FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Andropogon cabanisii | Firegrass 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Firegrass culms are killed by fire [10].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Firegrass responds to fire with rapid growth and increased flowering [9,10].

Firegrass in the rockland pine vegetation of South Florida recovers in
place and has approximately the same number of individuals before and
after fire [7,10].  Firegrass in this habitat flowers very infrequently
except in recently burned pineland [10].  It flowers the first autumn
after fire provided the plant has had time to sprout [9].  About a year
after fire, burned sites have a stand of tall grasses, including
firegrass.  This grass stage is typically prominent for only one season.
After 2 or 3 years the shrub understory has largely recovered, and the
grasses are much less prominent [9].

Saw-palmetto flatwoods in south-central Florida were burned to improve
native pastures.  Average cover of all grasses, including firegrass,
increased from 30.5 percent to 42.2 percent after fire treatment [5].

Firegrass occurred in all measured longleaf pine and slash pine forests
in Liberty County that had been subject to prescribed fires designed to
retard development of a shrub component [12].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Limestone rockland slash pine forests of southeastern Florida require
fire to be maintained.  These forests have been invaded by Brazilian
pepper which shades out the herbaceous flora, including firegrass.
Prescribed burning at approximately 5-year intervals within Everglades
National Park has largely prevented establishment of Brazilian pepper.
Native tropical hardwood tree species will also shade out firegrass and
other herbaceous species and they, too, can be controlled by fire.  In
the absence of fire a layer of pine litter 8 to 28 inches (20-70 cm)
thick develops, and contributes to the elimination of the herbaceous
flora [7].  In the absence of fire for 15 to 25 years, pineland
vegetation develops into tropical hardwood hammocklike vegetation with
a 13- to 20-foot (4-6 m) canopy under the emergent pines.  In a pine
forest burned at intervals of about 5 years, hardwood shrubs rarely
exceed 10 feet (3 m) in height.

In 11 limestone rockland slash pine forest sites in Everglades National
Park subject to prescribed burning every 3 to 7 years, firegrass had a
mean frequency of 44 percent and a density of 280 plants per 100 square
meters.  Brazilian pepper was absent.  In another stand which had
escaped fire for about 35 years, but in which Brazilian pepper was also
absent, frequency and density of firegrass were zero [7].

Related categories for Species: Andropogon cabanisii | Firegrass