FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Quercus wislizenii | Interior Live Oak 



FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : 
Interior live oak appears to be well-adapted to persist with or without
fire.  It occupies fire-prone chaparral but also grows in relatively
mesic areas which burn at infrequent intervals.  Large, single-stemmed
trees are generally only found in areas which have not burned in 50 to
100 years.  Shrubby interior live oak is common in chaparral, where
fairly frequent fires produce dense thickets of multi-stemmed
individuals [44].  The shrubby growth form may represent an adaption to
fire.  These shrubby plants tend to reach sexual maturity at an earlier
age than treelike growth forms [13].  The trait of "evergreeness" allows
species such as interior live oak to allocate greater amounts of energy
to regeneration than to vegetative growth.  Evergreens are often better
able to conserve available nutrients than deciduous species, and may be
favored in these fire-prone settings [36].

Interior live oak often grows as a dominant on relatively mesic northern
exposures in oak (Quercus spp.) chaparral.  Here it grows fairly rapidly
and soon reaches sufficient height to shade out most postfire seeding
species [38].  The prominence of sprouters such as interior live oak in
drier chaparral communities does not necessarily imply that these plants
possess specific fire adaptations, but that they are better generalists
in these arid habitats than are most postfire seeders [36].

Aboveground portions of interior live oak are described as sensitive to
fire [44], and plants are generally top-killed.  The thin bark and small
diameter typical of this species offer little protection [24,45].
However, plants generally sprout prolifically from the stump and root
crown after fire or other disturbance [10,15,47].  Postfire seedling
establishment can also occur [69], although success may be highly
dependent on weather conditions.


POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY : 
   Tree with adventitious-bud root crown/soboliferous species root sucker
   Initial-offsite colonizer (off-site, initial community)

Related categories for Species: Quercus wislizenii | Interior Live Oak