Fire history of oak gallery forests in a northeast Kansas tallgrass prairie

TitleFire history of oak gallery forests in a northeast Kansas tallgrass prairie
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1985
AuthorsAbrams, MD
JournalThe American Midland Naturalist
Volume114
Pagination188 -191
Accession NumberKNZ0076
Keywordstallgrass prairie
Abstract

Bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) and chinquapin oak (Q. muehlenbergii) were repeatedly scarred from recurring fire in gallery forests on Konza Prairie in NE Kansas, and were therefore suitable for fire history evaluation. Fire scars were recorded in 23 different years, ranging from 1862 to 1983, on 19 sample trees taken from three noncontiguous gallery forest stands. The mean fire interval (MFI) calculated for these forests ranged from 11.2-19.7 years. The actual MFI, however, probably lies somewhere between that range and the historical interval for Flint Hills prairie fire of 2-3 years

DOI10.2307/2425255