FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Carex aquatilis | Water Sedge 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Water sedge is most vulnerable to fire during the drier seasons of late
summer and fall.  Low-intensity fires top-kill the vegetation with
little damage to the organic layer, and recovery is fairly rapid.  The
rhizomes of Carex species may be killed by severe fires that remove most
of the soil organic layer [55].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Recovery from fires that remove the litter layer is quite rapid, and
productivity is temporarily increased [30].  Water sedge usually
recovers from low-severity fires within a year.  Early season fires that
remove none or very little of the organic layer, because of a shallow
active layer, allow water sedge to readily regrow from aboveground parts
and shallow rhizomes [55].

After severe fires that destroy the organic layer and kill the rhizomes,
water sedge must rely on seedling establishment for postfire recovery,
which may take up to 10 years [7,60,55].  There is usually an abundance
of Carex seedlings on charred peat surfaces [54].  Information regarding
fire effects on seed production and germination for this species is
lacking.

Sites where the organic layer is only partially burned provide poor
seedbeds, and most establishment in such areas is by vegetative means.
Cleared firelines provide exposed mineral soil and an abundance of
moisture for rapid revegetation [60].

Aboveground production on a 13-year-old burn site was 145 percent that
of preburn conditions.  Carex, Eriophorum, and Ledum composed 78 percent
of that production [5].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
Tissue element levels typically increase in new tissue after a fire;
this increase corresponds to the increased quantities of available
elements in the soil.  One year following a fire in Elliott, Alaska, a
nutrient analysis of plant tissue showed a consistently higher nutrient
content in burned-site plants [7].  However, fires in the early spring
result in a sizeable loss of essential elements, due to maximum snowmelt
and spring runoff [1].


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Water sedge is suited to prescribed burning [8].  Prescribed burning to
remove excess litter, especially in little grazed areas, results in a
temporary increase in plant productivity.  Usually a fire can not be
conducted until late summer or fall because of the moist habitat this
plant grows in [30].  In the year prior to burning, it is necessary to
restrict use by livestock.  Caution should be used when burning along
streambanks because of the erosion protection provided by water sedge
[8].

Auclair reported a fire incidence index for water sedge communities in
Quebec to be 58.3 [1].

Related categories for Species: Carex aquatilis | Water Sedge