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Influence of season and method of topkill on resprouting characteristics and biomass of Quercus nigra saplings from a southeastern U.S. pine-grassland ecosystem

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Abstract

The resprouting ability of woody plants in frequently burned ecosystems may be influenced by the season and method of topkill. We conducted an experiment to test for the effects of season and method of topkill on aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, and mortality of hardwoods found in a southeastern U.S. pine-grassland. We predicted that topkill occurring during the growing season and topkill by fire would have greater negative impacts on resprouting and root growth and result in greater mortality. We conducted a shadehouse experiment in north Florida in which we applied topkill treatments (burn, clip, and no-topkill) in three seasons (dormant, early growing, and mid growing) to Quercus nigra (water oak) saplings. Plants were destructively sampled 12 months post-treatment to measure aboveground and belowground biomass. Saplings topkilled in the early and mid growing seasons had reduced growth and greater mortality one-year post-treatment compared to plants topkilled in the dormant season. While there was no difference in one-year post-treatment biomass or mortality of saplings between the two methods of topkill, clipped plants had more stems and shorter average stem height than plants topkilled by fire. Root growth continued despite topkilling for all seasons and was greatest for no-topkill plants. These results suggest that while topkill reduces biomass, hardwoods have evolved to maintain belowground biomass reserves, enabling genets to resprout following subsequent topkilling and to persist through frequent disturbances.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy for providing shadehouse space and supplies for this experiment, Josh Picott, Angie Reid, Jason Isbell, and Kristin Politano for assistance potting, watering, weeding, and sampling the experiment, and Matt Slocum and James Geaghan for advice on statistical analyses. Matt Slocum, Bret Elderd, Philip Stouffer, and two anonymous reviewers provided insightful comments which improved the manuscript. This project was funded by Tall Timbers Research Station and grants from Gene Phipps and LSU Biograds.

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Author notes

  1. Tracy L. Hmielowski

    Present address: Tallgrass Prairie and Oak Savanna Fire Science Consortium, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 550 N. Park St., 70 Science Hall, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, 202 Life Sciences Building, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Tracy L. Hmielowski & William J. Platt

  2. Tall Timbers Research Station, 13093 Henry Beadel Drive, Tallahassee, FL, 32312, USA

    Kevin M. Robertson

Authors
  1. Tracy L. Hmielowski
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  2. Kevin M. Robertson
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  3. William J. Platt
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Correspondence to Tracy L. Hmielowski.

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Communicated by S. M. Jacobs.

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Hmielowski, T.L., Robertson, K.M. & Platt, W.J. Influence of season and method of topkill on resprouting characteristics and biomass of Quercus nigra saplings from a southeastern U.S. pine-grassland ecosystem. Plant Ecol 215, 1221–1231 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-014-0380-5

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