%0 Journal Article
%T Postfire Burnt-Wood Management Affects Plant Damage by Ungulate Herbivores
%A Jorge Castro
%J International Journal of Forestry Research
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/965461
%X I analyze the effect of post-fire burnt wood management on herbivore attack on a woody plant species (Ulex parviflorus). Two experimental plots of ca. 20 hectares were established at two elevations in a burnt area in a Mediterranean mountain (Sierra Nevada, Spain). Three replicates of three treatments differing in post-fire burnt wood management were established per plot: ˇ°no interventionˇ± (NI, all trees remained standing), ˇ°partial cut plus loppingˇ± (PCL, felling the trees, cutting the main branches, and leaving all the biomass in situ), and ˇ°salvage loggingˇ± (SL; removal of logs and elimination of woody debris). Risk of herbivory and damage intensity were monitored for two years. The pattern of attack by ungulate herbivores varied among treatments and years. In any case, there was an overall reduction in the risk of herbivory in the PCL treatment, presumably because the highest habitat complexity in this treatment hampered ungulate movement and foraging. As a result, the burnt logs and branches spread over the ground acted as a physical barrier that protected seedlings from herbivores. This protection may be used for the regeneration of shrubs and trees, and it is of interest for the regeneration of burnt sites either naturally or by reforestation. 1. Introduction A current controversial issue among restoration ecologists and forest managers concerns the appropriate management of dead burnt trees after fire. Post-fire salvage logging (i.e., the felling and removal of the burnt tree trunks, often eliminating the remaining woody debris by chipping, mastication, fire, etc.) has historically been routinely and widely practiced by forest administrations around the world [1¨C4], particularly in the case of burnt conifer forests. However, there is currently an intense debate about the suitability of this approach [5¨C8]. A growing number of studies show that salvage logging may increase soil erosion, diminish the regeneration capacity due to seedling bank or resprout destruction, or reduce the biodiversity of plants and animals [1, 3, 6, 8], among other processes. As a result, there are increasing calls for less aggressive post-fire intervention policies, associated with evidence that snags and decaying burnt wood are components of natural systems that promote ecosystem recovery and diversity [4, 5, 9¨C12]. An important topic to be considered for the post-fire regeneration of woody vegetation is the effect of ungulate herbivores. Movement and foraging behavior of ungulates is conditioned by habitat characteristics at different spatial scales [13¨C16]. These
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijfr/2013/965461/