FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Gaultheria shallon | Salal 



FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : 
The shade-tolerant salal appears well able to persist under a regime of
relatively infrequent fires.  Long fire-free intervals are common in
many climax coastal coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest [60].
Fire occurs infrequently in most coastal western hemlock forests due to
marine climatic influences [5].  Western hemlock-Douglas-fir forests
codominated by salal and dwarf Oregon grape commonly burn at
approximately 320-year intervals [105].  Fire intervals in
tanoak-salal/dwarf Oregon grape communities of the western Siskiyous
have been estimated at 60 years [5].  While inland redwood forests burn
every 26 to 52 years, coastal redwood forests experience fires at 50 to
500-year intervals [123].  In western Oregon, Douglas-fir/oceanspray
-salal communities are common on sites which have been lightly burned
during the past 200 years.  Salal, because of its prolific sprouting
ability, can also survive shorter fire-free intervals.  In western
Oregon, bracken fern-salal communities commonly develop on frequently
burned sites [8].

Salal generally sprouts from the roots, rhizomes, or stem base after
aboveground vegetation is damaged or consumed by fire.  Birds and
mammals may disperse some seed from off-site.  Limited reestablishment
through seed may occur, although vegetative regeneration is apparently
the dominant mode of reestablishment [47].


POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY : 
   Tall shrub, adventitious-bud root crown
   Rhizomatous shrub, rhizome in soil

Related categories for Species: Gaultheria shallon | Salal