FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Claytonia perfoliata | Miner's-Lettuce 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Miner's-lettuce is probably killed by fire.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Miner's-lettuce was present in the first growing season after the
stand-destroying Marble-Cone wildfire in the Santa Lucia Range of
California in August 1977.  Peak cover was reached in postfire year 2
and declined by postfire year 3.  Percent frequency of miner's-lettuce
on two study sites that had been dominated by Coulter pine follows [16]:
 
                   Site                  1978      1979      1980
                   ______________________________________________
                   Chews Ridge site 1       9        36         8
                   Chews Ridge site 2       7        48         2

Miner's-lettuce is common in recently burned chaparral [20].  A year
after a fire in chaparral in the Sierra Nevada foothills,
miner's-lettuce had high seed production on moist north-east slopes.
Postfire cover quickly exceeded prefire levels [24].  Miner's-lettuce
was also present the year following a severe fire in a chaparral
riparian zone in the Los Padres National Forest, California, but its
frequency was reduced by postfire year 2 [9].

Miner's-lettuce is also common after fire in more northern portions of
its range.  It was present in the first growing season after a fall
wildfire in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) stands in the
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Idaho, and had increased in frequency by
postfire year 3 [25].  In burned ponderosa pine shelterwood cut units in Idaho,
miner's-lettuce was present in postfire year 1 on sites burned with dry fuels,
but was not present on sites burned with moist fuels.  It also was
not present in the preburn vegetation or in unburned control plots [30].
Miner's-lettuce was present in the first growing season following the
stand-destroying Pattee Canyon wildfire in a Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga
menziesii)/ninebark (Physocarpus malvaceus) habitat type in west-central
Montana [7].  It was still present in the herbaceous layer 10 years
later [34].

Basin big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata spp. tridentata)-Idaho fescue
(Festuca idahoensis)-bluebunch wheatgrass communities at the John Day
Fossil Beds National Monument in eastern Oregon were burned in the
spring and fall.  Although not in the preburn vegetation,
miner's-lettuce was present in trace amounts (less than 2% frequency)
the summer after the fall prescribed fire.  It was not present after the
spring fire or in control plots [29].

Miner's-lettuce establishes after fire in disturbed and climax
grasslands in southeastern Washington [8].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Rapid growth of miner's-lettuce after fire in chaparral in the Sierra
Nevada foothills contributes to an increased food supply for flocking
bird species such as mourning dove and western meadowlark [24].

Related categories for Species: Claytonia perfoliata | Miner's-Lettuce