• FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS
• POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY

FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS:

Desert grasslands with mesa dropseed were probably characterized by frequent fire. Kaib and others [25] studied the fire scar data of Apache pine (Pinus engelmannii) and Arizona pine (P. ponderosa var. arizonica) to determine the historic fire frequency of the Madrean Province in southern Arizona and New Mexico and northern Sonora and Chihuahua. Reconstructing intercanyon fire occurrences provided an estimate of the fire return interval of the adjacent semidesert grasslands. They gave a conservative estimate of every 4 to 8 years, and estimated that the actual fire return interval in semidesert grassland was closer to every 4 years.

Mesa dropseed is found in plant communities characterized by both long and short fire-return intervals. The dominants in plant communities in which mesa dropseed occurs are listed below. Refer to the FEIS species report for information on fire ecology in the following communities:

Fourwing saltbush (Atriplex canescens)
Black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda)
Creosotebush (Larrea tridentata)
Colorado Pinyon (Pinus edulis)
Honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa var. glandulosa)
Soaptree yucca (Yucca elata)

POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY:

Tussock graminoid

Related categories for SPECIES: Sporobolus flexuosus | Mesa Dropseed