FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Drosera rotundifolia | Round-Leaved Sundew 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Round-leaved sundew is most likely killed even by fast moving,
low-severity fires.  However, fires in bogs are generally patchy and
round-leaved sundew probably survives in unburned microsites.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Round-leaved sundew colonizes recently burned peat surfaces [8,45].  At
the Acadian Forest Experimental Station in New Brunswick, round-leaved
sundew invaded a bog containing short, scattered tamarack after seasonal
burning.  It was absent or measured at less than one stem per square
meter prior to burning, but seeds colonized the area in August and
germinated to produce small seedlings.  However, the seedlings failed to
establish successfully and subsequently died [15].  Round-leaved sundew
frequency was relatively stable in the five summers following a late
March, 1974, wildfire in a Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris) woodland in
Scotland; frequency ranged from 35 to 55 percent [53].  The plant may
have occurred in poorly-drained areas that were not completely burned.

Round-leaved sundew was present in a wetland community dominated by tall
shrubs in the Cicero Swamp Wildlife Management Area in New York that had
burned 94 years earlier.  Up to 3.3 feet (1 m) of peat had been burned
on some sites, indicating a severe fire.  Round-leaved sundew only had a
frequency of 1 percent and cover of 0.1 percent [33], possibly due to
the cover of tall shrubs.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Periodic autumn fires can prolong the life of some bogs by inhibiting
the invasion of woody plant species [45].

Round-leaved sundew, along with cattails (Typha spp.), horsetails
(Equisetum spp.), and common buckbean, are present in sedge meadow
communities that are maintained by fire in the Huntingdon Marsh, Quebec.
Fire is used to prevent the invasion of alders and willows [2].

In central Alberta, the burning of bog forests may revert the vegetation
to that of Labrador tea (Ledum spp.)-dominated moors, of which
round-leaved sundew is a component [36].

Related categories for Species: Drosera rotundifolia | Round-Leaved Sundew