• FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS
• POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY

FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS:

At the population level, garlic mustard may be adapted to perpetuate itself in mixed-severity or low-severity surface fire regimes, although this has not been quantified. Even though individual plants may be killed by fire, postfire conditions may be favorable for rapid population expansion because of increases in the area of disturbed habitat and, depending on the extant community, temporary reductions in interspecific competition. Additionally, garlic mustard seed banks may facilitate rapid recolonization of disturbed areas [14]. For example, 3 consecutive years of prescribed burning in a central Illinois black oak forest, with "hot and fast" with flame lengths to 4 ft. (1.2 m), failed to eradicate garlic mustard populations. This was attributable, in part, to the protection afforded a small number of plants by refugia such as the lee of a downed log or an area of damp litter [54]. The ability of individual plants to escape mortality will depends upon fire severity and the heterogeneity of the fire landscape.

Fire Regimes: Garlic mustard may be found within understory surface, stand-replacement, mixed-severity fire, and nonfire regimes [13]. Because garlic mustard has become established only relatively recently in most areas in North America, and because natural fire regimes have been substantially altered in many of these areas, predicting the response of garlic mustard to any particular fire regime is speculative. In some areas colonized by garlic mustard, estimated mean fire return intervals may be longer than the time in which garlic mustard has been present. As natural areas and preserve managers reintroduce fire into locations where natural and anthropogenic fire has been suppressed in recent times, the response of this and many other species may become better understood. Those who intend to reintroduce fire where it has been absent for a substantial period are encouraged to plan and implement research and monitoring programs and share their findings.

Fire regimes of some of the plant communities in which garlic mustard occurs are summarized below. For further information, see the FEIS summaries of the dominant species listed below.

POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY [72]:

Related categories for SPECIES: Alliaria petiolata | Fringed Onion