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You are here >1Up Info > Wildlife, Animals, and Plants > Plant Species > Shrub > SPECIES: Acer glabrum | Rocky Mountain Maple
 

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FIRE ECOLOGY

SPECIES: Acer glabrum | Rocky Mountain Maple

FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS:


Rocky Mountain maple has been characterized as fire dependent, and may decline with fire exclusion [22]. Prolific sprouting and wind dispersal of seed of Rocky Mountain maple facilitate rapid revegetation of burned areas [56,144,176,259,284]. In quaking aspen/Rocky Mountain maple communities in Colorado, this rapid regeneration results in postfire vegetation that quickly resembles the prefire community [259]. Following fire, enhanced growth of Rocky Mountain maple may result in moderate growth loss of conifers and mortality of shade-intolerant conifers [86]. Due to aggressive competition, it may also interfere with conifer seedling establishment [280].

Rocky Mountain maple occurs as a major component or dominant in seral shrubfields in the northern Rockies. These shrubfields result from canopy removal by repeated severe fires [55,58,63,105,113,135,139,179,196,227,288,329,337]. Seral shrubfields have also been maintained with prescribed fire [184]. A lack of seed combined with increased soil temperatures and moisture stress inhibit tree regeneration and maintain the shrubfields. Fuels in persistent shrubfields consist primarily of the shrubs themselves with little large downed woody material and low litter amounts; in one study conducted in northern Idaho, fuel loading averaged 19.7 tons/acre. Persistent shrubfields may burn in any season; if fuels are continuous and dry, spring fires spread readily, and in summer, hot and dry conditions are exacerbated by nighttime inversions [288].

Fire regimes for plant communities and ecosystems in which Rocky Mountain maple occurs are summarized below. For further information regarding fire regimes and fire ecology of communities and ecosystems where Rocky Mountain maple is found, see the "Fire Ecology ad Adaptations" section of the FEIS species summary for the plant community or ecosystem dominants listed below.

Community or Ecosystem Dominant Species Fire Return Interval Range (years)
silver fir-Douglas-fir Abies amabilis-Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii > 200 
grand fir Abies grandis 35-200 [19]
California chaparral Adenostoma and/or Arctostaphylos spp. < 35 to < 100 
sagebrush steppe Artemisia tridentata/Pseudoroegneria spicata 20-70 [253]
mountain big sagebrush Artemisia tridentata var. vaseyana 20-60 [20,51]
coastal sagebrush Artemisia californica < 35 to < 100 
California montane chaparral Ceanothus and/or Arctostaphylos spp. 50-100 [253]
curlleaf mountain-mahogany* Cercocarpus ledifolius 13-1000 [24,277]
mountain-mahogany-Gambel oak scrub Cercocarpus ledifolius-Quercus gambelii < 35 to < 100 
western juniper Juniperus occidentalis 20-70 
Rocky Mountain juniper Juniperus scopulorum < 35 [253]
western larch Larix occidentalis 25-100 
Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir Picea engelmannii-Abies lasiocarpa 35 to > 200 [19]
black spruce Picea mariana 35-200 [89]
blue spruce* Picea pungens 35-200 [19]
pinyon-juniper Pinus-Juniperus spp. < 35 [253]
Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine* Pinus contorta var. latifolia 25-300+ [17,19,270]
Sierra lodgepole pine* Pinus contorta var. murrayana 35-200 [19]
Colorado pinyon Pinus edulis 10-49 [253]
western white pine* Pinus monticola 50-200 
Pacific ponderosa pine* Pinus ponderosa var. ponderosa 1-47 
interior ponderosa pine* Pinus ponderosa var. scopulorum 2-10 
Table Mountain pine Pinus pungens < 35 to 200 [323]
quaking aspen (west of the Great Plains) Populus tremuloides 7-120 [19,116,211]
Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir* Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca 25-100 [19]
coastal Douglas-fir* Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii 40-240 [19,232,268]
California mixed evergreen Pseudotsuga menziesii var. m.-Lithocarpus densiflorus-Arbutus m. < 35 
California oakwoods Quercus spp. < 35 [19]
oak-juniper woodland (Southwest) Quercus-Juniperus spp. < 35 to < 200 [253]
canyon live oak Quercus chrysolepis <35 to 200 
blue oak-foothills pine Quercus douglasii-Pinus sabiana <35 
Oregon white oak Quercus garryana < 35 [19]
redwood Sequoia sempervirens 5-200 [19,98,308]
western redcedar-western hemlock Thuja plicata-Tsuga heterophylla > 200 
western hemlock-Sitka spruce Tsuga heterophylla-Picea sitchensis > 200 
mountain hemlock* Tsuga mertensiana 35 to > 200 [19]
*fire return interval varies widely; trends in variation are noted in the species summary

POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY [304]:


Tall shrub, adventitious bud/root crown
Initial off-site colonizer (off-site, initial community)
Secondary colonizer (on-site or off-site seed sources)

Related categories for SPECIES: Acer glabrum | Rocky Mountain Maple

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Content on this web site is provided for informational purposes only. We accept no responsibility for any loss, injury or inconvenience sustained by any person resulting from information published on this site. We encourage you to verify any critical information with the relevant authorities.

Information Courtesy: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Fire Effects Information System

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