TY - JOUR T1 - Blazing and grazing: influences of fire and bison on tallgrass prairie stream water quality JF - Freshwater Science Y1 - 2013 A1 - Larson, D.M. A1 - Grudzinski, B.P. A1 - W. K. Dodds A1 - Daniels, M.D. A1 - Skibbe, A.M. A1 - Anthony Joern KW - Bison bison KW - Bos bison KW - burning KW - Grasslands KW - grazers KW - prescribed fire KW - streams KW - tallgrass prairie KW - total nitrogen KW - total phosphorus KW - total suspended solids AB -

Fire and grazers (such as Bison bison) were historically among the most important agents for maintaining and managing tallgrass prairie, but we know little about their influences on water-quality dynamics in streams. We analyzed 2 y of data on total suspended solids (TSS), total N (TN), and total P (TP) (3 samples per week per stream during flow) in 3 prairie streams with fire and bison grazing treatments at Konza Prairie Biological Station, Kansas (USA), to assess whether fire and bison increase the concentrations of these water-quality variables. We quantified the spatial and temporal locations of bison (∼0.21 animal units/ha) with Global Positioning System collars and documented bison trails, paw patches, wallows, and naturally exposed sediment patches within riparian buffers. Three weeks post-fire, TN and TP decreased (t-test, p < 0.001), but TSS did not change. Bison spent <6% of their time within 10 m of the streams, increased the amount of exposed sediment in the riparian areas, and avoided wooded mainstem branches of stream (χ2 test, p < 0.001). Temporal trends suggest that low discharge or increased bison density in the stream may increase TSS and TP during the summer months. Our results indicate a weak connection between TSS and nutrients with bison access to streams over our 2-y study and indicate that low TSS and nutrients characterize tallgrass prairie streams with fire and moderate bison densities relative to surrounding land uses.

VL - 32 UR - https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1899/12-118.1 ER -