FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Quercus velutina | Black Oak 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Black oak up to pole size (about 4 inches [10.2 cm] in d.b.h.) are
easily top-killed by fire, and severe fire may even top-kill
saw-timber-sized black oak [56].

Multistemmed black oak clumps are more susceptible to fire than a
single-stemmed sapling because leaves and other litter get trapped in
the clump and promote a hot fire around the multiple stems [26].

In the eastern highlands of Connecticut, a March prescribed fire was
conducted in a black oak-black cherry forest and an oak (Quercus
spp.)-sweet birch (Betula lenta) forest.  All black oak in the black
oak-black cherry forest survived the fire.  In the oak-sweet birch
forest, where surface litter fire temperatures reached 600 degrees
Fahrenheit (315 deg C), about 25 percent of black oak less than 4 inches
(<10.2 cm) in d.b.h. were top-killed, but less than 5 percent were
root-killed.  Approximately 95 percent of black oak between 4 and 12
inches (10.2-30.5 cm) survived the fire.  Larger black oak (10 to 13
inches [25-32.5 cm] in d.b.h) exposed to external temperatures of 129
degrees Fahrenheit (54 deg C) for 7 minutes survived [48].

Prescribed fire in an oak woods in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
top-killed about 50 percent of the black oak.  The litter in the oak
woods produced relatively low aboveground temperatures and total kill of
black oak was infrequent.  Two areas with two and three fires during the
subsequent 4-year period averaged 3.71 and 3.65 percent total mortality
per year respectively.  The unburned control averaged 2.1 percent total
mortality per year [12].

In an April prescribed fire in an oak savanna in southern Wisconsin,
damage to woody species (including black oak) was dependent on the type
of fuel within 12 inches (30 cm) of the stem base.  Cool season grass
fuel caused more fire damage than predominantly oak leaf fuel.  Dry
weight fuel load ranged from 0.60 to 0.75 ounce per square foot (200-250
g/sq m) in leaves and from 0.90 to 1.05 ounce per square foot (300-350
g/sq m) in grass [27].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Black oak individuals, including seedlings, sprout from the root crown
when top-killed.

The density of black oak stems generally increases after fire because of
sprouting.  Two growing seasons after two annual fires in an oak-pine
stand in the Cumberland Plateau in Kentucky, black oak and scarlet oak
stems increased from a prefire density of approximately 1,250 stems per
acre (3,090 stems/ha) to a postfire density of approximately 1,750 stems
per acre (4,320 stems/ha) [67].  Sprouting of top-killed black oak in
prescribed fires in the Indiana Dune National Lakeshore also increased
the shrub coverage of black oak [12].

More frequent fire may eventually reduce black oak sprouting, however,
because root systems are weakened.  Five fires in 8 years (three in the
spring and two in the fall) reduced black oak sprouting in a black oak
sand savanna in Indiana [8].

Black oak acorns in the litter may survive a low-severity fire [62], but
no conclusive evidence of this was found in the literature.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Prescribed fire is used to control oak invasion of prairies [4].
Because of prolific sprouting of hardwoods, including black oak,
prescribed burning is not recommended for controlling hardwood
competition during shortleaf pine regeneration on the Cumberland Plateau
in Kentucky [67].

Equations for the estimation of fire-caused mortality have been
developed for black oak.  In order to predict mortality, a manager needs
to know the tree d.b.h., the height of bark blackening, the width of
bark blackening 1 foot above the ground, and the season of fire.  The
equation should only be applied to trees between 3 and 16 inches
(7.6-40.6 cm) in d.b.h. [39]].  Equations have also been developed to
predict lumber value losses due to fire wounding of black oak [38].
An equation has been developed to predict the size of a fire wound
on a black oak from the area of the exterior discolored bark and the
diameter of the damaged tree [47].

Related categories for Species: Quercus velutina | Black Oak