Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T19:34:05.986Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) Response to Fire in a Managed Prairie Ecosystem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2018

Adam R. Warrix  and
Jordan M. Marshall
Adam R. Warrix
Affiliation:
Graduate Student, Department of Biology, Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN, USA
Jordan M. Marshall*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Jordan M. Marshall, Department of Biology, Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN 46805. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana Decne.) was introduced to North America as an ornamental tree in the early 1900s. Due to widespread planting, P. calleryana has become common throughout the eastern United States and has invaded natural areas, especially disturbed areas. Prescribed fire is a common management technique in prairie ecosystems to mimic natural disturbances. We tested the effectiveness of prescribed fire as a control technique for P. calleryana in a managed prairie system. Fire top-killed all established P. calleryana individuals. However, these individuals responded to fire with 3 to 4 epicormic sprouts each. Similar sprouting behavior occurred in 2-yr-old seedlings. Exposed seeds, fruits, and 1-yr-old seedlings were killed by fire. Established P. calleryana were single-stemmed individuals before exposure to fire. After the prescribed fire, they all were multistemmed, which increased the potential flower-bearing stems within the prairie. We conclude that fire alone is not a suitable technique for managing P. calleryana invasion. Cut and herbicide application methods are labor-intensive. However, combining cut and spray methods with prescribed fire may be effective. Fire removes standing grass and forb biomass, leaving exposed P. calleryana stems, which would make locating individuals and directly applying herbicides easier.

Keywords

Songlin Fei; Purdue UniversityControl burnIndianainvasionmanagement
Type
Case Study
Information
Invasive Plant Science and Management , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , March 2018 , pp. 27 - 32
Copyright
© Weed Science Society of America, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Auld, TD, Bradstock, RA (2006) Soil temperatures after the passage of a fire: do they influence the germination of buried seeds? Aus J Ecol 21:106–109 Google Scholar
Bond, WJ, Midgley, JJ (2001) Ecology of sprouting in woody plants: the persistence niche. Trends Ecol Evol 16:45–51 Google Scholar
Brooks, ML, D’Antonia, CM, Richardson, DM, Grace, JB, Keeley, JE, DiTomaso, JM, Hobbs, RJ, Pellant, M, Pyke, D (2004) Effects of invasive alien plants on fire regimes. BioScience 54:677–688 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Creech, JL (1973) Ornamental plant introduction—building on the past. Arnoldia 33:13–25 Google Scholar
Culley, TM, Hardiman, NA (2007) The beginning of a new invasive plant: a history of the ornamental Callery pear in the United States. BioScience 57:956–964 Google Scholar
DeBano, LF, Neary, DG, Ffolliott, PF (1998) Fire’s Effects on Ecosystems. New York: Wiley. 352 pGoogle Scholar
Dirr, MA (1998) Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses. Champaign, IL: Stipes. 1005 p Google Scholar
Flory, SL, Clay, K (2006) Invasive shrub distribution varies with distance to roads and stand age in eastern deciduous forests in Indiana, USA. Plant Ecol 184:131–141 Google Scholar
Fulcher, B (2002) Trouble on Main Street? Tennessee Conserv 68:12–15 Google Scholar
Gonzalez, SL, Ghermandi, L, Paláez, DV (2015) Growth and reproductive post-fire responses of two shrubs in semiarid Patagonian grasslands. Int J Wildl Fire 24:809–818 Google Scholar
James, JJ, Smith, BS, Vasquez, EA, Sheley, RL (2010) Principles for ecologically based invasive plant management. Invasive Plant Sci Manag 3:229–239 Google Scholar
Kauffman, JB (1991) Survival by sprouting following fire in tropical forests of the eastern Amazon. Biotropica 23:219–224 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennard, DK, Gould, K, Putz, FE, Fredericksen, TS, Morales, F (2002) Effects of disturbance intensity on regeneration mechanisms in a tropical dry forest. For Ecol Manag 162:197–208 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levey, DJ, Bolker, BM, Tweksbury, JJ, Sargent, S, Haddad, NM (2005) Effects of landscape corridors on seed dispersal by birds. Science 309:146–148 Google Scholar
Li, L, Revesz, P (2004) Interpolation methods for spatio-temporal geographic data. Comput Environ Urban 28:201–227 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matzek, V, Covino, J, Funk, JL, Saunders, M (2014) Closing the knowing-doing gap in invasive plant management: accessibility and interdisciplinarity of scientific research. Conserv Lett 7:208–215 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neary, DG, Klopatek, CC, DeBano, LF, Ffolliott, PF (1999) Fire effects on belowground sustainability: a review and synthesis. For Ecol Manag 122:51–71 Google Scholar
Nowak, DJ, Crane, DE (2002) Carbon storage and sequestration by urban trees in the USA. Environ Pollut 116:381–389 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ojima, DS, Schimel, DS, Parton, WJ, Owensby, CE (1994) Long- and short-term effects on fire on nitrogen cycling tallgrass prairie. Biogeochemistry 24:67–84 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oswalt, CM, Fei, S, Guo, Q, Iannone, BV III, Oswalt, SN, Pijanowski, BC, Potter, KM (2015) A subcontinental view of forest plant invasion. NeoBiota 24:49–54 Google Scholar
QGIS Development Team (2017) QGIS Geographic Information System. Open Source Geospatial Foundation Project. http://www.qgis.org. Accessed: February 2, 2018Google Scholar
R Core Team (2017) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. https://r-project.org. Accessed: February 2, 2018Google Scholar
Raison, RJ, Khanna, PK, Woods, PV (1985) Mechanisms of element transfer to the atmosphere during vegetation fires. Can J For Res 15:132–140 Google Scholar
Reichard, SH, White, P (2001) Horticulture as a pathway of invasive plant introductions in the United States. BioScience 51:103–113 Google Scholar
Reimer, FC (1925) Blight Resistance in Pears and Characteristics of Pear Species and Stocks. Corvallis, OR: Oregon Agricultural College Experiment Station Bulletin. 214 Google Scholar
Renz, M, Gibson, KD, Hillmer, J, Howe, KM, Waller, DM, Cardina, J (2009) Land managers and researcher perspectives on invasive plant research needs in the midwestern United States. Invasive Plant Sci Manag 2:83–91 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swearingen, J, Reshetiloff, K, Slattery, B, Zwicker, S (2002) Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas. Washington, DC: National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife. 82 pGoogle Scholar
Vincent, MA (2005) On the spread and current distribution of Pyrus calleryana in the United States. Castanea 70:20–31 Google Scholar
Wenger, KI (1953) The sprouting of sweetgum in relation to season of cutting and carbohydrate content. Plant Physiol 28:35–49 Google Scholar
White, J, McClain, WE, Ebinger, JE (2005) Naturalized Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana Decne.) in Illinois. Trans Illinois State Acad Sci 98:123–130 Google Scholar
Whitlock, C, Higuera, PE, McWethy, DB, Briles, C (2010) Paleoecological perspectives of fire ecology: revisiting the fire-regime concept. Open J Ecol 3:6–23 CrossRefGoogle Scholar