FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Vulpia octoflora | Sixweeks Fescue 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Little is known about the specific effects of fire on sixweeks fescue.
Dry annual grasses are typically consumed by fire, although seeds may
persist in the soil or litter.  The short-lived sixweeks fescue usually
cures very early in the season.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Sixweeds fescue generally increases in abundance after fire.  Increases
were observed after fire in a Sonoran Desert community of Arizona and
after fire in a sagebrush-wheatgrass community in the Columbia Basin of
Washington [2,20].

Wildfires often occur after the seeds of fast-growing annual grasses
such as sixweeks fescue have dropped to the ground ]28].  Seeds buried
in the soil or litter generally survive fire, emerge, and grow to
maturity during the year after burning [2].  Fire can create conditions
which promote the growth of this rapidly growing, weedy annual.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
One year after a controlled fire in an Arizona Sonoran Desert community,
sixweeks fescue exhibited a 547 percent increase in biomass [2].  Two
years after a wildfire in the same study area, sixweeks fescue coverage
began to decline [2].  Biomass in grams per square meter and density
expressed as the number of plants per square meter are as follows [2]:

                       No  Fire          Wildlife         Controlled Burn
                     1981    1982       1981   1982       1981      1982
Microhabitat:

open shrub-density    121     123         20     34         88       153
open shrub-biomass    0.5     1.5        1.2    0.7        0.6       9.7
shade-density          84       8         40     35         99        23
shade-biomass         0.3     0.3        0.5    1.0        0.3       1.5


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Species: Vulpia octoflora | Sixweeks Fescue