Understory revegetation enhances efficacy of prescribed burning after common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) management

Data collected as part of a field experiment testing whether revegetating forest understories after invasive buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) removal can improve the efficacy of controlled burns. Two semi-open oak woodlands in Minnesota, USA were cleared of buckthorn and seeded with a mix of C3 grasses (primarily Elymus spp.) and wildflowers. Subplots (4 m x 4 m) in seeded and adjacent unseeded areas were burned in spring. Data include estimates of fuel cover recorded prior to burning, the visual estimates of fire spread following burning, and impacts of fire on wooden pyrometers placed within subplots. 

Citation: Schuster MJ, Wragg PD, Roth A, Reich PB (2024) Understory Revegetation Enhances Efficacy of Prescribed Burning after Common Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) Management. Nat Areas J 44:206–214. https://doi.org/10.3375/2162-4399-44.4.206
, , , # Understory revegetation enhances efficacy of prescribed burning after common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) management

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.q573n5tsf](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.q573n5tsf)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

#### File: Burndata.csv

**Description:** Data describing fuel loading and burn severity in experimental plots used to evaluate the relationship between restoration seeding and buring efficacy in buckthorn (*Rhamnus cathartica* L.) management. Experimenta plots (4 m x 4 m) that had previously either recieved restoration seeding (primarily native C3* Elymus* grasses) or been left as ambient controls were burned at two sites in Minnesoa, USA. Surveys were conducted prior to burn to quantify fuel availability and composition. Extant buckthorn seedlings were marked and followed through the burn to observe burn impacts on living stems, and analog pyrometers were used to systematically quantify fire spread and severity....,