Wildlife, Animals, and Plants
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FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Cirsium vulgare | Bull Thistle
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Fire kills bull thistle if aboveground portions of the plant are
completely consumed. However, if 8 inches or more of stem remains
unkilled, bull thistle may sprout from tremaining portions of the stem.
It does not sprout from the root crown or root [18,23].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
When bull thistle is killed by fire, the population must establish from
seeds, which germinate any time conditions are favorable [18].
After a spring low-severity prescribed fire on a clearcut site in a
western larch (Larix occidentalis) forest in western Montanta, bull
thistle was one of the first off-site colonizers. It persisted in the
community for only a few years [26].
After a mountain beech (Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortioides) forest
fire in New Zealand, bull thistle was a dominant species during the
fourth year after the fire on three of the six sites. Six years after
the fire it was no longer dominant [21].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), a species closely related to bull
thistle, was subjected to dormant-season low-intensity (1,004 kW/sq m)
and moderate-intensity (4,465 kW/sq m) fires. Relative abundance of
Canada thistle was reduced the following growing season, and relative
abundance of native vegetation increased. This suggests that Cirsium
spp. invasions may be slowed or contained by prescribed fire. Fire may
be a useful management tool where the more usually recommended cultural
and chemical treatments cannot be used [31].
In a clearcut in northeastern Oregon, residue treatment included
broadcast burning. Bull thistle germinated and established on heavily
burned spots [6].
Twenty years after clearcutting and high-intensity broadcast burning as
residue treatment in cold, dry sites of the grand fir (Abies
grandis)/wild ginger (Asarum caudatum) habitat type in northern Idaho,
bull thistle was a dominant forb [11].
Related categories for Species: Cirsium vulgare | Bull Thistle
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