Ecological effects of prescribed fire on a sagebrush-steppe rangeland

Rangelands encompass approximately 26% of land in the United States with the federal government managing 62 million hectares (Lubowski et al. 2006). A key component of rangeland sites for feeding wildlife is the insect community. Land management, particularly prescribed fire, may reduce plant species diversity, thus reducing both pollinator habitat and the quantity of other invertebrates used as food resources (Beck et al. 2008). Fire can also change the amount of surface wood, thereby altering soil properties and ground-dwelling insects. Prescribed fire creates temporal changes to rangeland hydrology, commonly increasing runoff and erosion (Meeuwig 1971; DeBano 1981; Pierson et al. 2001, 2002, 2008; Williams et al. 2016). Post-fire erosion and runoff increases can be attributed to changes in soil cover (Pierson et al. 2001, 2008; Williams et al. 2016), altered organic matter content (DeBano et al. 1998), vegetation (Williams et al. 2016) and increased runoff leading to increased sediment transport capacity (Pierson et al. 2009; Williams et al. 2016). This data publication contains data from a study trying to quantify prescribed fire impacts on surface and belowground changes at a sagebrush site near Red Mountain, which is on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, approximately 43 kilometers (17 miles) northeast of Montpelier, Idaho. This site received a prescribed burn in 2003. Shortly after the burn, four treated plots were installed. Snow prevented the installation of three control plots until the following year, 2004. A weather station was installed on the study site near the south side of a ridgeline. Precipitation, temperature, humidity, solar radiation, as well as wind speed and direction were recorded continuously from October 16, 2003, through August 27, 2010. After the spring of 2007, the precipitation gauge stopped functioning. Data collected between 2003 and 2010 include bulk density, ground cover, soil loss, weather, and hillslope runoff plot measurements. Particle size analysis was performed on all bulk density samples and 2003-2005 soil samples.
The purpose of this study was to quantify prescribed fire impacts on surface (erosion, runoff, sediment production, soil cover recovery, and ground dwelling insects) and belowground changes (soil chemical and physical properties, incidence of termites, and changes in decomposition rate) in a sagebrush site that had recently received a prescribed burn. Specifically, we hypothesized that prescribed burning would increase belowground decomposition rates, insect diversity and numbers, and surface runoff and erosion. We also hypothesized that at the end of 5 years these changes would return to pre-burn levels.