Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2011KY173B

The effects of prescribed fire on amphibian diversity

Institute: Kentucky
Year Established: 2011 Start Date: 2011-03-01 End Date: 2012-12-31
Total Federal Funds: $4,997 Total Non-Federal Funds: $10,716

Principal Investigators: Howard Whiteman

Project Summary: The objectives for this study are to determine the effects of prescribed fire on amphibians and aquatic-dependent reptiles and to determine the mechanisms that lead to those effects. This project will take place in Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area of western Kentucky. The specific study area encompasses approximately 8,630 acres in the Oak-Grassland Restoration Area (OGRA), which has been managed via prescribed burning for 20 years. We intend to measure the effects of burning on amphibian and aquatic reptile diversity in several ways. We will use species richness, standard diversity indices (e.g., Simpson's index) and indices of community similarity (e.g., Jaccard's index) to estimate differences among burn treatments in amphibian community structure. We will analyze differences in these variables as well as terrestrial and water quality variables using analysis of variance (ANOVA).