget? Yes
TASK 4: Re-measure organic soil depths.
Status: Collection
of organic soil depth data was partially completed, but difficulties with
collection method and accuracy concerns are being addressed. This task will be
completed in the coming quarter.
W/I Budget? Yes
TASK 5: Interview
fire personnel about fire characteristics; assemble post-burn evaluations.
Status: In
progress. Draft survey completed and being reviewed by burn manager. Plan to start interviews first week of October 2002.
W/I Budget? Yes
TASK 6: Assemble and synthesize pre-fire (1993-1998) vegetation and
organic matter depth data and post-fire (1998-present) vegetation data.
Status: All
data sets have been assembled and delivered to USF for analysis.
W/I Budget? Yes
TASK 7: Assemble
site history information on each wetland, including wetland type,
restoration status, timber and fire history.
Status: All
information and GIS coverages and data sets have been assembled and delivered
to USF for analysis.
W/I Budget? Yes
TASK 8: Assemble
hydrologic, weather and exotics occurrence data for each wetland.
Status: All
data sets have been assembled and delivered to USF for analysis. Updated
information on these parameters will be submitted in the coming quarter.
W/I Budget? Yes
TASK 9: Conduct spatial (GIS analysis) to
document fire extent, site
conditions.
Status: This
task was completed for the first year, data and information
were delivered to USF for analysis.
W/I Budget? Yes
TASK 10: Conduct
preliminary analyses on pre-and first year post-fire data sets.
Status: In
progress. Our analyses have so far focused on changes in organic soil depth, the reason being that collecting these data is
time-consuming, and we wanted to advise TNC about the need for further data.
Our analyses point strongly to the need for additional data. The overwhelming
majority of sites lost organic soil over the study period, regardless of whether they were burned. Analysis of variance suggests
that there is a significant effect of plant community (e.g., with bayheads
losing substantially more soil than other communities) as well as community *
burned interactions (e.g.,bayheads appear to lose more organic soil in response to fire than any other community, while the
marsh and shrub communities lose much less). However, many sample sizes are
still quite small (e.g., for many community types we have fewer than 10 sites
measured both before and after burns), and the data have signs of being
non-normally distributed, even after standard transforms.
Consequently,
we believe that these results are tantalizing but require substantially more
data points before drawing conclusions. The sample sizes for the data currently
available are:
Community: Unburned, Burned
·
Bayhead 15, 8
·
Cypress dome 13, 4
·
Flatwoods 14, 40
·
Hardwood forest 37, 0
·
Marsh 23, 1
·
Shrub 13, 19
·
Wet prairie 12, 7
It
is really not possible to draw robust conclusions without further data; sample
sizes of 30 or so points for each cell would be preferable, but certainly there
should at least be 15 or so points for each before pursuing further analyses.
W/I Budget? Yes
TASK 11: Produce first annual report (aka
interim report)
Status: Completed
W/I Budget? Yes
NOTE: All tasks scheduled
for 2003 (Task 12-15) are not included here as
no work has been done on
them.
TASK 16: Assemble
Advisory Committee (AC) to ensure participation by
land
managers/specialists in this project. *
Status: Guidelines for function of the AC and
meeting timeline listed. Meeting held Sept 4, 2002 at The Nature
Conservancy.
Meeting minutes have been completed and sent to
participants.
Attendees included:
Peter Henn
(representing Steve Miller), St Johns River Water Management
District
Parks Small, Kissimmee
Prairie State Preserve
Sam van Hook, Avon
Park
Mark Hebb, Florida
Department of Forestry
Rick Anderson, TNC SE
Fire Management Officer
David Black, Dupuis
Preserve, SFWMD
Steve Glass, Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Wayne Taylor, Preserve
Manager – DWP, TNC
David Brownlie, U. S.
Fish and Wildlife Service
Monica Folk, TNC
Gordon Fox, University
of South Florida
Kinberly Hum,
University of South Florida
Not able to attend,
but sent regrets:
Caroline Noble,
National Park Service
Mike Dueitt,
Apalachicola National Forest
Task 17: Web Site development *
Status: Scheduled for Fall 2003
W/I Budget: Yes
* These tasks added the
deliverable schedule to meet conditions set by the JFSP review board. They do
not appear in the original response’s timeline.