FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Elaeagnus commutata | Silverberry 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Silverberry is top-killed by most fires.  Silverberry is probably killed
by severe fires.

A prescribed spring fire in aspen parklands of Alberta dominated by
western snowberry consumed most aboveground portions of all shrubs
except silverberry [2].



DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Silverberry sprouts from rhizomes after fire [7], and probably
establishes from seed if dispersed onto burned sites.  However, it does
not recover quickly after fire [43].  Numbers of silverberry may
increase after fire, but cover usually decreases and recovers slowly.
In the Canada Great Plains, silverberry is listed as a species
"seriously harmed by spring and fall burns" [62,63].  Frequency and
canopy cover of silverberry 3 months after a May 11, 1971, prescribed
fire were negligible [2].  A prescribed fire in the fescue grassland of
central Alberta was conducted on May 3, 1970.  Silverberry cover on
burned plots increased slightly during the three postfire seasons but
was consistently less than that on unburned plots [7]:

                              unburned                  burned
                           1970  1971  1972         1970  1971  1972

silverberry cover (%)       20    29    29            5     6     8

Annual spring burning in a rough fescue-porcupine grassland in central
Alberta for 25 to 30 years increased percent frequency of silverberry
but decreased percent cover [6]:

                     frequency (%)                 cover (%)
                  unburned     burned          unburned   burned

silverberry          20          34               4         2

In the aspen parkland of east-central Alberta, density of silverberry
increased significantly (P< 0.005) after fire from 1.2 per square meter
to 6.4 per square meter.  Cover of silverberry was reduced after fire [1].

In mixed-grass prairies of North Dakota, silverberry cover is "slightly"
reduced after spring burning [63].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
In native grasslands, silverberry is often controlled with herbicides or
fire.  Prairie management that involves repeated prescribed burning
reduces silverberry cover, but patches of shrubs can be maintained by
employing partial burns [3].  In quaking aspen parklands in Alberta,
silverberry does not burn well in spring prescribed fires [8].  

In Saskatchewan, 87.5 acres (35 ha) of native fescue grassland was
prescribed burned on October 17, 1986.  Silverberry is an important
shrub in this community, and provides nesting cover for the clay-colored
sparrow.  Three years after burning, the breeding density of the
clay-colored sparrow in the burned area was 67 percent of that in 
the control area; the difference was attributed to a decrease in
shrub density [43].

Related categories for Species: Elaeagnus commutata | Silverberry