• IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT
• DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT
• PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE
• DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE
• FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS

IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT:

Spiny hopsage is generally top-killed by fire [9]. Plants often survive fires that kill adjacent sagebrush [7]. Mature spiny hopsage generally sprout after being burned [9]. Spiny hopsage is reported to be least susceptible to fire during summer dormancy [51].

DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT:

No entry

PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE:

Spiny hopsage often sprouts after plants are damaged by fire or mechanical injury [54]. Sprouting may occur when mature plants are burned off at the soil surface. Fires in spiny hopsage sites generally occur in late summer when plants are dormant, and sprouting generally does not occur until the following spring [9]. Holsinger [24] noted that apparently dead spiny hopsage plants resprouted several years after a wildfire in the Dautrich Memorial Desert Preserve near the Snake River in Canyon County, Idaho. These plants were located on the north-facing slopes of a basalt mesa [55].

DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE:

Variation in sprouting among populations and possible relationships of sprouting to season and intensity of burn is possible, but has not yet been documented [55].

FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:

Fire may be most damaging to spiny hopsage when plants are actively growing [55]. Mortality of spiny hopsage after a July wildfire in southeastern Washington was attributed to "stressed growing conditions imposed by an alkaline-sodic rooting substrate" [51]. Several decimeters of soil had been lost due to earlier overgrazing and subsequent erosion and only a thin soil layer remained above a deep alkaline-sodic rooting substrate [55].

Related categories for SPECIES: Grayia spinosa | Spiny Hopsage