FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Coptis groenlandica | Goldthread 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Goldthread will survive cool fires, sprouting from the rhizome if
top-killed.  However, the rhizome is sufficiently near the surface that
it may be killed by moderate-severity fires.  Removal of the overstory
appears to have a negative effect on goldthread survival
[5,14,15,42,44].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
After both spring and fall prescribed fires, goldthread responded with
vigorous vegetative reproduction but no seed production.  Both fires
were relatively cool, consuming only the surface litter layer.
Overstory scorch was limited to 6.6 feet (2 m), and flame heights were
no higher than 20 inches (50 cm) [5].  In New Brunswick, a similarly
cool prescribed fire resulted in patchy charring of the surface litter
and negligible removal of the organic matter.  Vegetation returned
quickly from surviving rhizomes [44].  In a study of post wildfire
changes in average individual biomass, goldthread increased from 0.0004
ounce (0.01 gm) dry weight per individual to 0.001 ounce (0.03 gm) per
individual.  No population decline was indicated [48].

In other studies of post wildfire succession, goldthread reappeared
slowly [33,42].  Goldthread was found to decrease significantly after a
wildfire in a black spruce-feathermoss forest [15].  In a study to
increase lowbush blueberry, removal of the overstory by logging in the
fall of 1949 followed by prescribed fires in the spring of 1951 and the
spring of 1952 resulted in a severe decline of goldthread [20].

In a postfire successional study, goldthread did not reappear in burned
plots until crown cover developed to 40 percent or more [33].
Similarly, Shafi [42] reports that goldthread increased gradually after
wildfire as the canopy developed, but then the population declined
rapidly as the canopy closed.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Species: Coptis groenlandica | Goldthread