• IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT
• DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT
• PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE
• DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE
• FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS

IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT:

Damage to big galleta from fire varies, depending on whether big galleta is dormant when burned. If big galleta is dry, damage may be severe. However, when plants are green, fire will tend to be less severe and damage may be minimal, with big galleta recovering quickly [23].

DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT:

No entry

PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE:

Fire most likely top-kills big galleta. Like tobosa grass and galleta, big galleta also probably sprouts from rhizomes following fire. Big galleta was present in the 1st growing season following fires in creosotebush communities of the western Sonoran desert in California [7].

Response to fire of the other Pleuraphis species previously mentioned has been documented. Tobosa grass is tolerant of fire and has been reported to regain or exceed prefire coverage within 1 to 3 years following fire if annual precipitation is average or higher [6,55,56]. Galleta is reported to regain prefire coverage within 2 years following fire [24], although following a winter burn with adequate soil moisture, it yielded only 75% as much forage in the 1st postfire growing period as the unburned control [55]. Both grasses were found to decrease after fire if burned in years of below average precipitation [13,35,55,56].

DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE:

No entry

FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:

The likelihood of damage to big galleta from fire most likely increases if plants are burned during dormancy [23], or in years of below average precipitation.

Related categories for SPECIES: Pleuraphis rigida | Big Galleta