FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Simmondsia chinensis | Jojoba 



FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : 
Jojoba readily sprouts from the root crown and/or following fire in
desert shrub and coastal sage scrub communities [8,15,44,58].  Fire may
cause jojoba to take on a thicket or clonal form where shoots develop
from deep sections of the main roots [15].  Seeds may survive fire in
the seedbank if the fire is not too severe, but it is not known if they
germinate well on bare mineral soil.  Establishment may be limited after
severe fire by lack of nurse plants.

Fires in the Sonoran Desert are generally rare due to widely spaced
shrubs and sparse cover of grasses and perennial forbs.  However, in an
exceptionally wet year annual cover may be dense enough to
carry fire [8,20].  These fires tend to occur at the desert shrub-desert
grassland ecotone [20].

Postfire recovery in interior chaparral and coastal sage scrub
communities is rapid due to the fact that most species, including
jojoba, sprout from the root crown following damage.  In coastal sage
scrub the recovery process may take as little as 10 years [40,41].


POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY : 
   Small shrub, adventitious-bud root crown

Related categories for Species: Simmondsia chinensis | Jojoba