Kruger National Park, South Africa

The amount of carbon stored in savannas represents a significant uncertainty in global carbon budgets, primarily because fire causes actual biomass to differ from potential biomass. We analyzed the structural response of woody plants to long-term experimental burning in savannas. The experiment uses a randomized block design to examine fire exclusion and the season and frequency of burn in 192 7-ha experimental plots located in four different savanna ecosystems. fire long-term ecological research savannacarbon sequestrationPlease obtain permission from owner.Sites within Kruger National Park31.6331.66-23.25-24.131956195719961999GenusAcaciaSpeciesnigrescensGenusColophospermumSpeciesmopaneGenusCombretumSpeciesnigrescensGenusTerminaliaSpeciessericeaHigginsGoethe University Frankfurt

Altenhoefer Allee 160438HesseFrankfurt / MainGermany

higgins@em.uni-frankfurt.dehttp://www.geo.uni-frankfurt.de/ipg/ag/hi/people/steve/index.html

For a full history of the experiment and its design see Biggs et al. (2003): Experimental burn plot trial in the Kruger National Park: history, experimental design and suggestions for data analysis, Koedoe 46:1-15.

The study site is the Kruger National Park, a 20 000 km*2 reserve located on the border between South Africa and Mozambique. The experimental burn trials were initiated in 1954. They are replicated in four representative savanna ecosystems (hereafter called landscapes) of the Kruger National Park. The Mopani landscapes are dominated by Colophospermum mopane growing on basalt-derived soils, mean annual precipitation (MAP) is 447 mm. The Satara landscapes are dominated by Acacia nigrescens growing on basalt-derived soils, MAP is 537 mm. The Skukuza landscapes are dominated by Combretum species on granite soils, MAP is 550 mm. The Pretoriuskop landscape is dominated by Terminalia sericea growing on granite soils, MAP is 737 mm.The experiment is replicated 16 times, with four replicates in each of the four landscapes. Each replicate consists of 12 different experimental treatments and each treatment is implemented in a 7-ha plot. Eleven treatments manipulate the season and frequency of burning, while a 12th treatment excludes fire. The 11 burning treatments are April (early dry season) biennial and triennial; August (dry season) annual, biennial, and triennial; October (early growing season) biennial and triennial; December (early to mid growing season) biennial and triennial; February (mid to late growing season) biennial and triennial. The experimental design is unbalanced, that is not all combinations of all treatments are implemented. The experiment was laid out between 1954 and 1956. In 1979, some plots, in some landscapes were split to allow the implementation of additional treatments; we do not analyze the data emerging from these new treatments. We analyze data emerging from two woody vegetation surveys, the first was conducted in 1956/1957 and the second between 1996 and 1999. The later survey replicated the methods used in the original survey and collected additional information on vegetation structure. The surveys recorded the size class and species of each woody individual encountered on two belt transects on each experimental plot. In the second survey, the height of each individual was also recorded. The belt transects were orientated to run diagonally from corner to corner of each plot. In the initial survey, each belt transect was 305 x 1.52 m in size, in the second survey the transect width was increased to 2 m, and the transect length varied from 150 to 500 m. Higgins_2007.csvTree species data for 1956-1957 and 1996-1999, Kruger National Park Higgins_2007.csv column ;ecogrid://knb/shiggins.177.1public read SURVEYCODEString chain that simply contains names of other column attributes.text String chain of other column attributesPLOTCODE+YEAR+TRANSECT YEARYear of vegetation surveyinteger YYYY TRANSECTEach plot has 2 transects (A and B).text A and B LANDSCAPEThe experiment was repeated in 4 landscapes. This field gives the landscape names.text names of landscapes REPLICATEIn each landscape there are 4 replicates. Each replicate has a (place) name.text place names PLOTNOIn each replicate there are up to 14 experimental plots.integer mole natural 114 SEASONThe season (month codes) of fire in the experimental plot. CON indicates "control" plots, control plots are fire exclusion plots.text month codes FREQUENCYThe frequency (1 = every year, 2 = every second year etc.) of fire in the experimental plot. A "frequency" of zero means fire exclusion.integer mole whole 06 TREATMENTCODEString including frequency and season.text String chainSeason+Frequency TAXONCODETree species codetext Tree species code SINGLESTEMTree single or multi stemmed individual (yes or no)text yes or no DIAMETERCLASSCODEDiameter size classtext code for diameter size class DIAMETERTree diameter (cm); for some surveys the years are "NA"text tree diameter in cm HEIGHTTree height (m); for some surveys the height is "NA"test tree height in meters DEADTree dead (yes or no)text Tree dead (yes or no) PLOTCODEString chain that simply contains names of other column attributes.text String chain of column attributesLandscape (first 2 letters) + Replicate (first 2 letters) + Plotnumber + Season + Frequency LONGITUDEGeographic longitude in degreefloat degree real LATITUDEGeographic latitude in degreefloat degree real LENGTHLength of transectinteger meter natural 123737 WIDTHWidth of transectfloat meter real 1.522Higgins_2007.pdfHiggins_2007.pdf203222PDFhttps://dataportal.senckenberg.de/dataset/e99b6fb8-d9e4-41ed-a8ed-39e50e0d58a8/resource/3366945e-3eff-4edd-bb16-3169d1c1e80f/download/higgins_2007.pdfOtherattached_fileNot authorized to access resourceOther