FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Salazaria mexicana | Bladdersage 



FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : 
Regeneration of bladdersage after fire is not described in literature
currently available.  Because of its sprouting ability, it probably can
regenerate from underground rhizomes if top-killed by fire.  Bladdersage
probably also colonizes burned areas via wind-dispersed seeds.

Fire frequency in the communities where bladdersage occurs depends on
productivity and continuity of fuels.  In creosotebush scrub
communities, fires generally occur in those occasional years when
exceptionally heavy winter rains have produced abnormally high number of
annuals [10].  Fires are also rare in blackbrush communities; however,
these communities have been known to burn under conditons of high
temperature, high wind velocity, and low relative humidity [10].
Pinyon-juniper communities historically burned every 10 to 30 years
[32].  Fires in mountainous areas of the Mojave Desert where bladdersage
occurs usually cover limited areas but may be highly destructive to the
woody tissues of bladdersage plants.  These mountain burns are very
susceptible to erosion and revegetate slowly [10].  Where livestock
grazing has reduced grass cover and accelerated erosion, fire frequency
has decreased [14,32].


POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY : 
   Rhizomatous shrub, rhizome in soil
   Secondary colonizer - off-site seed

Related categories for Species: Salazaria mexicana | Bladdersage