Non-burned Areas Research Articles

Nutritional properties of windrowed and standing basin wildrye over time

windrows. Crude protein was consistently greater in the windrow, and rapidly decreased in the standing crop. The ADF content was consistently lower in the windrow. Phosphorus was lower in the windrow in July, maintained that level, becoming greater in subsequent months than in standing forage in 2005. The NDF/ADF ratio was consistently greater in the windrow. Neutral detergent fiber, manganese, and sodium showed no difference between standing crop and windrow. Magnesium and calcium decreased in the windrow compared with standing crop. Potassium, zinc, iron, and copper were greater in the windrow. Standing crop production was 5 to 6 times greater in the burned area in both sample years (2005 and 2009). In prescribed burn areas, standing crop yields were increased over nonburned areas, and windrowed basin wildrye provided greater nutritional quality over time than standing basin wildrye forage.

Nocturnal Activity Patterns of Northern Myotis (Myotis septentrionalis) during the Maternity Season in West Virginia (USA)

Nocturnal activity patterns of northern myotis (Myotis septentrionalis) at diurnal roost trees remain largely uninvestigated. For example, the influence of reproductive status, weather, and roost tree and surrounding habitat characteristics on timing of emergence, intra-night activity, and entrance at their roost trees is poorly known. We examined nocturnal activity patterns of northern myotis maternity colonies during pregnancy and lactation at diurnal roost trees situated in areas that were and were not subjected to recent prescribed fires at the Fernow Experimental Forest, West Virginia from 2007 to 2009. According to exit counts and acoustic data, northern myotis colony sizes were similar between reproductive periods and roost tree settings. However, intra-night activity patterns differed slightly between reproductive periods and roost trees in burned and non-burned areas. Weather variables poorly explained variation in activity patterns during pregnancy, but precipitation and temperature were negatively associated with activity patterns during lactation.

Biomass Not Linked to Perennial Grass Mortality Following Severe Wildfire in the Southern High Plains

In March 2006 the East Amarillo Complex (EAC) wildfires burned over 367 000 ha of short and mixed grass prairie of the southern High Plains, USA. We studied EAC wildfire effects on perennial grass mortality and peak standing crop on Deep Hardland and Mixedland Slopes ecological sites. Deep Hardlands were dominated by blue grama ( Bouteloua gracilis H.B.K. [Griffiths]) and buffalograss ( Buchloe dactyloides [Nutt.] Engelm.); common species on Mixedland Slopes were little bluestem ( Schizachyrium scoparium [Michx.] Nash.) and sideoats grama ( Bouteloua curtipendula [Michx.] Torr.) with scattered sand sagebrush ( Artemisia filifolia Torr.) sometimes present. We hypothesized that perennial grass mortality would increase and standing crop would decrease following severe wildfire, and that these responses would be greater than documented prescribed fire effects. Frequency of perennial grass mortality was higher on both sites in burned areas than nonburned areas through three growing seasons following wildfire; however, standing crop was minimally affected. Results suggest that post-wildfire management to ameliorate wildfire effects is not necessary, and that wildfire effects in this area of the southern High Plains are similar to prescribed fire effects. En Marzo de 2006 los incendios del Complejo del Este de Amarillo (CEA) quemaron más de 367.000 ha de estepas de pastos cortos y mixtos del sur de las Altas Planicies de EE.UU. Estudiamos los efectos del incendio del CEA sobre la mortalidad de pastos perennes y la biomasa total acumulada en dos sitios ecológicos denominados Deep Hardland (DH) y Mixedland Slopes (MS). Las especies dominantes en el sitio DH fueron Bouteloua gracilis H.B.K. [Griffiths] y Buchloe dactyloides, mientras que las especies comunes en el sitio MS fueron Schizachyrium scoparium [Michx.] Nash.y Bouteloua curtipendula [Michx.] Torr. con la presencia esporádica de individuos de Artemisia filifolia Torr. Nuestra hipótesis predijo que los incendios severos aumentarían la mortalidad de pastos perennes y disminuirían la biomasa en pie y que dichas respuestas serian mayores a las documentadas en quemas prescriptas. En ambos sitios, la frecuencia de mortalidad de pastos perennes fue mayor en áreas quemadas que en áreas no quemadas a lo largo de tres estaciones de crecimiento posterior al incendio; no obstante, la biomasa en pie fue mínimamente afectada. Los resultados sugieren que el manejo post-incendio tendiente a atenuar los efectos del mismo no es necesario, y que los efectos de los incendios en esta región sur de las Altas Planicies es similar a la de las quemas prescriptas.

Echinocereus viridiflorusVarViridiflorusMortality in Shortgrass Plains of Texas: Observations Following Wildfire and Drought

Abstract: A wildfire of unknown origin ignited in October 2005 at Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Randall County, Texas, burning approximately 300 ha of shortgrass plains typified by blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) and buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides). Above-average rainfall in the year preceding the fire resulted in abundant herbaceous vegetation and, therefore, fine fuel production. Precipitation following the fire was below normal. We compared density, condition (dead or alive), basal diameters, and heights of Echinocereus viridiflorus var viridiflorus (nylon hedgehog cactus) in a population that was burned by the wildfire and a population in a nearby non-burned area. By May 2006, total density of cacti was similar in the burned and non-burned areas. However, percent mortality was significantly higher, and living plants were both shorter and narrower, in the burned population. Although mortality was high (91%), the wildfire did not kill all of the burned population. It is possible that more ...

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Furunculitis in the Outpatient Burn Setting

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is becoming more predominant in the community. We have seen increasing cases of furunculitis in our outpatient burn clinic, which appear to develop weeks after the initial burn injury and in patients with limited inpatient stays. We performed a 3-year retrospective review of all outpatient burn patients who developed furunculitis. Data analyzed included length of hospital stay, type of injury sustained, culture and sensitivity results, and treatment provided. A total of 28 patients were identified with MRSA furunculitis, which presented as painful, hard, indurated boils with minimal purulent drainage. Adults had less extensive burn injuries (mean of 12% TBSA adults vs 20% TBSA children) with shorter hospital stays (mean 8 days adults vs 22 days children). Fifty-seven percent of the patients had multiple furuncules, involving both burned and nonburned areas. Patients with furunculitis had a less resistant MRSA strain than those without furunculitis. Of the 22 patients who received systemic antibiotic coverage, 14 (58%) were successfully treated with 1 antibiotic regimen, whereas 8 (33%) required multiple antibiotics. In this study, furunculitis in the outpatient setting was believed to be consistent with community-acquired MRSA. Incision and drainage was not sufficient in patients with multiple furuncles, and systemic antibiotics were administered. Through increased awareness of the prevalence of community-acquired MRSA in the community, appropriate antibiotic treatment can be initiated, and the discomfort and transmission risk associated with this disease can be minimized.

The helminth community of the Mediterranean mouse, Mus spretus, in a post-fire regenerated Mediterranean ecosystem

Abstract The helminth community of the Mediterranean mouse, Mus spretus, was analysed in a post-fire regenerated Mediterranean ecosystem. The study was carried out in the Spanish Natural Park of the Serra Calderona and comprised a 13 year period, from the 2nd to the 14th year after a wildfire. A total of 121 host individuals was analysed, 66 mice from the burned area and 55 from the non-burned area used as control. The results show a helminth community consisting of 10 helminth species, characterised by low diversity, with Syphacia obvelata as the only dominant helminth species. The helminth infracommunity, determined by its origin of capture, burned or non-burned areas, shows some significant differences. It is concluded that the helminth community of the Mediterranean mouse could be considered as a potential biological tag of the post-fire regeneration in Mediterranean ecosystems and therefore might explain some of the changes occurring and their repercussions in perturbed areas.

Ecological study of the wood mouse helminth community in a burned Mediterranean ecosystem in regeneration five years after a wildfire

AbstractParasites are used as biological tags in environmental impact studies. However, terrestrial systems in general and small mammals in particular are rarely considered in these ecological studies. Based on the effects of a wildfire which occurred in the Spanish Serra Calderona Natural Park — a typical Mediterranean ecosystem — the regeneration process of the wood mouse population and its helminth community is analysed. A total of 217 individuals of Apodemus sylvaticus were studied in a five year period, from the second to the fifth post-fire year: 152 mice originating from the burned area and 65 from the control — non-burned — area. The helminth community for both burned and non-burned areas as well as the effect of intrinsic (host age and sex) and extrinsic (site, period and season of capture) factors on helminth prevalences and abundances were analysed. Taking into account the most important results of this study, various aspects of the helminth community dynamics of the wood mouse are postulated as biological tags of the environmental impact of a wildfire, such as the changes in the frequency distribution of the helminth species, the higher diversity in the burned area, and the prevalences of helminth species having biological cycles directly affected by climatic conditions and the vegetal regeneration process. Consequently, the helminth species of A. sylvaticus should be considered suitable biological tags of environmental perturbations, such as a wildfire, and the wood mouse/helminth model can be applied to predict the consequences for helminth species in general.

Fire Frequency and Mosaic Burning Effects on a Tallgrass Prairie Ground Beetle Assemblage

Fire frequency has significant effects on the biota of tallgrass prairie, including mammals, vascular plants and birds. Recent concern has been expressed that widespread annual burning, sometimes in combination with heavy livestock grazing, negatively impacts the biota of remaining prairie remnants. A common management recommendation, intended to address this problem, is to create a landscape with a mosaic of different burn regimes. Pitfall trapping was used to investigate the impacts of fire pattern on the diversity and species composition of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) at Konza Prairie Biological Station in eastern Kansas, USA. Trapping was conducted over three seasons in landscape units burned on average every 1, 4, or 20 years, and in a fourth season across the available range of vegetative structure to assess the variability of the community within the study system. In the fifth season communities were also followed immediately after two fire events to detect within-season effects of fire and to study short-term patterns of post-disturbance community assembly. Fire frequency had comparatively minimal effects on ground beetle diversity measures, and most numerically common species were observed widely across habitat and management types. Fire frequency effects were manifested primarily in changes in abundance of common species. Colonization of burned areas apparently did not occur from juxtaposed non-burned areas, but from underground or from long distances. While these results suggest that widespread annual burning of tallgrass prairie remnants may not have dramatic effects on prairie ground beetles, we urge caution regarding the application of these results to other taxa within tallgrass prairie.

Fall-Prescribed Burn and Spring-Applied Herbicide Effects on Canada Thistle Control and Soil Seedbank in a Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie

Prescribed burning in Theodore Roosevelt National Park has played an important role in maintaining a natural ecosystem. However, changes in plant community dynamics caused by burning may have led to an invasion of weedy species such as Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense L.). The objectives of this research were to evaluate the effect of a fall burn before spring herbicide application on Canada thistle control and to evaluate the soil seedbank within Canada thistle infestations. Canada thistle stem densities initially were higher in the burned compared with the nonburned areas because plants were slower to emerge in the nonburned treatments. However, the effect was short-lived, and Canada thistle densities were similar in the burned and nonburned treatments by the second season following the prescribed burn. Canada thistle control averaged 78% 60 days after treatment with clopyralid, clopyralid plus triclopyr, or picloram when spring applied whether or not application was preceded by a prescribed burn. Control declined to less than 60% by 363 days after application. Grass cover increased from an average of 5% before treatment to 37% and 46% 60 and 425 days after herbicide application, respectively, regardless of burn treatment. Forb cover increased following a prescribed burn but was unaffected by herbicide treatment. Overall the number and variety of species in the soil seedbank was not affected by a prescribed burn. A total of 74 species (56 forbs, 13 grasses, and 5 other mesic species) were found in the soil seedbank. However, the majority of the soil seedbank consisted of nondesirable low seral and invasive species including Canada thistle and Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.), which accounted for over 80% of the total germinated seed. Although a prescribed burn caused an initial increase in Canada thistle density and cover, the greater long-term concern may be the lack of desirable species present in the seedbank to replace Canada thistle once the weed is controlled.

Aesthetic septorhinoplasty in the burned nose

Patients who have survived thermal injuries to the face suffer severe disfigurement from the devastating deformities of full-thickness facial burns. The nose is the prominent central organ of the face, which has crucial effect on Aesthetic appearance. The plastic surgeon's role to deal with such cases is to undertake procedures to produce a more pleasant look although the target organ could be the non-burned areas of the face. It is a common belief that surgical intervention under the scarred or grafted nose is risky and may result in skin or covering graft necrosis. For this reason, plastic surgeons are cautious and hesitate to perform Aesthetic surgery on burn scarred tissue. We present 13 cases, 10 women and three men with complete or subtotal nasal burn. Classic Aesthetic Rhinoplasty operations were performed to create a better appearance and correct any internal or external deviations. These procedures are carried out under severely burned skins, or previously grafted and reconstructed noses. Cases were followed for about a one-year period. There was no necrosis in any part of skin after surgery. We believe that Aesthetic rhinoplasty can be done safely in these victims with pleasing outcome. The problems that we encountered in these cases were irregularities of burned alar margins, multiple operations and intractable nasal deviation in severe cases.

Western Blot Analysis of Alterations of Skeletal Muscle Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Subunits in the Major Burns: Burn vs. Nonburn Sites

Background: Major burn injury causes aberrant responses to neuromuscular blocking agents, and an increase in fetal type nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAchR) has been speculated to contribute to the altered response. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that the increases in nAchR are due to generalized systemic effects, not limited to area of burn in humans. Using the rectus abdominis muscle of the burned area and quadriceps muscle of nonburned area from the single major burn patient, the changes of nAchR subunits of 1, and 7 were compared. Methods: Twelve adults (M：F = 11：1) with total body surface area (TBSA) of % major bur ns, undergoing burn related elective surgery, were included at days after the burn injury. Only those with burns in abdominal area and no burns in the lower extremity, were selected. Under general anesthesia, muscle biopsy was taken from the rectus abdominis muscle under the burned abdominal area as well as from the quadriceps muscle under the unburned thigh, at least 30 cm away from the closest burn wound margin. The nAchR changes in the muscles were assayed by western blot using subtype specific mouse antibody for 1, and 7. Results: The nAchR subunit quantitation (volume% compared to nonburn controls) of 1, and 7 in the rectus and quadriceps by densitometry were vs. , vs. , vs. respectively, showing no significant statistical differences between burned and nonburned area (P ＞ 0.05). However, large coefficients of variation were noted in both muscles of group, which may suggest indirect evidence of proliferation of fetal type nAchR in the major burns. TBSA and days after the burn injury were poorly correlated with the amount of expression of subtypes of acetylcholine receptors tested. Conclusions: Our results confirm that systemic effects of thermal injury include an increase in nAchR at sites distant from the thermal injury, which may account for the skeletal muscle dysfunction and aberrant responses to neuromuscular relaxation. Further studies need to address the importance of burn size and its effects on quantitative and qualitative changes in receptor.

Fall-Prescribed Burn and Spring-Applied Herbicide Effects on Canada Thistle Control and Soil Seedbank in a Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie

Prescribed burning in Theodore Roosevelt National Park has played an important role in maintaining a natural ecosystem. However, changes in plant community dynamics caused by burning may have led to an invasion of weedy species such as Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense L.). The objectives of this research were to evaluate the effect of a fall burn before spring herbicide application on Canada thistle control and to evaluate the soil seedbank within Canada thistle infestations. Canada thistle stem densities initially were higher in the burned compared with the nonburned areas because plants were slower to emerge in the nonburned treatments. However, the effect was short-lived, and Canada thistle densities were similar in the burned and nonburned treatments by the second season following the prescribed burn. Canada thistle control averaged 78% 60 days after treatment with clopyralid, clopyralid plus triclopyr, or picloram when spring applied whether or not application was preceded by a prescribed burn. Control declined to less than 60% by 363 days after application. Grass cover increased from an average of 5% before treatment to 37% and 46% 60 and 425 days after herbicide application, respectively, regardless of burn treatment. Forb cover increased following a prescribed burn but was unaffected by herbicide treatment. Overall the number and variety of species in the soil seedbank was not affected by a prescribed burn. A total of 74 species (56 forbs, 13 grasses, and 5 other mesic species) were found in the soil seedbank. However, the majority of the soil seedbank consisted of nondesirable low seral and invasive species including Canada thistle and Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.), which accounted for over 80% of the total germinated seed. Although a prescribed burn caused an initial increase in Canada thistle density and cover, the greater long-term concern may be the lack of desirable species present in the seedbank to replace Canada thistle once the weed is controlled.

Rebrotamento de capim caninha (Andropogon lateralis Nees) sob o efeito do fogo

O presente trabalho foi conduzido com o objetivo de determinar o efeito de disponibilidade de matéria seca de uma pastagem natural, no momento da queima, na posterior taxa de crescimento foliar de Andropogon lateralis Nees. Foi realizado de 1995 a 1996, em área pertencente ao Departamento de Zootecnia da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o blocos completamente casualisados, com 40 plantas por tratamento. A queima foi realizada em agosto de 1995. Em maio de 1996, na área experimental, foram simulados níveis de disponibilidade de matéria seca através de roçadas com segadeira. Os tratamentos de pastagem foram testemunha sem queima (2.860kg de matéria seca (MS)/ha) e tratamentos de queima com disponibilidades de 2.580, 5.000, 5.690 e 6.480kg MS/ha. A avaliação do crescimento foliar foi feita em 600 afilhos marcados de A. lateralis e a metodologia utilizada para determinar o crescimento foliar foi o índice Haun. Houve efeito de queima na forma do aumento da taxa de alongamento de lâminas foliares (TA) de A. lateralis quando a disponibilidade de matéria seca foi de 6.480kg MS/ha. Os demais tratamentos proporcionaram TA semelhantes aos de área não queimada. A. lateralis demonstrou ser uma espécie adaptada ao manejo com fogo, com rápido crescimento após a queima. A escala decimal de Haun demonstrou ser metodologia útil no estudo do rebrotamento de plantas.

Atypical post burn oedema presenting with obstruction of veins at the thoracic inlet

A case of atypical oedema of the non-burned area following electrical burns over the back and buttocks causing venous obstruction at the thoracic inlet is reported.

Differance in Serum K+ Concentration after Injection of Succinylcholine in Non-burned Area in Electric Barn Patients

Differance in Serum K+ Concentration after Injection of Succinylcholine in Non-burned Area in Electric Barn Patients

Increased Susceptibility of Burned Rats to Pseudomonas aeruginosa

SummaryThe LD50 of Ps. aeruginosa for extensively burned rats 2 minutes after burning, injected intraperitoneally or subcutaneously in the burned or non-burned area, was less than 10 organisms. The period of increased susceptibility existed for at least 24 hours when organisms were injected subcutaneously in the burned area but was less than 24 hours when organisms were injected intraperitoneally or subcutaneously in non-burned areas.