Register      Login
International Journal of Wildland Fire International Journal of Wildland Fire Society
Journal of the International Association of Wildland Fire
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Post-fire epicormic branching in Sierra Nevada Abies concolor (white fir)

Chad T. Hanson A and Malcolm P. North B C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A University of California at Davis, Graduate Group in Ecology, Department of Plant Sciences, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA.

B USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Sierra Nevada Research Center, 2121 2nd Avenue, Suite A-101, Davis, CA 95616, USA.

C Corresponding author. Email: mpnorth@ucdavis.edu

International Journal of Wildland Fire 15(1) 31-35 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF05019
Submitted: 8 February 2005  Accepted: 22 September 2005   Published: 6 March 2006

Abstract

In California’s mixed-conifer forest, which historically had a regime of frequent fires, two conifers, Sequoiadendron giganteum and Pseudotsuga menziesii, were previously known to produce epicormic sprouts from branches. We found epicormic branching in a third mixed-conifer species, Abies concolor, 3 and 4 years after a wildfire in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Sprouting occurred only from the boles. We investigated (1) whether the degree of crown loss and the extent of epicormic branching were independent; and (2) whether epicormic branching differed by tree size. The vertical extent of epicormic foliage increased with increasing severity of crown loss. There was a significantly greater proportion of large diameter-class (>50 cm diameter at breast height [dbh]) trees with epicormic branching than small/medium diameter-class (25–50 cm dbh) trees. These results suggest large diameter Abies concolor may survive high levels of crown loss, aided by crown replacement through epicormic branching, but that reiterative green foliage may not appear for up to 3 years after fire damage. If this response is widespread, it would suggest some ‘dying’ trees logged under current salvage guidelines could survive, and that higher-intensity fire may substantially reduce the density of small post-fire suppression white fir, while retaining many larger overstory trees.

Additional keywords: California; mixed conifer; salvage logging; traumatic crown reiteration.


References


Bégin C , Filion L (1999) Black spruce (Picea mariana) architecture. Canadian Journal of Botany  77, 664–672.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Cluck D, Smith SL (2001) ‘Crystal Fire marking guidelines for fire injured trees.’ USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region Forest Health Protection Report #NE01-8. (Susanville, CA)

Cosens RD (1952) Epicormic branching on pruned white fir. Journal of Forestry  50, 939–940.
Kramer PJ, Kozlowski TT (1979) ‘Physiology of woody plants.’ (Academic Press: New York)

McHugh CW , Kolb TE (2003) Ponderosa pine mortality following fire in northern Arizona. International Journal of Wildland Fire  12, 7–22.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Minnich RA, Barbour MG, Burk JH , Sosa-Ramirez J (2000) Californian mixed-conifer forests under unmanaged fire regimes in the Sierra San Pedro Martir, Baja California, Mexico. Journal of Biogeography  27, 105–129.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Peterson DL , Ryan KC (1986) Modeling postfire conifer mortality for long-range planning. Environmental Management  10, 797–808.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Piene H , Eveleigh ES (1996) Spruce budworm defoliation in young balsam fir: the ‘green’ tree phenomenon. The Canadian Entomologist  128, 1101–1107.


Russell WH, McBride J , Rowntree R (1998) Revegetation after four stand-replacing fires in the Lake Tahoe basin. Madrono  45, 40–46.


Ryan KC , Reinhardt ED (1988) Predicting postfire mortality of seven western conifers. Canadian Journal of Forest Research  18, 1291–1297.


Ryan KC, Peterson DL , Reinhardt ED (1988) Modeling long-term fire-caused mortality of Douglas-fir. Forest Science  34, 190–199.


Shaw CG (1985) Decline and mortality of Chamaecyparis nootkatensis in southeastern Alaska, a problem of long duration but unknown cause. Plant Disease  69, 13–17.


Stephens SL , Finney MA (2002) Prescribed fire mortality of Sierra Nevada mixed conifer tree species: effects of crown damage and forest floor combustion. Forest Ecology and Management  162, 261–271.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Stephens SL, Skinner CN , Gill SJ (2003) Dendrochronology-based fire history of Jeffrey pine-mixed conifer forests in the Sierra San Pedro Martir, Mexico. Canadian Journal of Forest Research  33, 1090–1101.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Stone EL , Stone MH (1943) Dormant buds in certain species of Pinus. American Journal of Botany  30, 346–351.


Swezy MD , Agee JK (1991) Prescribed-fire effects on fine-root and tree mortality in old-growth ponderosa pine. Canadian Journal of Forest Research  21, 626–634.


van Mantgem PJ, Stephenson NL, Mutch LS, Johnson VG, Esperanza AM , Parsons DJ (2003) Growth rate predicts mortality of Abies concolor in both burned and unburned stands. Canadian Journal of Forest Research  33, 102–138.