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Effects Of Growing-Season Prescribed Burning On Vigor Of Sericea Lespedeza In The Kansas Flint Hills: Ii. Plant-Species Composition, J. A. Alexander, W. H. Fick, J. Lemmon, G. A. Gatson, G. W. Preedy, K C. Olson
Effects Of Growing-Season Prescribed Burning On Vigor Of Sericea Lespedeza In The Kansas Flint Hills: Ii. Plant-Species Composition, J. A. Alexander, W. H. Fick, J. Lemmon, G. A. Gatson, G. W. Preedy, K C. Olson
Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Reports
Fire has, for centuries, been a key force for sustainability of native ecosystems in the Kansas Flint Hills. Prior to the arrival of European settlers, prescribed and wild fires occurred at less than 3-year intervals in the tallgrass prairie region. As a result, native tallgrass plant communities adapted to fire at regular intervals and plant-species composition became stable on a geologic time scale.
Currently, prescribed fire is used in the Kansas Flint Hills as a treatment for control of woody-stemmed invasive species such as eastern red cedar, honey locust, and roughleaf dogwood. These fires are generally applied in March and …
Effects Of Growing-Season Prescribed Burning On Vigor Of Sericea Lespedeza In The Kansas Flint Hills: I. Suppression Of Seed Production And Canopy Dominance, J. A. Alexander, W. H. Fick, J. Lemmon, G. A. Gatson, G. W. Preedy, K C. Olson
Effects Of Growing-Season Prescribed Burning On Vigor Of Sericea Lespedeza In The Kansas Flint Hills: I. Suppression Of Seed Production And Canopy Dominance, J. A. Alexander, W. H. Fick, J. Lemmon, G. A. Gatson, G. W. Preedy, K C. Olson
Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Reports
Sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) is a highly fecund noxious weed in Kansas and surrounding states. Individual plants are capable of producing greater than 1,000 seeds annually. Vigorous seed production allows sericea lespedeza to rapidly infiltrate native and cultivated grasslands; seed can be transported great distances via farm machinery and the alimentary canal of wild and domestic herbivores. In Kansas alone, sericea lespedeza infests more than 700 square miles of pasture, primarily in the Flint Hills region. The resulting damage to native habitats for wildlife and pasture quality for domestic herbivores has been devastating.
The predominant grazing management practice …