SGER: Fire Regimes in the Tallgrass Prairie/Crosstimbers Interface: Towards a Fuller Understanding of Grassland and Forest Dynamics

自然保护协会最近在俄克拉何马州奥塞奇县的管理活动为了解该地区的长期草地和森林动态创造了一个新颖而短暂的机会。2005年夏天，大自然保护协会在高草草原保护区的边界上清除了数百棵活着的古树。PI将从这些树的基部打捞和研究横截面磁盘，有两个目的。首先，检查它们的横截面可以用来提供人类定居之前该地区的第一个火灾历史。获得火灾历史是有意义的，因为区域草原的维持和持续被认为取决于火灾，但这种火灾的频率和强度是未知的。其次，对这些树木中两种优势橡树的火灾后反应进行分析，可能有助于确定它们长期共存的机制。该项目的更广泛影响包括培养本科生和研究生从树木年轮和火痕中探测、测量和解释火灾历史。PI将针对这些方法开设一门特别课程。研究活动包括制作数百个抛光的树盘，这是一种有吸引力和有效的教育工具。其中一些将与教育材料一起捐赠给高草草原保护区、奥塞奇县历史社会博物馆和奥塞奇部落博物馆。外展活动包括与奥塞奇部落的长老接触，了解弗林特山地区使用火的传统观点。

Recent management activities of The Nature Conservancy in Osage County, Oklahoma have created a novel and short-lived opportunity to gain understanding of longterm grassland and forest dynamics in this region. During the summer of 2005, The Nature Conservancy cleared hundreds of live old-growth trees along the border of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. The PI will salvage and study cross-sectional disks from the bases of these trees for two purposes. First, an examination of their cross sections can be used to provide the first fire history of this region prior to human settlement. Obtaining a fire history is of interest because the maintenance and persistence of the regional grasslands is thought to depend on fire, yet the frequency and intensity of such fires is unknown. Second, an analysis of the post-fire responses of the two dominant oak species represented among these trees may help to identify the mechanisms that have allowed their long-term coexistence. The broader impacts of this project include the training of undergraduate and graduate students in the detection, measurement, and interpretation of fire histories from tree rings and fire scars. The PI will develop a special course on these methods. The research activities include the production of several hundred polished tree disks, which are an attractive and effective educational tool. Some of these will be donated along with educational material to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, the Osage County Historical Society Museum, and to the Osage Tribal Museum. Outreach activities include contact with Osage Tribe elders, to learn about traditional views of fire use in the Flint Hills region.