03664naa a2200289 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000190006024501140007926000090019352028980020265000120310065000270311265000110313965000120315065000090316265000130317165000130318465300120319765300140320965300130322365300130323670000180324970000160326770000200328377300710330315337692023-07-18       1993    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d1 aCARLSON, P. C.  aFire in key habitat improves browse, prevents succession, and preserves endemic herbs.h[electronic resource]  c1993  aAbstract: Habitat quality reduced by fire suppression may have influenced the recent decline of Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium). A major foraging habitat for Key deer, the rockland pine community, as well as several plants endemic to this habitat, depend on periodic fires for continued existence. Refuge burning is opposed by residents of nearby urban development. To quantify effects of fire, we measured use and nutritive content of browse for the year following fire, monitored growth of the vegetation after fire, and documented succession in relation to time since the last fire. Browsing by deer was most intense early in the growing season. Deer chose species high in crude protein (CP), phosphorus (P), and in vitro digestibility (IVOMD). The 2 most heavily browsed pineland species, blackbead (Pithecellobium keyense) and Indian mulberry (Morinda royoc), were high in CP year-round. The amount of P of diet species was lower than the assumed requirement for deer but actually may be adequate. Increases in nutritive value in important dietary species lasted 6-11 months after burning. Sprout density of species in the diet was higher (P &lt 0.05) in burned than in unburned plots, providing more browse within 2 years after burning. Fruiting of diet species returned to unburned levels within 1 year after burning at most sites. Thus, burning of pineland provided temporary benefits in nutritive quality and more prolonged benefits in browse quantity. Fire's retardation of succession, however, may be of greater benefit to deer than temporary forage enhancement. Community structure was similar among pine stands on Big Pine Key. Vegetation on smaller islands was a mixture of pineland and hammock species, with few herbaceous species, including those important in the Key deer diet. A 10- to 20-year interval between fires maintains pine savanna on Big Pine Key. An interval of 10-50 years on smaller, more isolated islands arrests succession at an intermediate stage. Only a very long fire-free interval (&gt100 years) allows full development of a hammock community. Endemic herbaceous plants at pineland sites were generally unaffected by fire in pine savanna, whereas they were rare or absent from sites in which succession had advanced to mixed pine-hammock composition. Preventing extinction of endemic plants is a major benefit of prescribed burning. Despite the value of prescribed burning for main- taining pineland endemics and species important in the Key deer diet, management of Lower Keys vegetation should encompass other successional stages. Maintaining a diversity of stands will provide cover for deer and refuge for numerous plant species intolerant of burning. We recommend an experimental regime of replicated plots of pine savanna be burned at 5-, 15-, 25-, and 75-year intervals to document responses of plant species as well as successional shifts.  aFlorida  aOdocoileus virginianus  aAnimal  aCerrado  aFogo  aPastagem  aQueimada  acologia  aIncêncio  aParasita  aParasite1 aTANNER, G. W.1 aWOOD, J. M.1 aHUMPHREY, S. R.  tThe Journal of Wildlife Managementgv. 57, n. 4, p. 914-928, 1993.