FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Equisetum sylvaticum | Wood Horsetail 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Aboveground stems of wood horsetail are killed by fire [1].  Rhizomes
are resistant to fire because they are buried deep in mineral soil
[12,45].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
In the Northern Clay Belt Region of Ontario, wood horsetail recovers
rapidly after fire and is one of the most prominent postfire species.
It becomes less abundant in the later stages of postfire succession, but
is still present under mature spruce (Picea spp.) stands up to 240 years
old.  Shoots that appear immediately after fire are sterile, but up to
20 percent of the stems that appear in postfire year 1 are fertile [1].

In central Saskatchewan, wood horsetail was present 4 years after fires
on moist and moderately moist sites in jack pine clearcuts [4].

Wood horsetail regenerates rapidly following fire in black
spruce/feathermoss forests in southeastern Newfoundland, and its
abundance may exceed prefire levels.  Its frequency was 27.8 percent in
unburned areas and 21.1 percent in areas that had been burned 5 years
previously [16].

On mesic black spruce sites in interior Alaska, wood horsetail is
present throughout all stages of postfire succession.  The following
cover and frequency percentages were reported [15]:

Stage               Years since fire       Cover         Frequency
__________________________________________________________________________
Newly burned               0-1             <0.5             10.0
Moss-herb                  1-5              4.0             65.0
Tall shrub-sapling         5-30             2.0             13.0
Dense Tree                30-55            <0.5             11.0
Mixed hardwood-spruce     56-90            <0.5              5.0
Spruce                    90-200+           4.0             49.0

After the 1971 Wickersham Dome Fire near Fairbanks Alaska, wood
horsetail had the following cover and frequency percentages in lightly
burned and severely burned black spruce stands (control plot cover and
frequency was 1.25 and 60.0 percent, respectively) [43]:

               1971            1972             1973            1974
           Light  Severe   Light   Severe   Light  Severe   Light   Severe
___________________________________________________________________________
Cover       0.1     0       2.65     3.35    2.6    3.6       5.7     8.95
Frequency  10.0     0      95.0     80.0    95.0   80.0      85.0    90.0

In this same study area, wood horsetail had cover values on fireline
sites of 4, 40, and 12 percent in 1972, 1975, and 1980, respectively [42].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Species: Equisetum sylvaticum | Wood Horsetail