A long-term ecological study established in 1958 on the Osceola National Forest in north Florida examines the effects of different winter prescribed burning schedules. The Macon Fire Lab designed the experiment with 6 replications of 4 treatments (1, 2, and 4-year burns and a control) on 2-acre plots. Data includes pre- and post-burn fuel and vegetation measurements, fire behavior, and weather observations, with the last update recorded in 2003.
Use Cases
- Model vegetation response to fire frequency using pre- and post-burn plant community data.
- Analyze fuel load accumulation rates by comparing fuel data across 1, 2, and 4-year burn rotations.
- Correlate fire behavior metrics with weather data from specific burn events.
- Assess long-term soil property changes associated with different prescribed burning schedules.
- Compare ecosystem metrics in control plots against those subjected to varying burn treatments.
Strengths
- Study initiated in 1958, providing over 45 years of potential ecological monitoring data.
- Randomized block design with 6 replications of 4 treatments enhances statistical robustness.
- Data collection includes multiple domains: vegetation, fuels, fire behavior, and weather.
Limitations
- Data collection appears to have concluded, with the last update recorded in 2003.
- The specific number of rows, columns, and total observations is unknown.
- Geographic scope is limited to a single site in north Florida, limiting generalizability.
Provenance
- Source
- Macon Fire Lab, organized under SCIOPS.
- Collection Method
- Field experiment with randomized block design on 2-acre plots, collecting pre- and post-burn measurements.
- Time Range
- Study established in 1958; temporal coverage of collected data is unknown but spans multiple decades.
- Freshness
- Data is static, last updated on 2003-12-31.
- Geography
- Osceola National Forest in north Florida, USA.