FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Pseudotsuga macrocarpa | Bigcone Douglas-Fir 



FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : 
Bigcone Douglas-fir is one of only a few western conifers capable of
sprouting following fire.  Mature trees sprout vigorously from the
branches and bole after burning.  The trunk and main branches of bigcone
Douglas-fir have many dormant adventitous buds, which are insulated from
fire beneath thick bark.  Fire or other damage to the tree stimulates
cell division and growth in these buds.  Consequently, epicormic stems
grow from the axils of branches or from branch stubs along the trunk
from the middle or upper one-third of the crown [10,18].

Bigcone Douglas-fir growing at low elevation often escapes fire damage
because the mesic sites where it grows are not fire-prone [15].
Potential fuels at higher-elevation sites are sparse because understory
vegetation is killed as trees mature and canopies close [31].  Litter
layers of bigcone Douglas-fir forests are usually poorly developed due
to the paucity of herbaceous understory and the sparse fall of needles
from trees [14].  Survival of bigcone Douglas-fir is enhanced in rough
terrain such as talus gullies and rugged canyons; such topography often
impedes the momentum and intensity of spreading fires [23].  Rates of
deforestation by slope class range from 84 percent for slopes of less
than 10 degrees to 51 percent for slopes between 30 and 39 degrees.  On
slopes greater than 40 degrees, bigcone Douglas-fir survival is 75
percent [22].


POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY : 
   Secondary colonizer - off-site seed

Related categories for Species: Pseudotsuga macrocarpa | Bigcone Douglas-Fir