FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Eriophorum vaginatum | Sheathed Cottonsedge 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Light- to moderate-severity fire generally top-kills sheathed
cottonsedge [29,61].  A survey of burns in the MacKenzie Delta of Alaska
showed that tundra and tundra-forest wildfires burned aboveground
portions of sheathed cottonsedge tussocks.  Protective sheaths and
scales were charred but meristematic tissue was unharmed [3].  Severe
fire may kill tussocks [45].

Vogl [59] reported that some sheathed cottonsedge tussocks were killed
during prescribed burning in north-central Wisconsin.




DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Sheathed cottonsedge sprouts from burned tillers and establishes from
seed following fire [3].  Flower and tiller production increase after
top-kill [2,37,45].  Near Mile 107, Elliot Highway, Alaska, tussock
tillers sprouted from the rootstock during the first postfire growing
season following a severe prescription fire.  Seedling density was 180
per square yard (198/sq m) at postfire year 1.  Sprouting tillers
flowered at postfire year 2.  Flowering was significantly (p>0.01)
greater in burned than in unburned tussocks [62].  Another study found
that plants in northwestern Alaska maintained increased flower
production for 9 years after wildfire [45].

Two years following precribed burning in north-central Wisconsin,
average frequency of sheathed cottonsedge was 27.5 percent in burned
areas and 35.0 percent in adjacent unburned areas [59].  

Aboveground average biomass of sheathed cottonsedge was 15 grams per
square meter one year after wildfire near Fairbanks (average biomass of
unburned areas was 17.8 g/sq m).  Biomass was 107 grams per square meter
at postfire year 13 (average biomass of unburned areas was 5.5 g/sq m) [13].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
A standing crop biomass of 400 grams per square meter or more was
reported for a sheathed cottonsedge-dwarf shrub heath in interior
Alaska [2].

The wind adjustment factor for predicting fire behavior in sheathed
cottonsedge tussock tundra in interior Alaska is 0.75.  This is
substantially higher than wind adjustment factors of other vegetation
types.  If a fire moves from black spruce forest onto tussock tundra, a
very rapid increase in rate of spread should be anticipated [42].

The relative fuel potentials of 12 tundra-forest ground species of the
MacKenzie Delta were evaluated from measured fuel characteristics by
simulating a test fire with the Rothermal fire behavior model.
Sheathed cottonsedge received the lowest flammability rating of all
species tested.  Other data regarding fuel characteristics of sheathed
cottonsedge were listed [52].

Some Scotch heather-sheathed cottonsedge bogs in northern England are
burned every 10 years in order to maximize the amount of sheathed
cottonsedge available as sheep forage [22,23].

The nutritional value of sheathed cottonsedge foliage increases for the
first 1 to 2 years after fire [29].

Related categories for Species: Eriophorum vaginatum | Sheathed Cottonsedge