Rare Plant Restoration and Monitoring at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Site 300, Project Progress Report, Fiscal Year 2005 and 2006.

Literature Review on the Effects of Prescription Fire on theEcology of Site 300

“…Burn treatments on experimental large-flowered fiddleneck (Amsinckia grandiflora) populations have had mixed results (Paterson et al 2005). Large-flowered fiddleneck appears to be more abundant in unburned than in burned plots.…”

“…Fire causes direct mortality of big tarplant (Blepharizonia plumosa) (Jones & Stokes 2002;Paterson et al 2005). In a seeming contradiction, big tarplant appears to be most abundant in areas that have been burned (Jones & Stokes 2002), possibly because fire enhances seedling recruitment or reduces competition with annual grasses (Paterson et al 2005).…”

“…Fire causes direct mortality of big tarplant (Blepharizonia plumosa) (Jones & Stokes 2002;Paterson et al 2005). In a seeming contradiction, big tarplant appears to be most abundant in areas that have been burned (Jones & Stokes 2002), possibly because fire enhances seedling recruitment or reduces competition with annual grasses (Paterson et al 2005). Soil moisture availability may also be an important factor influencing big tarplant population dynamics (Jones & Stokes 2002), and the adverse effect of fire on soil moisture availability (Bennett et al 2002;Snyman 2002Snyman , 2003) may be a reason that big tarplant seedlings in unburned areas are larger than those in burned areas (Paterson et al 2005).…”

“…In a seeming contradiction, big tarplant appears to be most abundant in areas that have been burned (Jones & Stokes 2002), possibly because fire enhances seedling recruitment or reduces competition with annual grasses (Paterson et al 2005). Soil moisture availability may also be an important factor influencing big tarplant population dynamics (Jones & Stokes 2002), and the adverse effect of fire on soil moisture availability (Bennett et al 2002;Snyman 2002Snyman , 2003) may be a reason that big tarplant seedlings in unburned areas are larger than those in burned areas (Paterson et al 2005). Further study is needed to understand the relationship between fire and the ecology of big tarplant and to determine if fire may be needed as a tool for managing annual grasses where big tarplant occurs.…”

“…Montalvo et al (2002) found that smoke treatments enhanced germination of dormant California poppy (E. californica) seeds, and perhaps periodic fires would similarly benefit diamond-petaled poppy by producing a burst of recruitment. In addition, the abundance of plants appears to be negatively associated with high amounts of thatch (Paterson et al 2005), suggesting that fire might have a positive effect on recruitment.…”