2003 Prescribed Burn Effect on Chihuahuan Desert Grasses and Shrubs at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico: Grass Recovery Study (2003-2012)

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife's plan to apply a prescribed burn to a large portion of Mckenzie Flats was deemed an opportunity to study the effects of fire on vegetation at the boundary between shrubland and grassland. This study actually was undertaken on an area that had prescribed fire applied to 8 of 16 (300 m x 300 m) plots 10 years before in 1993. This previous study had also examined the effects of fencing to exclude the indigenous prong-horn antelope. In the 2003 study the prescribed fire was applied to the northeastern half of the 16 plots while the southwestern plots were intentionally protected. Sampling prior to the prescribed burn included quantification of cover of grass species in quadrats within all of the 16 plots. Measurements were made using "niner" quadrat frames that are 30 cm x 30 cm frames that are divided into 9 1-decimeter squares. Counts of grass species were made just prior to the June 2003 burn. Following the prescribed burn, quadrats were remeasured in the fall of 2003 to quantify mortality of grass species. These measurements were taken through the fall of 2012美国鱼类与野生动物管理局（U.S. Fish and Wildlife）针对麦肯齐平地（Mckenzie Flats）大片区域实施受控火烧（prescribed burn）的计划，为研究灌丛与草原交界地带的火对植被的影响提供了契机。本次研究的实地开展区域，曾于1993年（即十年前）对其中16块300米×300米的样地中的8块实施过受控火烧。此前的同类研究还评估了通过围栏阻隔本土叉角羚所产生的生态影响。在2003年的研究中，研究人员对16块样地的东北半区实施了受控火烧，而西南半区的样地则被刻意保留为未受火烧的对照样地。受控火烧前的采样工作包括对全部16块样地内的样方（quadrat）中草本植物的盖度进行定量测定，本次采样所用的"九格样方框（niner quadrat frames）"为30厘米×30厘米规格，内部被划分为9个1平方分米的小方格。研究人员于2003年6月火烧实施前不久完成了草本植物种类的计数。受控火烧结束后，研究团队于2003年秋季对样方进行了复测，以定量统计草本植物的死亡率，上述监测工作持续至2012年秋季。