FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Gymnocarpium dryopteris | Oak Fern 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Fire can topkill oak fern, and repeated burning can significantly reduce
it's frequency [25,32].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
In white spruce climax forests of Alaska, light surface fires usually do
not affect understory species composition, of which oak fern is a part
[22].  However, stand-replacement fires that completely eliminate white
spruce result in early seral communities where oak fern is not present.
In cedar-hemlock forests of northern Idaho, oak fern successively
decreased in abundance on sites that were logged, slashpile-burned,
broadcast burned once, and burned two or more times over a 30-year
period [25].


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Oak fern appears to decrease in constancy and/or cover following logging
and burning [14].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
In the East Slope Region of central Alberta, oak fern is not present
until the climax stages of succession following fire [9].  On severely
burned sites in northern Idaho (where all trees and groundlayer
vegetation was consumed), oak fern appeared in the third postfire year
only [32].  This occurence was rare because oak fern is not considered a
fire-surviving species.  In the subboreal spruce zone of British
Columbia, oak fern was present within 10 years following fire on four
sites ranging from fairly dry to wet [14].  Fires were broadcast burns
following logging, and its effects on specific plants were not studied
at the time of the fire.


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Species: Gymnocarpium dryopteris | Oak Fern