FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Pinus engelmannii | Apache Pine 



FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : 
Mature Apache pine endure most fires and become dominant when fire
susceptible species are eliminated [7,37].

Apache pine grows in oak-pine woodlands; these are probably
fire-tolerant, fire-maintained communities, although the fire regime is
not well understood for these associations [54].  Apache pine occurs in
the Madrean oak-pine forest and adjacent conifer gallery forest in
Rhyolite Canyon in the Chiricahua National Monument, Arizona.
Historically, surface fires occurred episodically every 1 to 38 years
[55].  Based on the fire-scars of Apache pine, the mean fire interval
from 1655 to 1924 was 12.5 years in the lower canyon area [54].  Fire
intervals increased with livestock grazing and the subsequent reduction
in surface fuels [55].

Fire is characteristic of interior ponderosa pine forests.  Fires from
these communities may extend downward into mixed pine or oak-pine
forests in which Apache pine occurs.  In the Rincon Mountains close to
the northern latitudinal limits of Apache pine, the estimated mean fire
intervals from 1757 to 1983 for Arizona pine communities ranged from 1
to 13 years [3].


POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY : 
   Tree without adventitious-bud root crown
   Crown residual colonizer (on-site, initial community)
   Secondary colonizer - off-site seed

Related categories for Species: Pinus engelmannii | Apache Pine