• 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:

Oceanspray is easily top-killed by fire, but is adept at sprouting from surviving root crowns [13,18,23,114,102,28,31,62,57] and can also regenerate from soil-stored seed [13]. Full recovery from a fire disturbance can be expected in 5 to 10 years [114,111]. Cover may be enhanced by disturbance [18,13,114,82].

DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT:

No entry

PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE:

Oceanspray is well adapted to fire and is often "unharmed" or its cover is enhanced [114,82,23]. Factors influencing postburn regeneration include moisture stress and light competition [28]. Although oceanspray reproduces poorly from seed after a fire disturbance [114,82], it usually responds to a low-severity burn by root crown and rhizome sprouting. Coverage reduction, which is a function of the percent root crown and rhizome kill, is dependent on depth of heating of mineral soil [28,23]. The best recovery can be expected when burned with moist soils [114,82], which increases probability of root crown survival.

DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE:

After a northern Idaho prescribed burn, oceanspray was one of the most prolific sprouters, producing as many as 120 sprouts per plant [62]. A northeastern Washington prescribed burn in a ponderosa pine/ninebark habitat type reduced the cover of oceanspray, but the shrub resprouted vigorously the following year and within 10 years had fully regained its former size and luxuriance [111]. After a prescribed burn in northern Idaho, significant increases in density were found for oceanspray in Douglas-fir/pinegrass (Calamagrostis rubescens) stands one year after the disturbance; however, burned-grazed areas showed reduced oceanspray coverage [116].

Documented 1st year fire response of oceanspray after the burning of seral brushfields occurring within Grand fir/pachistima (Pachistima myrisinites) habitat types in northern Idaho indicates that, regardless of burning season, oceanspray can sprout prolifically and typically reaches heights of approximately 24 inches (60 cm) by the end of the 1st postburn growing season. Plants burned in spring initiated sprouts within 4 to 8 weeks; plants burned in fall did not sprout until the next spring. Unlike many associated shrubs which sprouted most prolifically following spring burns, oceanspray exhibited greater shoot production following fall burning [65].

FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:

Burning and grazing may interact to increase the density of oceanspray; however, the combination does not appear to influence the percent cover of oceanspray one year after a burn. The following data demonstrate the effects of burning and grazing on the number of oceanspray per hectare and the percent cover of the shrub in northern Idaho one year after fire disturbance [116].

Related categories for SPECIES: Holodiscus discolor | Oceanspray