FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Andropogon ternarius | Paintbrush Bluestem 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Paintbrush bluestem culms are probably killed by fire during the growing
season.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Paintbrush bluestem withstands periodic controlled burning.  Annual
burning followed by grazing tends to eliminate it [24].  Where burning
increases soil nutrients, paintbrush bluestem may decline because of
competition from species that require higher nutrient concentrations [20].

Paintbrush bluestem on naturally revegetated abandoned cropland and
depleted ranges in central Oklahoma was subjected to prescribed fire the
first week of April, 1973.  Frequency was measured in December 1973.
Paintbrush bluestem was considered an early successional species; this
group of species was most reduced by burning [28].

Northwestern Florida sandhills were cleared of vegetation and plant
succession was studied for 4 years.  Three plots were burned May 1955,
and then chopped with a brush cutter in June and again in September.
Slash pine (Pinus elliottii) seedlings were planted on the bare plots in
January 1956.  Paintbrush bluestem was not present on any plot in July
1956.  By July 1957, it occurred on one of three burned plots, in less
than 20 percent of the quadrats on that plot and at a density of less
than one plant per quadrat. (Quadrats were 1/4 milacre in area).  In
July 1958, it occurred at low density in two plots.  In September 1959,
it occurred on only one plot, again at low density [17].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Paintbrush bluestem is a dominant grass in the upland longleaf pine
savanna on the West Gulf Coastal Plain of southwestern Louisiana and
southeast Texas.  With complete fire exclusion this vegetation will
progress to a mixed hardwood-loblolly pine forest, an association in
which paintbrush bluestem does not occur [4].

Paintbrush bluestem was a component of unbroken, poorly drained terrace
prairie in the Grand Prairie region of eastern Askansas.  This prairie
was annually mowed in early June and burned in late February or early
March for 65 years.  Paintbrush bluestem and broomsedge together
contributed 64 percent of total biomass.  Other prairie remnants that
have been hayed and burned annually are also dominated by these species.
When annual haying ceases, paintbrush bluestem declines in favor of more
typical prairie dominants.  In a prairie that had not been hayed or
burned for 16 years, paintbrush bluestem and broomsedge were absent
[21].  On a managed prairie subject to burning only, paintbrush bluestem
and broomsedge were almost absent.  Widespread dominance of paintbrush
bluestem on the terrace prairie remnants is thought to be the result of
long-term haying, which lowers soil fertility and gives paintbrush
bluestem a competitive advantage [20]. 

Related categories for Species: Andropogon ternarius | Paintbrush Bluestem