101246 Determination of Fire Impacts on Vegetative Communities of the Upper Sonoran Desert Using Terrestrial Ecological Unit Inventory Data.
Poster Number 342-324
See more from this Division: SSSA Division: Forest, Range and Wildland Soils
See more from this Session: Forest, Range, and Wildland Soils General Session II Poster
Abstract:
Terrestrial Ecological Unit Inventory data was used to evaluate recovery and the pattern of succession in desert communities. Complete vegetative composition was collected on tenth acre plots in areas within historic burn perimeters and compared with unburned vegetative communities in plots located in the same ecologic units with no recorded fire activity. Ecologic types are mapped based on a distinct combinations of soil, climatic, topographic, and vegetation and each unit has an established ecologic site description as a baseline for potential natural vegetation. Indicator Species Analysis using PC-ORD software was used to determine that saguaro was more frequent and abundant in unburned sites based on indicator values. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS with Sorenson distance) with PC-ORD showed that differences in community composition between the burned and unburned sites based on TSF (time since fire) that vegetative community composition is closer to site potential vegetation in the oldest burned areas (25-35yrs TSF).
See more from this Division: SSSA Division: Forest, Range and Wildland Soils
See more from this Session: Forest, Range, and Wildland Soils General Session II Poster