More info for the terms:
competition,
cover,
fire occurrence,
fuel,
litter,
root crown,
shrub,
shrubsLittle information is available regarding cliff fendlerbush fire ecology and
adaptations. Erdman [
7] suggested that cliff fendlerbush probably recovers
after fire by sprouting from the root crown. Pinyon-juniper communities
where cliff fendlerbush is commonly found historically burned every 10 to 30
years, which favored dominance by grasses. However, for the last 70
years, heavy livestock grazing has reduced grass competition and fuel,
and shrub cover has increased. This has decreased fire occurrence and
lowered the intensity of fires that do occur [
27,
28]. On 23 grazed
transects in desert shrub communities where cliff fendlerbush occurs in the
Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico, shrubs had only 6.4 to 6.6 percent
cover. Bare ground cover was 33.8 to 42.4 percent, and litter cover was
6.1 to 12 percent [
25].