AllRefer - Species: Desert Ceanothus | Ceanothus greggii: FIRE ECOLOGY


		• Earth & Environment • History • Literature & Arts • Health & Medicine • People • Places • Plants & Animals • Philosophy & Religion • Science & Technology • Social Science & Law • Sports & Everyday Life • Wildlife, Animals, & Plants • Country Study • Encyclopedia A -Z • North America Gazetteer

You are here >1Up Info > Wildlife, Animals, and Plants > Plant Species > Shrub > SPECIES: Ceanothus greggii | Desert Ceanothus

Wildlife, Animals, and Plants

Kuchler

Plants

FIRE ECOLOGY

SPECIES: Ceanothus greggii | Desert Ceanothus

FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY

FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS:

Desert ceanothus is a component of chaparral communities in which fire is a dominant part of the environment. These communities are adapted to particular fire regimes defined by intensity, season and frequency of fire. In California chaparral communities of which desert ceanothus is a common component, the context is high-intensity canopy fires that usually come in the late summer or fall every 20-30 years on average [89]. Chaparral appears to be resilient to fire-recurrence intervals of 100+ years [54]. Although Zammit and Zedler [145] estimate that desert ceanothus shrubs will die out locally in chaparral unburned for 85-155 years. Wildfires are less frequent in Arizona chaparral communities supporting desert ceanothus, occurring every 50-100 years [54].

It is suggested that occasional long fire-free periods (100 years or more) are an important evolutionary stimulus for the obligate seeding strategy. The region of California with the lowest lightning-fire frequency is the coastal range which is also the area which supports the greatest abundance and diversity of nonsprouting species such as desert ceanothus. With shorter fire frequency (20-30 years) both seeding and sprouting species regenerate, but sprouting species may gain advantage after several cycles [55]. Desert ceanothus may require 5-15 years to reach sexual maturity, and fires at intervals this frequent may cause local extinctions [54,98]. Seedlings are rare except after fire and populations are locally even aged and regionally a mosaic of different aged populations dating to past fires [146]. Fire return intervals for plant communities and ecosystems where desert ceanothus occurs are as follows:

Community or Ecosystem	Dominant Species	Fire Return Interval Range (years)
California chaparral	Adenostoma and/or Arctostaphylos spp.	< 35 to < 100 [138]
basin big sagebrush	Artemisia tridentata var. tridentata	12-43 [112]
Wyoming big sagebrush	A. t. var. wyomingensis	10-70 (40**) [133,142]
coastal sagebrush	A. californica	< 35 to < 100
desert grasslands	Bouteloua eriopoda and/or Pleuraphis mutica	5-100
blue grama-needle-and-thread grass-western wheatgrass	B. gracilis-Hesperostipa comata-Pascopyrum smithii	< 35
blue grama-buffalo grass	B. gracilis-Buchloe dactyloides	< 35
California montane chaparral	Ceanothus and/or Arctostaphylos spp.	50-100
paloverde-cactus shrub	Cercidium microphyllum/Opuntia spp.	< 35 to < 100 [138]
curlleaf mountain-mahogany*	Cercocarpus ledifolius	13-1000 [1,114]
mountain-mahogany-Gambel oak scrub	C. l.-Quercus gambelii	< 35 to < 100
blackbrush	Coleogyne ramosissima	< 35 to < 100
Arizona cypress	Cupressus arizonica	< 35 to 200
juniper-oak savanna	Juniperus ashei-Quercus virginiana	< 35
western juniper	J. occidentalis	20-70
Rocky Mountain juniper	J. scopulorum	< 35
creosotebush	Larrea tridentata	< 35 to < 100
pine-cypress forest	Pinus-Cupressus spp.	< 35 to 200
pinyon-juniper	Pinus-Juniperus spp.	< 35 [138]
Mexican pinyon	P. cembroides	20-70 [78,123]
Colorado pinyon	P. edulis	10-49
Rocky Mountain ponderosa pine*	P. ponderosa var. scopulorum	2-10
Arizona pine	P. p. var. arizonica	2-10
California oakwoods	Quercus spp.	< 35
oak-juniper woodland (Southwest)	Quercus-Juniperus spp.	< 35 to < 200
coast live oak	Q. agrifolia	<35 to 200
white oak-black oak-northern red oak	Q. alba-Q. velutina-Q. rubra	< 35
canyon live oak	Q. chrysolepis	<35 to 200
blue oak-foothills pine	Q. douglasii-P. sabiana	<35
California black oak	Q. kelloggii	5-30
interior live oak	Q. wislizenii	< 35
elm-ash-cottonwood	Ulmus-Fraxinus-Populus spp.	< 35 to 200 [138]

*fire return interval varies widely; trends in variation are noted in the species summary
**mean

POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY [120]:

Shrub without adventitious bud/root crown
Ground residual colonizer (on-site, initial community)

Related categories for SPECIES: Ceanothus greggii | Desert Ceanothus


<MAP NAME="boxmap"><AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS="379, 50, 460, 57" HREF="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" ><AREA COORDS="0,0,10000,10000" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/1upinfo-20" ></MAP><img src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/rcm/468x60.gif" width="468" height="60" border="0" usemap="#boxmap" alt="Shop at Amazon.com">

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