Northern Research Station

Title: The fire and oak hypothesis: incorporating the influence of deer browsing and canopy gaps

Author: Collins, Rachel J.; Carson, Walter P.

Date: 2003

Source: In: Van Sambeek, J. W.; Dawson, Jeffery O.; Ponder Jr., Felix; Loewenstein, Edward F.; Fralish, James S., eds. Proceedings of the 13th Central Hardwood Forest Conference; Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-234. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station: 44-63

Description: A century of fire suppression has altered tree species composition and is a commonly cited cause for the region-wide decline in oak abundance (the fire and oak hypothesis). Other explanations include alterations in canopy gap regimes and deer browsing that operate in conjunction with fire suppression. We examined the interactions among these processes by manipulating fire, deer browsing, and canopy gaps, in a fully factorial design. Fire lowered survival of small canopy trees (10-19.9 cm DBH) but had no effect on large canopy trees (≥20 cm DBH). Fire increased and deer browsing decreased the proportion of top-killed saplings that sprouted. Gaps, however, had no significant effect on sprouting. Deer browsing, after fire, reduced diversity in the sprouting community, created understories dominated by striped maple. Northern red oak saplings were not fire tolerant and did not produce tall sprouts following fire. These results cast doubt on the ubiquitous application of the fire and oak hypothesis to explain the dominance of oak in some mixed hardwood forests.

Keywords: 

View and Print this Publication (210 KB)

Publication Notes: 

• We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
• This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.
• This publication may be available in hard copy. Check the Northern Research Station web site to request a printed copy of this publication.
• Our on-line publications are scanned and captured using Adobe Acrobat. During the capture process some typographical errors may occur. Please contact Sharon Hobrla, shobrla@fs.fed.us if you notice any errors which make this publication unusable.

 Get the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat reader or Acrobat Reader for Windows with Search and Accessibility

Citation

Collins, Rachel J.; Carson, Walter P.  2003.  The fire and oak hypothesis: incorporating the influence of deer browsing and canopy gaps.   In: Van Sambeek, J. W.; Dawson, Jeffery O.; Ponder Jr., Felix; Loewenstein, Edward F.; Fralish, James S., eds. Proceedings of the 13th Central Hardwood Forest Conference; Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-234. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station: 44-63.