The influence of fire on the invertebrate community during restoration of a mesquite encroached grassland

Background/Question/Methods Fire was a driving force in the evolution of grasslands and continues to be an important mechanism for habitat conservation of prairie ecosystems.  In an effort to restore native grasslands and increase or maintain biodiversity in disturbed habitat, reintroduction of fire is a common land management tool. Historical frequency of burning in most locations is poorly understood, and predicting the community’s response to these varying fire treatments is necessary to streamline the restoration of ecosystem functioning in similar habitats. It is essential to understand a wide range of organisms’ response for holistic management of grasslands.  Insects are critical in food webs, nutrient recycling and a large part of the biodiversity found at any location, and knowledge of insect responses to fire is important for determining restoration needs of an ecosystem. We are conducting research at Cross Bar Cooperative Management Area, Potter County, Texas, to determine the effects of burning frequency on insects using pitfalls, malaise traps, and sweep net samples.
Results/Conclusions We calculated ordinal and family abundance, richness, and diversity across 3 burning treatments: long term unburned (>10 years), frequently burned (2-3 years), and moderately burned (4-6 years).  Preliminary observations from pitfall traps suggest that invertebrates are most abundant in the frequently burned areas relative to the long term unburned, although removal of grass under story following a burn reduced presence of Blattaria in the burned areas. These comparisons will allow determination of which burn frequency would be most desirable to restore the habitat and the frequency that would maximize insect diversity during restoration.