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You are here >1Up Info > Wildlife, Animals, and Plants > Plant Species > Shrub > Species: Gutierrezia microcephala | Threadleaf Snakeweed
 

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FIRE EFFECTS

SPECIES: Gutierrezia microcephala | Threadleaf Snakeweed
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : Fire kills or severely damages perennial snakeweeds [15,20,42,43,44]. Threadleaf snakeweed probably burns readily because it is resinous. DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : NO-ENTRY PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : Threadleaf snakeweed may colonize recently burned sites from buried seed or seed from adjacent unburned sites if moisture conditions are favorable and grass competition is not severe. Although information pertaining to the response of threadleaf snakeweed to fire is lacking in the literature, the presence of threadleaf snakeweed on unburned and burned sites has been documented. In New Mexico, threadleaf snakeweed had a density of 0.5 to 1.0 plant per square meter on an arid grassland that had not experienced fire for at least 30 years [30]. Threadleaf snakeweed was present on some burn sites but not others in blackbrush communities in southwestern Utah. The vegetation was examined on eight sites, each having been burned once in the past 37 years. Prefire species cover and frequency were not known, and site histories differed. Threadleaf snakeweed was not present on sites burned 1, 2, 6, and 37 years previously. It was present on sites burned 12, 17, and 19.5 years previously, at absolute covers of 0.3, 10.2, and 24.8 percent, respectively [5]. The authors did not discuss reasons for the variable presence of threadleaf snakeweed. The 2-, 6-, and 12-year-old burns had been seeded with grasses so colonization by threadleaf snakeweed may have been prevented or delayed by grass competition. DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : NO-ENTRY FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : Prescribed burning is frequently used as a management tool to increase forage on rangelands [5]. Historically, fire played an important role in controlling woody species [20,42]. However, prescribed burning for control of perennial snakeweeds has met with mixed success [24,42]. Wright and Bailey [42] suggested that fire can be used to control perennial snakeweeds during wet weather cycles when the grasses will not be severely damaged. The individual grass species and their ability to recover from fire should be considered when prescribed burning for perennial snakeweed control [42]. Prescribed burning of perennial snakeweeds is limited by inadequate fine fuel. In a study of a broom snakeweed-infested grassland in southeastern New Mexico, the area burned by spring prescribed fires did not exceed 60 percent unless the fine fuel loading exceeded 534 pounds per acre and the litter fuel exceeded 1,000 pounds per acre, or the two fuels combined exceeded 1,500 pounds per acre. If there is enough fuel, a headfire is effective if the following criteria are met: litter moisture is 3 to 4.5 percent, fine fuel moisture is less than 20 percent, relative humidity is less than 20 percent, ambient temperature is between 75 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit (24-32 deg C), and the wind speed is 8 to 15 miles per hour [15].

Related categories for Species: Gutierrezia microcephala | Threadleaf Snakeweed

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Information Courtesy: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Fire Effects Information System

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