FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Descurainia pinnata | Pinnate Tansymustard 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Pinnate tansymustard is readily killed by fire.  Dry vegetation is
consumed to ground level.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Pinnate tansymustard produces seed in abundance and quickly invades a
site after a fire.  Numerous seeds may be transported to the site
through the action of wind, water, or animals.  This species also stores
seed on-site in the soil [15]; fire can facilitate the germination of
these stored seed reserves.

Pinnate tansymustard grows well on exposed mineral soil [20].  It is an
important early seral species following fire in sagebrush-grassland and
other plant communities [22].  In many areas pinnate tansymustard is a
dominant species during the first 5 postfire years [22].  This species
typically increases after fire, even when cattle grazing occurs [14].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
Pinnate tansymustard typically increases in relative abundance after a
fire.  Within a 5-year period during secondary succession in
sagebrush-grassland communities of southern Idaho, plant dominance went
from Russian thistle (Salsola kali) to the mustards (Sisymbrium spp. and
Descurainia spp.) and finally to cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) [22].
Following a fire in a sagebrush-grassland in the Columbia Basin of
Washington, cover of tansymustard either remained unchanged or increased
[14].  The variety filipes is described as an invader following fire in
Washington sagebrush-wheatgrass habitat types [14].

Season of burning may influence the response of pinnate tansymustard.  A
fall fire in an Idaho mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp.
vaseyana) habitat type resulted in a dramatic increase in the percent
cover of pinnate tansymustard [13].  Spring burning in the same habitat
type, however, yielded no significant difference between pinnate
tansymustard coverage on burn and control plots [13].  When sites with
sandy soils were burned in eastern Washington, coverage of pinnate
tansymustard appeared to decrease [22].


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Species: Descurainia pinnata | Pinnate Tansymustard