DOI: 10.5061/dryad.92bv3
title: Data from: Interactive effects of pasture management intensity, release from grazing and prescribed fire on forty subtropical wetland plant assemblages

description: Pasture management intensity, livestock grazing and prescribed fire are
 three widespread agricultural practices that affect small, isolated
 wetlands, but few studies have investigated their individual and
 interactive effects. Pasture management intensity refers to the degree of
 human alteration of grassland, ranging from intensively managed pastures
 planted with introduced forage, fertilizer/lime additions and artificial
 drainage to semi-natural pastures with mixed native and non-native
 vegetation, no fertilizer/lime additions and little or no artificial
 drainage. We examined individual and interactive effects of these three
 agricultural practices on individual, isolated wetlands using a
 replicated, full-factorial experiment on 40 entire wetlands in south
 Florida, USA. Wetlands were embedded in two pasture management
 intensities: intensively managed and semi-natural. After three years of
 treatment initiation, vegetation of wetlands released from grazing and
 unburned embedded in semi-natural pastures had significantly lower
 evenness and coefficient of conservatism scores compared to wetlands
 released from grazing and burned, grazed unburned wetlands and grazed
 burned wetlands in the same pasture management intensity. For wetlands
 embedded in intensively managed pastures, evenness and coefficient of
 conservatism scores did not differ among treatments. Release from grazing
 increased abundance of the native, weedy herb, Eupatorium capillifolium.
 Grazing interacted with prescribed fire to affect shrub abundance and
 non-native richness; relative abundance of shrubs and non-native richness
 were greater in wetlands released from grazing and burned and did not
 differ among burn treatments in grazed wetlands. Interactive effects,
 especially three-way interactions, were uncommon and not as important as
 differences between the two pasture management intensities. Synthesis and
 applications. Vegetation diversity and floristic quality of wetlands
 embedded in intensively managed pastures resisted common restoration
 management techniques such as release from grazing and prescribed fire, at
 least in the short term. In contrast, removing all top-down disturbances
 from wetlands embedded in semi-natural grasslands can negatively affect
 vegetation species diversity and floristic quality. Future studies should
 examine how intensity and seasonality of grazing and prescribed fire
 affect wetland vegetation, and track long-term responses to evaluate lag
 effects.
description: wetland plant richness
 and diversity_fire and grazingThis file contains plant
 species richness and diversity metrics from forty wetlands sampled over
 four years, 2006-2009. These are response variables for a factorial
 experimental manipulating fire and grazing management on wetlands embedded
 in different pasture management intensities.usda richness
 diversity.csvwetland_richness_diversity_VariablenamesFull variable names and definitions for richness and diversity datasetUSDA_richness_diversity_Variablenames.csvWetlandPlant_FunctionalGroupThese data include functional group (graminoids, palatable grasses, shrubs, forbs, natives, exotics, Eupatorium capillifolium) relative frequency and coefficient of conservatism scores (a measure of floristic quality) in forty wetlands sampled over a four year experiment manipulating grazing and fire management of wetlands embedded in two different management intensities. The first year is a pre-treatment year.USDA_FunctionalGroup.csvUSDA_FunctionalGroup_VariablenamesThis file contains the full variable names for the Wetland Functional Group data set.