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Abstract
In recent decades thousands of hectares of saguaro habitat burned by wildfire have converted to grasslands. Historically, this was desirable and saguaro-shrub was burned to improve rangeland for livestock. New priorities now support conservation of healthy saguaro communities and restoration of burned or degraded habitat. Understanding regeneration and developing restoration techniques for fire-scarred saguaro-shrub habitat requires understanding post-fire community response. Regeneration of vegetation associated with saguaro is crucial for saguaro regeneration. However, little information exists on post-fire dynamics of this desert community. In previous papers we reported that saguaro mortality increased from 19 to 30 percent over 10 years. Additionally, fire stalled the growth of burned compared to unburned saguaro. Furthermore, many associated species regenerated shortly after fire either from seed or by sprouting. This paper describes the natural progression of post-fire changes in the plants associated with saguaro 10 years after the 1993 Vista View fire. Interestingly, successive post-fire years of observations show that some saguaro associated plant species responded similarly to the saguaro—after sprouting, growth rates stalled for some while others eventually died. The long-term survival of all plant species in the saguaro-shrub need to be studied so future conservation or restoration resources may be effectively applied.
Parent Publication
Citation
Narog, Marcia; Wilson, Ruth. 2005. Post-fire saguaro community: impacts on associated vegetation still apparent 10 years later [Abstract]. In: Gottfried, Gerald J.; Gebow, Brooke S.; Eskew, Lane G.; Edminster, Carleton B., comps. Connecting mountain islands and desert seas: biodiversity and management of the Madrean Archipelago II. Proc. RMRS-P-36. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 599. Abstract
