FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Sambucus cerulea | Blue Elderberry 



FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : 
Blue elderberry is fire tolerant [1].  Although blue elderberry is
favored by fire, its frequency and cover remain relatively low in most
areas where it has been studied [30,50,79].  In Utah [158 blue elderberry
is often prominent in burned areas where it establishes from dormant
seed.

Blue elderberry is able to resprout [61,75,90], and seed buried in seed
banks germinates following fire [26].  Since it is short lived and shade
intolerant, blue elderberry is usually absent from the understory of
closed-canopy forests before fire occurs and must rely on seed banks for
regeneration. There may also be occasional sprouts where plants had been
growing in openings in the prefire forest [45].  Idaho studies found
elderberry seeds consistantly throughout seed bank samples despite the
lack of elderberry plants in the forest understory [34,35,45].  Viable
seed was found to a depth of 3.9 inches (10 cm) [35].  In the Blue
Mountains of Oregon elderberry seed was not consistantly present in
samples from different stands in mixed forests, and it was found in the
top 0.8 inches (2.0 cm) [83].


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

Related categories for Species: Sambucus cerulea | Blue Elderberry