Effects of prescribed burning on herbaceous vegetation and pocket gophers (Geomys pinetis) in a sandhill community

January 22, 2021

Effects of season of prescribed burning and time elapsed since last burn on herbaceous biomass and species composition, root carbohydrate and nitrogen content, and southeastern pocket gopher (Geomys pinetis) mounding activity and body condition were examined on a sandhill community. Treatments included late-winter and late-summer burns in 1983, 1984 and 1985, and an unburned control. Post-burn data collected in the fall of 1985 showed no significant differences (P>0.05) for total biomass of aboveground herbaceous vegetation. Aboveground biomass of grasses was higher than forb biomass for all treatments. Forb biomass was lowest on the unburned control. Shannon diversity indices were consistently lower on unburned than on burned treatments. Carbohydrate levels in roots of selected herbaceous species collected from each treatment in the winter of 1986 were variable and no significant differences (P>0.05) were detected. Nitrogen levels in roots tended to be higher on unburned than on burned treatments. Mounding activity varied widely both among and within treatments and ranged from 0.73 to 5.19 mounds produced per day during the winter o f1986. No significant correlation between mounding activity and carbohydrate or nitrogen levels of selected plants was detected. No significant differences (P>0.05) were detected in weight: body length ratios of pocket gophers among treatments during late winter-early spring.