FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Erodium cicutarium | Cutleaf Filaree 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Moderate fire kills mature plants [20].  Grass fires are typically light
to moderate, and very young seedlings can survive fires of that
severity.  Dennis [13] found that newly germinated cutleaf filaree
seedlings just beneath the litter layer were not harmed by a moderate
grass fire in Mendocino National Forest, California.  Cutleaf filaree
seed in the litter layer remains viable following light fire, and seed
just under the litter layer remains viable following moderate fire.
Severe fire will kill seed unless it is buried 0.5 inch (1.25 cm) or
more deep [41,53].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
During the first postfire growing season, density of cutleaf filaree is
reduced, but biomass increases [11].  Seed production is highest at
postfire year 1, with cutleaf filaree populations peaking at postfire
year 2.  Callison [10] reported cutleaf filaree as providing an absolute
cover value of 0.2 percent in an unburned area in the Beaver Dam
Mountains of southwestern Utah.  Following a prescribed burn, the cover
value was 11.1 percent in the first postfire growing season, and 11.5
percent in the second.  Cover value declined from postfire year 3 and
after.  By postfire year 12, cutleaf filaree was no longer visible in
the plant community.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Range:  Frequent prescribed burning favors cutleaf filaree and other
forbs over annual grasses [5,20].  This is desirable when the climax
grass provides poor forage, such as ripgut brome.  Grassland fire typically
destroys very few seeds or other organic matter in the soil [20].  It
does destroy the overlying mulch layer that inhibits germination of
cutleaf filaree seeds [5,19].

Related categories for Species: Erodium cicutarium | Cutleaf Filaree