Frequently burned old field shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata)–loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) woodlands in the southeastern US provide important wildlife habitat and multiple ecosystem services. Because these communities differ in composition of dominant plant species and have different land use legacies than native pine savannas, the ability to prevent encroachment by off-site broadleaf woody tree species using fire alone is in question. We use a long-term fire experiment to demonstrate that old field pine communities have been prevented from transitioning to hardwood forests for over 50 years through judicious application of prescribed fire applied at 1–2 year intervals, whereas communities with three-year fire intervals show signs of transitioning to hardwood forest. We emphasize tailoring fire regimes to particular contexts of land use history to achieve the most historic and sustainable ecosystem structure and function possible for conservation of native flora and fauna.

中文翻译：

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频繁的规定火灾维持老田火炬松-短叶松林地社区：一项 53 年研究的结果

美国东南部经常被烧毁的老田短叶松（Pinus echinata）-火炬​​松（Pinus taeda）林地提供了重要的野生动物栖息地和多种生态系统服务。由于这些群落的优势植物物种组成不同，并且与本地松树稀树草原相比具有不同的土地利用遗产，因此仅使用火来防止异地阔叶木本树种侵占的能力存在疑问。我们使用一个长期的火灾实验来证明，通过明智地应用每隔 1-2 年一次的规定火灾，古老的松树群落已被阻止向阔叶林过渡 50 多年，而具有三年火灾间隔的社区则表明向阔叶林过渡的迹象。