Fire Effects Information System (FEIS)
 FEIS Home Page

Fire regimes of sparsely vegetated communities

Citation:
Innes, Robin J. 2014. Fire regimes of sparsely vegetated communities. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/fire_regimes/Sparsely_vegetated/all.html [].

Fire Regime Syntheses bring together information from 2 sources: the scientific literature as of 2014, and the Biophysical Settings (BpS) models and associated Fire Regime Data Products developed by LANDFIRE, which are based on literature, local data, and/or expert estimates. These syntheses are intended to:

Sparsely vegetated communities occur throughout the United States and range from sandy beaches on shorelines and riverbanks to rocky outcrops and talus slopes in subalpine and alpine areas. They typically have much exposed mineral soil and bedrock and little vegetation throughout succession. Historically, fires were unlikely in sparsely vegetated communities because of scarce and poorly distributed fuels [3,9]. There is no published research on historical fires in these communities, and LANDFIRE did not model their fire regime characteristics (fire regime group="NA") because modelers did not consider fire an important disturbance in them. Because sparsely vegetated communities generally do not burn, they may act as natural firebreaks [2,3,4,8,10,11]. Appendix A lists the Biophysical Settings (BpSs) covering sparsely vegetated communities; Appendix B provides links to relevant FEIS Species Reviews.

Table 1. Fire intervals and severities in sparsely vegetated communities [6,7]
Fire interval¹
Fire severity² (% of fires)
Number of Biophysical Settings (BpSs) in each fire regime group
  Replacement Mixed Low I II III IV V NA³
NA       0 0 0 0 0 37
¹Average historical fire-return interval derived from LANDFIRE succession modeling (labeled "MFRI" in LANDFIRE).
²Percentage of fires in 3 fire severity classes, derived from LANDFIRE succession modeling. Replacement-severity fires cause >75% kill or top-kill of the upper canopy layer; mixed-severity fires cause 26%-75%; low-severity fires cause <26% [1,5]
³NA (not applicable) refers to BpS models that did not include fire in simulations.

LANDFIRE did not map the BpSs for this group.

Sparsely vegetated sand dunes at Mussel Rock Beach, California. Creative Commons photo by Kevin P. Rice.
Willow (Salix spp.) establishment on a new sandbar on the Tenana River, Alaska. Photo by Les Viereck, courtesy of the Bonanza Creek Long-term Ecological Research Program.
Alpine talus slope in Colorado with Rocky Mountain Jacob's-ladder (Polemonium confertum) in the foreground. Photo by Andrew Kratz, U.S. Forest Service.
APPENDIX A. Biophysical Settings for sparsely vegetated communities

Appendix B. These species are common or dominant in some sparsely vegetated communities of the United States. Follow the links to FEIS Species Reviews.
Common name Scientific name
Lichens
jelly lichen Collema tenax
reindeer lichens Cladonia spp.
Cacti
brittle pricklypear Opuntia fragilis
eastern pricklypear Opuntia humifusa
plains pricklypear Opuntia polyacantha
Forbs
coltsfoot Tussilago farfara
rough cocklebur Xanthium strumarium
common St Johnswort Hypericum perforatum
flixweed tansymustard Descurainia sophia
pinnate tansymustard Descurainia pinnata
tumble mustard Sisymbrium altissimum
Graminoids
big bluestem Andropogon gerardii
blue grama Bouteloua gracilis
broomsedge bluestem Andropogon virginicus
Canada wildrye Elymus canadensis
cheatgrass Bromus tectorum
little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium
prairie sandreed Calamovilfa longifolia
purple threeawn Aristida purpurea
saltgrass Distichlis spicata
sand dropseed Sporobolus cryptandrus
thickspike wheatgrass Elymus lanceolatus
threadleaf sedge Carex filifolia
western wheatgrass Pascopyrum smithii
Shrubs
Alaska willow Salix alaxensis
black greasewood Sarcobatus vermiculatus
blueberry willow Salix myrtillifolia
broom snakeweed Gutierrezia sarothrae
Drummond willow Salix drummondiana
Halberd willow Salix hastata
littletree willow Salix arbusculoides
narrowleaf willow Salix exigua
mountain willow Salix monticola
pussy willow Salix discolor
Richardson willow Salix richardsonii
silver sagebrush Artemisia cana
Trees
black willow Salix nigra
eastern cottonwood Populus deltoides
eastern redcedar Juniperus virginiana
foxtail pine Pinus balfouriana
Goodding's black willow Salix gooddingii
grayleaf willow Salix glauca
limber pine Pinus flexilis
Pacific willow Salix lasiandra
peachleaf willow Salix amygdaloides
Rocky Mountain juniper Juniperus scopulorum
whitebark pine Pinus albicaulis
yellow willow Salix lutea

REFERENCES:

1. Barrett, S.; Havlina, D.; Jones, J.; Hann, W.; Frame, C.; Hamilton, D.; Schon, K.; Demeo, T.; Hutter, L.; Menakis, J. 2010. Interagency Fire Regime Condition Class Guidebook. Version 3.0, [Online]. In: Interagency Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service; U.S. Department of the Interior; The Nature Conservancy (Producers). Available: https://www.frcc.gov/ [2015, June 24]. [85876]
2. Brown, Peter M.; Sieg, Carolyn Hull. 1996. Fire history in interior ponderosa pine communities of the Black Hills, South Dakota, USA. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 6(3): 97-105. [29220]
3. Dwire, Kathleen A.; Kauffman, J. Boone. 2003. Fire and riparian ecosystems in landscapes of the western USA. In: Young, Michael K.; Gresswell, Robert E.; Luce, Charles H., eds. Selected papers from an international symposium on effects of wildland fire on aquatic ecosystems in the western USA; 2002 April 22-24; Boise, ID. In: Forest Ecology and Management. 178(1-2): 61-74. [44923]
4. Floyd, M. Lisa; Romme, William H.; Hanna, David D. 2000. Fire history and vegetation pattern in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, USA. Ecological Applications. 10(6): 1666-1680. [37590]
5. LANDFIRE Rapid Assessment. 2005. Reference condition modeling manual (Version 2.1). Cooperative Agreement 04-CA-11132543-189. Boulder, CO: The Nature Conservancy; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service; U.S. Department of the Interior. 72 p. On file at: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT. [66741]
6. LANDFIRE. 2008. Alaska refresh (LANDFIRE 1.1.0). Biophysical settings layer. In: LANDFIRE data distribution site, [Online]. In: LANDFIRE. U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey (Producer). Available: https://landfire.cr.usgs.gov/viewer/ [2015, February 23]. [86808]
7. LANDFIRE. 2008. CONUS refresh (LANDFIRE 1.1.0). Biophysical settings layer. In: LANDFIRE data distribution site, [Online]. In: LANDFIRE. U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey (Producer). Available: https://landfire.cr.usgs.gov/viewer/ [2015, October 7]. [89416]
8. Madany, Michael H.; West, Neil E. 1980. Fire history of two montane forest areas of Zion National Park. In: Stokes, Marvin A.; Dieterich, John H., technical coordinators. Proceedings of the fire history workshop; 1980 October 20-24; Tucson, AZ. Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-81. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station: 50-56. [16042]
9. Paysen, Timothy E.; Ansley, R. James; Brown, James K.; Gottfried, Gerald J.; Haase, Sally M.; Harrington, Michael G.; Narog, Marcia G.; Sackett, Stephen S.; Wilson, Ruth C. 2000. Fire in western shrubland, woodland, and grassland ecosystems. In: Brown, James K.; Smith, Jane Kapler, eds. Wildland fire in ecosystems: Effects of fire on flora. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-42-vol. 2. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 121-159. [36978]
10. Suffling, Roger. 1993. Induction of vertical zones in sub-alpine valley forests by avalanche-formed fuel breaks. Landscape Ecology. 8(2): 127-138. [22033]
11. Swanson, Frederick J. 1981. Fire and geomorphic processes. In: Mooney, H. A.; Bonnicksen, T. M.; Christensen, N. L.; Lotan, J. E.; Reiners, W. A., tech. coords. Proceedings of the conference: Fire regimes and ecosystem properties; 1978 December 11-15; Honolulu, HI. Gen. Tech. Rep. WO-26. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: 401-420. [5080]

FEIS Home Page