FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Robinia pseudoacacia | Black Locust 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Black locust is usually top-killed by fire when young.  Shrub-size black
locust were top-killed by a low-severity, prescribed spring fire in
Indiana [67].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Top-killed black locust may sprout readily from either the bole or
roots.  On Indiana prairie, black locust invaded a newly burned area
after one spring prescribed fire, but declined in other burned areas
[30].

In Illinois, plots were subjected to a spring prescribed fire to
maintain prairie conditions and open up adjacent forest understory.  The
fire was started in the prairie vegetation where it burned rapidly and
hot.  As the fire moved into the prairie-forest interface it cooled
down.  By the time it was under canopy trees it was a slowly moving,
patchy fire, consuming only the litter layer.  In the first growing
season after this fire, new black locust individuals (either seedlings
or sprouts) were present in high numbers.  The numbers of new black
locust seedlings or sprouts decreased in subsequent years, with a
concomitant increase in the number of black locust in the sapling size
classes [1].  In Indiana, prairie plots invaded by black locust (and
other woody species) were cut, stumps were sprayed with picloram, and
then the sites were burned in an effort to control woody species.
Following the fire, approximately one-half of black locust stumps
sprouted; 111 new black locust seedlings and/or root sprouts were
counted on 400 square meters [47].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Prairie vegetation in Wisconsin has sometimes inadvertently been
maintained because of frequent fires that were started by trains, and
because railroad personnel cleared the area with brush cutters.  The
cessation of frequent fires and/or mowing when lines are abandoned
results in invasion by black locust and other woody species [42].  Both
mowing and burning were found to be effective in reducing black locust
cover in Virginia [23].  In contrast, Anderson and Brown [1] reported
that black locust invasion onto prairie and into black oak woods was
encouraged by fire; their study reflects the results of a single fire
however, and may not be indicative of results with periodic fires.

Related categories for Species: Robinia pseudoacacia | Black Locust