Index of Species Information
SPECIES: Tridens muticus
Introductory
SPECIES: Tridens muticus
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Sullivan, Janet. 1992. Tridens muticus. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/graminoid/trimut/all.html [].
ABBREVIATION :
TRIMUT
SYNONYMS :
Triodia mutica (Torr.)Scribn.
SCS PLANT CODE :
TRMU
COMMON NAMES :
slim tridens
TAXONOMY :
The accepted scientific name for slim tridens is Tridens muticus (Torr.)
Nash. Recognized varieties are [9,11]:
Tridens muticus (Torr.) Nash var. elongatus (Buckl.) Shinners
Tridens muticus (Torr.) Nash var. muticus [9,11]
LIFE FORM :
Graminoid
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Tridens muticus
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Slim tridens occurs through much of the southwestern United States, from
California to the southern Great Plains, eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, and
Texas south to central Mexico. It is widely distributed in the
Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts [9,24,31].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES30 Desert shrub
FRES31 Shinnery
FRES32 Texas savanna
FRES33 Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES35 Pinyon - juniper
FRES40 Desert grasslands
STATES :
AR AZ CA CO KS NV NM OK TX UT
MEXICO
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
6 Upper Basin and Range
7 Lower Basin and Range
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
12 Colorado Plateau
13 Rocky Mountain Piedmont
14 Great Plains
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K023 Juniper - pinyon woodland
K027 Mesquite bosque
K038 Great Basin sagebrush
K041 Creosotebush
K042 Creosotebush - bursage
K043 Paloverde - cactus shrub
K044 Creosotebush - tarbush
K053 Grama - galleta steppe
K054 Grama - tobosa prairie
K057 Galleta - three-awn shrubsteppe
K058 Grama - tobosa shrubsteppe
K059 Trans-Pecos shrub savanna
K060 Mesquite savanna
K061 Mesquite - acacia savanna
K071 Shinnery
K084 Cross Timbers
K085 Mesquite - buffalograss
K086 Juniper - oak savanna
K087 Mesquite - oak savanna
SAF COVER TYPES :
66 Ashe juniper - redberry (Pinchot) juniper
67 Mohrs ("shin") oak
68 Mesquite
220 Rocky Mountain juniper
238 Western juniper
239 Pinyon - juniper
240 Arizona cypress
241 Western live oak
242 Mesquite
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
Common shrub associates not listed as SAF cover types include:
creosotebush (Larrea tridentata), wavyleaf oak (Quercus undulata), gray
oak (Q. grisea), one-seed juniper (Juniperus monosperma), lechuguilla
agave (Agave lechuguilla), smooth sotol (Dasylirion leiophyllum),
Opuntia spp., and catclaw mimosa (Mimosa biuncifera) [3,17,25,28,32].
Other common associates (forbs and grasses) include: skeleton goldeneye
(Viguiera stenoloba), hairy grama (Bouteloua hirsuta), sideoats grama
(B. curtipendula), threeawn (Aristida spp.), hairy tridens (Tridens
pilosum), and curly leaf muhly (Muhlenbergia setifolia) [3,17,25,28,32].
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Tridens muticus
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Slim tridens is palatable and moderately nutritious. It is eaten by all
classes of livestock, mule deer and other herbivores, and collared
peccary but is too scattered and low in abundance to be an important
forage species [2,12,15,18,31]. Seeds are a source of food for rodents
and birds [20].
PALATABILITY :
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
Huston and others [13] reported the nutritional value of slim tridens as
follows:
Ash 7-12%
Phosphorus 0.09-0.30%
Protein 6-13%
Digestible
organic matter 36-57%
Fudge and Fraps reported similar levels for slim tridens (slender
triodia) [5].
COVER VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
In general, dryland range sites are easily degraded by overgrazing,
which decreases incidence of fire and allows woody species to invade
[1]. Steuter [28] reported that perennial grass production on sites
invaded by redberry juniper (Juniperus pinchotii) is less than half that
of sites that are controlled for shrub invasion. McPherson and Wright
[23] reported an inverse relationship between pinyon (Pinus spp.) or
juniper (Juniperus spp.) and herb production (as pinyon or juniper cover
increases, herb production decreases), and that in closed-canopy stands,
junipers can exclude all herbaceous vegetation. In a related study of
vegetative zonation around redberry juniper, slim tridens occurred at
least 3.4 feet (1 m) from the edge of the canopy [22].
Slim tridens is not usually a major component of grasslands but may
contribute up to 10 to 15 percent of the total production on some sites
[20]. Gehlbach [6,7] and Blydenstein [2] reported that slim tridens
increased in importance on study sites where grazing was excluded, which
is in contrast to reports that slim tridens increases in response to
grazing [3,20,23]. According to Leithead [20], abundance of slim
tridens indicates fair to poor range condition.
As a "warm-season", C4 grass, slim tridens has its highest rate of
carbohydrate storage during autumn; therefore defoliation in the fall
can contribute to winter-kill and cause loss of vigor during spring
regrowth. It is recommended that pastures or ranges with an abundance
of such grasses be grazed during the winter and spring [16,22].
Slim tridens is not considered a management species due to its scattered
distribution and low importance value [6,7,12,18,20].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Tridens muticus
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Slim tridens is a caespitose, stoloniferous, perennial grass, 8 to 30
inches (20-80 cm) tall. The bunches are usually narrow, not more than 3
or 4 inches (7 or 10 cm) in diameter [12,15,20]. It is considered a
warm-season grass and exhibits C4 photosynthesis, which is adaptive for
high temperatures and drought conditions [16,22].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Geophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Slim tridens perennates from a shallow rhizome. Vegetative reproduction
occurs through production of stolons [15]. Slim tridens also reproduces
by seed. Seed collected for restoration project seed mixes resulted in
a germination rate (without any attempt at stratification, etc.) of 19.8
percent after 14 days [30].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Slim tridens occurs on dry plains, gravelly slopes, canyons and rocky
hills up to 6,000 feet (1,829 m) [15,24]. It is adapted to
well-drained, calcareous and rocky, sandy or clayey soils [9,20,24,32].
It tends to reach higher densities on the slightly wetter sites, such as
elevations between 4,220 and 5,200 feet (1,286 and 1,585 m) [6].
Common shrub associates not listed as SAF cover types include:
creosotebush (Larrea tridentata), wavyleaf oak (Quercus undulata), gray
oak (Q. grisea), one-seed juniper (Juniperus monosperma), lechuguilla
agave (Agave lechuguilla), smooth sotol (Dasylirion leiophyllum),
Opuntia spp., and catclaw mimosa (Mimosa biuncifera) [3,17,25,28,32].
Other common associates (forbs and grasses) include: skeleton goldeneye
(Viguiera stenoloba), hairy grama (Bouteloua hirsuta), sideoats grama
(B. curtipendula), threeawn (Aristida spp.), hairy tridens (Tridens
pilosum), and curly leaf muhly (Muhlenbergia setifolia) [3,17,25,28,32].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Facultative Seral Species
In a study of secondary succession on plots denuded by mechanical
disturbance, Gehlbach [7] listed slim tridens as dominant in undisturbed
plots. It occurred on disturbed plots only after three growing seasons,
and it increased when cattle grazing was excluded from the site.
Conversely, other authors have listed it as an increaser on
cattle-grazed sites [3,20,23].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Slim tridens is a warm-season grass, beginning growth early in spring
(late March in New Mexico) and actively growing through the summer, but
with most growth in late spring. Two periods of flowering occur: from
April to May and then again September to October. Seed heads are formed
3 to 5 weeks later [1,15,16,24].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Tridens muticus
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Slim tridens perennates from rhizomes that are deep enough in the soil
to resist damage by all but the most extreme fires. The types of
habitats in which it occurs are not usually subject to such extreme
fires because the fuel loading is usually low, and sparse grasses are
often the main carriers of fire [17].
FIRE REGIMES :
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil
Ground residual colonizer (on-site, initial community)
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Tridens muticus
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
A moderately hot fire will kill the aboveground portions of slim
tridens, but survival of the rhizomes is usually good. Extremely hot
fires will cause much more damage, especially among thin grasses not
well protected by the buildup of vegetative material [17].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Perennial grasses in general undergo rapid postfire recovery and are
usually improved as forage. Three years after a wildfire, slim tridens
occurred in abundance with other grasses [17]. In a study to reduce
shrub cover on a site invaded by redberry juniper, slim tridens showed
no significant difference in cover value in the first two growing
seasons after the shrub layer was chained then burned [28]. In other
words, slim tridens was neither damaged nor improved by the fire.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Tridens muticus
REFERENCES :
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northwestern Texas as related to soils and to requirements for range
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