Document: SON-3-68-1

Fire behavior and impact of fire on tree juvenile growth and mortality in a dry deciduous forest of central India.

SAHA, S.*

University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago 60607-7060 ¹

Abstract:
Throughout the lowlands of tropical Asia, anthropogenic fires are frequent and widespread. Dry deciduous forests that make up for more than 50% of the total forest area in India, burn annually with fires of low-intensity (ground fires). This is the first study that documented response of plants to experimental fire treatments in Indian deciduous forests. The response of juvenile trees to fire and fire-exclusion in a dry deciduous forest of central India were monitored during 1999. Surface temperatures during the fire and duration of burning were the fire behavior traits recorded during the study. Twenty-one 9 m² plots were established to test for the effects of simulated burn treatments that mimic the anthropogenic fire regime. The impact of three experimental treatments, early burn (in mid March), late burn (in April) and fire exclusion, were documented on tree juveniles up to 1.5 m in height. Height and stem diameter of all individuals in February 99 (pre-treatment) and early July (post-treatment) were recorded. Fire caused 66 % stem die-back in the burn plots compared to the 25% in the fire-exclusion plots. Fire-exclusion plots suffered stem die-back due to severe drought that is characteristic of sub-tropical monsoon forests of India. Significant difference in mortality between the three treatments was found, with plots burned in March showing the greatest mortality (²= 7.52, P < 0.05). Post-treatment height was greater in fire-exclusion plots than the burned plots (F = 46.595, P < 0.01). Sexual species suffered greater mortality than clonal tree species. These results suggest that fire may cause stunting of forests by reducing juvenile growth, and the abundance of clonal tree species may increase due to repeated fires.

Keywords: Deciduous forests, India, Fire

This abstract is being presented at: 2:00 PM in session:
Oral Session #35: Fire Ecology.