FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Agave lechuguilla | Lechuguilla 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Lechuguilla is susceptible to high mortality following fire.  Plants
usually die if more than 50 percent of their leaves are scorched [17].
An August wildfire east of Big Bend National Park reduced lechuguilla
cover from 2.4 percent to 0.03 percent (a 98.8 percent reduction); the
number of rosettes was reduced by 90 percent [5].  Although rhizomes are
sufficiently insulated belowground, food reserves and water are stored
in the leaves, which are easily damaged.  Lechuguilla is therefore
generally unable to recover vegatively by producing new offset plants.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Because it suffers high mortality, lechuguilla frequency and cover
probably remain well below preburn levels for many years.  In the
Guadalupe Mountains, sampling of several burns showed that 3 to 7 years
after these fires occurred, lechuguilla's average cover on burned sites
was only 19 percent of that on unburned sites [1].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Species: Agave lechuguilla | Lechuguilla