FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Quercus coccinea | Scarlet Oak 



FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : 
The fire resistance of scarlet oak is rated as low.  It has thin bark,
and even low severity surface fires can result in severe basal damage
and high mortality.  Top-killed scarlet oaks sprout vigorously from the
root crown after fire [24].

A thick litter covering is unfavorable for scarlet oak acorn germination
[24].  Fire removes litter and may facilitate scarlet oak regeneration
[39].  However, no study documenting increased scarlet oak regeneration
from seed after fire was found in the literature.  The primary mode of
regeneration after fire appears to be sprouting.

The prevalent presettlement upland oak forests in the eastern and
central United States were associated with recurring fire.  These
forests probably burned at an intermediate frequency (50 to 100 year
intervals), which promoted the dominance and stability of oak [1].
Oak-hickory forests are not usually conducive to high-severity fires,
but surface fires are easily ignited and spread rapidly under favorable
conditions [9].  In the absence of fire or other disturbance, the
short-lived scarlet oak is replaced by later successional species.
Periodic fire opens the canopy and provides an opportunity for upland
oaks to regenerate and maintain dominance [1].  Fifty-five years after a
late summer fire in south-central Connecticut, a burned area had higher
absolute and relative amounts of oak (scarlet, black, white, chestnut,
and northern red) than an adjacent unburned area [60].

In Missouri, nearly all trees were top-killed after a spring fire in a
23-year-old white oak-black oak-hickory stand in which 79 percent of the
stems larger than 0.6 inches (1.5 cm) in d.b.h. were oak and hickory.
Ten years later, 64 percent of the stems were oak and hickory,
indicating that a stand can replace itself.  Scarlet oak increased from
a prefire density of 253 stems per acre (625 stems/ha) to a postfire
density of 329 stems per acre (813 stems/ha).  Scarlet oak basal area
decreased from (2.7 m sq/ha) prefire to (0.6 m sq/ha) postfire.
However, scarlet oak maintained its position as the third most frequent
overstory species behind white oak and black oak.  New stems were
primarily from basal sprouting [37].

Scarlet oak is restricted from the pine-scrub oak communities of the New
Jersey Pine Barrens because it does not produce viable seed at a young
enough age to become established in areas that burn every 8 to 12 years
[31,32].  In the Pine Barrens, scarlet oak is usually restricted to the
later successional forests along with white, black, and chestnut oaks
[19].


POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY : 
   Tree with adventitious-bud root crown/root sucker
   Secondary colonizer - off-site seed

Related categories for Species: Quercus coccinea | Scarlet Oak