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Wildlife, Animals, and Plants
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FIRE ECOLOGY
Elymus glaucus
| Blue Wildrye
Blue wildrye can survive fire. It typically forms small bunches that rarely exceed 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter, and mature aboveground growth generally consists of coarse
leaves and stems [44,92]. Such attributes suggest that this bunchgrass
burns rather quickly, with little heat transferred down into the root
crown [96]. As a result, basal buds located at or just below the ground
surface are not subjected to prolonged heating, and may survive and
resprout. In Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, blue wildrye is survives fire by resprouting from the root crown and establishing from on-site seeds [10,81].
Because blue wildrye is a short-lived perennial that generally does not
compete well with surrounding vegetation, severity and frequency of
fire or other types of disturbance greatly influence the recovery and
maintenance of this species. In northern Idaho, Mueggler [64] observed
highest frequencies of blue wildrye on sites that had been subjected to
multiple broadcast burns 2 or more times in the previous 30 years.
Blue wildrye occurs in plant communities with varying fire regimes. The range of fire intervals reported for some species that dominate communities where blue wildrye occurs are listed below. To learn more about the fire regimes in those communities, refer to the FEIS summary for that species, under "Fire Ecology Or Adaptations."
Community dominant Range (yrs)
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Pacific ponderosa pine 1-40
(Pinus ponderosa var. ponderosa)
Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine 25-300+
(P. contorta var. latifolia)
Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir 40-140
(Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca)
quaking aspen 7-80
(Populus tremuloides)
chamise2-90
(Adenostoma fasciculatum)
Ground residual colonizer (on-site, initial community)
Initial off-site colonizer (off-site, initial community)
Secondary colonizer - on-site seed
Tussock graminoid
Surface rhizome/chamaephytic root crown
Related categories for
Elymus glaucus
| Blue Wildrye
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