FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Quercus oblongifolia | Mexican Blue Oak 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Mexican blue oak is top-killed by fire.  Surviving individuals sprout
prolifically [31].  The thin shelled acorns probably are killed by fire.
Acorns covered by an insulating layer of soil may survive a low-severity
fire.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Data from 1963 recorded that Mexican blue oak had sprouted abundantly
after stems were killed by a fire in southeastern Arizona [33].  The
year the fire occurred was not mentioned by the authors.

In 1983, a wildfire swept through a Madrean evergreen oak woodland with
grass understory in the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona.  Burned and
unburned plots were compared 2 years later.  Most Mexican blue oak of
large (greater than 30 cm) size classes survived; only 14.2 percent
died.  Significantly (P=0.011) more individuals produced sprouts in the
burned plots (94 percent) compared to the unburned plots (8 to 16
percent) [9].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Prescribed burning in Mexican blue oak woodlands may promote sprouting
for wildlife browse.  The open Mexican blue oak woodlands accumulate
dead material slowly and probably would not support frequent (less than
25 years) prescribed fires.

Related categories for Species: Quercus oblongifolia | Mexican Blue Oak