Species Brief Template: Plants
Biological characteristics
Life form
- Tree
- Shrub
- Subshrub
- Graminoid
- Vine
- Forb
- Bryophyte
- Fern
- Cactus
Typical lifespan
- year
- 1-5 years
- 5-10 years
- 10-20 years
- 20-50 years
- 50-100 years
- 100-200 years
- 200+ years
- Insufficient information
Life cycle
- Annual
- Biennial
- Perennial
- Insufficient information
Drought tolerance
- High
- Moderate
- Low
- Very low
- Insufficient information
Rooting depth
- Shallow
- Deep
- Medium
- Varies
- Insufficient information
Tree bark thickness at maturity
- Thick
- Thin
- Insufficient information
Tree that sheds low branches
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely/No
- Insufficient information
Reproduction and Regeneration
Adventitious buds
- Epicormic
- Lignotuber
- Rhizomes
- Root sprouts
- Root crown
- Bulb
- Sobol
- Caudex
- Corm
- Tuber
- Tiller
- Stolon
- Yes, unspecified
- None
- Insufficient information
If the source describes the species as layering, select Yes, unspecified.
Time to reproductive maturity
- 0-1 year
- 1-5 years
- 6-10 years
- 11-20 years
- 21-50 years
- 51+ years
- Insufficient information
Soil seed bank longevity
- Transient (<1 year)
- Short-term persistence (1-5 years)
- Long-term persistence (>5 years)
- Insufficient information
Serotinous cones
- Yes
- No
- Insufficient information
If the species has serotinous fruits rather than cones, select Yes and explain in the justification. For forms that bear no cones at all (forbs, sedges, grasses, cacti, etc.), the category does not apply — select N/A, not No.
Seed dispersal mechanism
- Animal
- Wind
- Gravity
- Water
- Insufficient information
Seed dispersal distance
- Short - mostly under parent plant
- Medium
- Long - >1000 m
- Insufficient information
Typical requirements for seedling establishment
- Bare soil
- Litter and/or duff
- Shade
- Sun
- Nurse plant/object
- Insufficient information
Successional Status
Shade tolerance
- Shade tolerant
- Moderately shade tolerant
- Shade intolerant
- Insufficient information
Definitions: Shade tolerant — Survives and grows in low light conditions. Moderately shade tolerant — Survival and growth in low light conditions depends on associates or other site characteristics. Shade intolerant —Cannot survive or growth suffers in low light conditions.
Successional status
- Early
- Mid
- Late
- Insufficient information
Definitions: Early — establishes and persists in early successional stages; Mid — persists in middle successional stages; Late — persists in late successional stages. Multi-select default — response often varies depending on plant community. Note that a species may establish in an earlier stage than it persists in; the response captures persistence stages.
Fire
Primary fire response(s) or adaptation(s)
- Resist
- Recover/Resprout
- Recruit
- Fire Sensitive
- Insufficient information
Definitions: Resist — above-ground parts survive the fire (thick insulating bark, protected buds, self-pruning lower branches → survives low-to-moderate intensity surface fires). Recover/Resprout — top-killed or damaged plants sprout new growth from protected energy reserves (root crowns, rhizomes, bulbs, epicormic buds). Recruit — regenerates via seed soon after fire; fire stimulates germination or creates conditions (bare mineral soil, light) for establishment. Seeds widely dispersed (invader) or long-lived in soil/canopy (evader). Fire Sensitive — relatively high probability of injury/death by fire; typically killed with limited postfire recruitment. Often late-successional species that slowly reinvade and have essentially no fire adaptations.
Germination is fire stimulated
Fire-stimulated germination: plant seeds that remain dormant in soil or litter until specific cues produced by fire — heat, smoke, or char — break the seed's physical or chemical dormancy and trigger germination (e.g. heat cracks or melts the seed coat so the seed can imbibe and germinate). Interpret this narrowly: a dormancy-breaking fire cue. Post-fire seedling flushes caused by opened canopy, bare mineral seedbed, or reduced competition are not fire-stimulated germination — note those in the justification but do not select Often/Sometimes on that basis.
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely/No
- Insufficient information
Flowering/fruiting is fire stimulated
Fire-stimulated flowering: plants flower more profusely, synchronously, or exclusively after fire.
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely/No
- Insufficient information
Plant flammability
- Low
- Medium
- High
- Insufficient information
Early colonizer/recolonizer of burned or disturbed sites
- Frequently
- Sometimes
- Rarely/No
- Insufficient information
If there is information about fire severity or other characteristics that affects colonization, include it in the justification rather than the response. Multiple responses are allowed when the species behaves differently across conditions.
Effect of fire exclusion on population
- Increase
- Decrease
- Possible increase
- Possible decrease
- Different patterns throughout range
- Insufficient information
Is this species typically managed with prescribed fire?
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely/No
- Insufficient information
Predominant historical fire frequencies of ecosystem where it most commonly occurs
- Frequent
- Mid-frequency
- Infrequent
- Insufficient information
Definitions: Frequent (0-35 years); Mid-frequency (35-200 years); Infrequent (200+ years). Multi-select when the species occurs across multiple ecosystem types with different fire return intervals.
Predominant historical fire severity where it most commonly occurs
- Low
- Mixed
- Replacement
- Insufficient information
Definitions: Low (<26% canopy replacement); Mixed (26-75%); Replacement (>75%). Multi-select when the species occurs across multiple ecosystem types with different fire severity regimes.
Fire regime group | Characteristic
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- Insufficient information
Definitions: 1 — frequency 0-35 years, severity low/mixed; 2 — frequency 0-35 years, severity replacement; 3 — frequency 35-200 years, severity low/mixed; 4 — frequency 35-200 years, severity replacement; 5 — frequency 200+ years, severity replacement/any. Multi-select allowed when the species spans ecosystems in different groups.
Alters historical fuel characteristics of ecosystems where it occurs
- Yes, invasive species
- Yes, native occurring outside of historical range/density
- Yes, other
- Rarely/No
- Insufficient information
Examples of "Yes": invasive species that increases fuel load or fuel connectivity; native species that alters litter/understory flammability; native species occurring at higher density than historically.