Prescribed Burning as A Management Tool to Destroy Dry Seeds of Invasive Conifers in Heathland in Denmark

Christian Andreasen, Kasper Rossing and Christian Ritz
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Christian Andreasen: Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Højbakkegaard Allé 13, DK-2630 Taastrup, Denmark
Kasper Rossing: Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Højbakkegaard Allé 13, DK-2630 Taastrup, Denmark
Christian Ritz: Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 25, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark

Land, 2020, vol. 9, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: Non-indigenous conifers are considered invasive to the coastal dune heathland in Denmark, and massive clearing is carried out in an attempt to recreate and keep the original heathland. Burning is a common method for managing, but its feasibility to control the seed bank of conifers has not been investigated. This project shows that the burning of logged conifer trees will often eliminate seeds of lodgepole pine, mugo pine and Sitka spruce, even when the seeds were placed into a depth of five centimeters in the soil. The effect on seeds depends on the fuel load and the fire conditions (e.g., dryness, wind, and temperature). If the seeds were exposed to a high temperature, the seeds were not able to germinate afterward. The temperature was about 80 °C for all species. If the sum of temperatures based on temperature records every 30 s exceeded between 12,000 and 14,000 °C no seeds were able to germinate. The relationship between the mean temperature of the burns and the germination rate at seeds placed in various soil depths was modelled. Findings should be interpreted cautiously as each depth-species combinations were not replicated in space or time due to practical constraints.

Keywords: lodgepole pine; land restoration; landscape fire; mugo pine; Pinus mugo; Pinus contorta; Picea sitchensis; Sitka spruce; thermal weed control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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