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Fire in North American Wetland Ecosystems and Fire-Wildlife Relations: An Annotated Bibliography

223. Simms, E. L. 1983. The growth, reproduction, and nutrient dynamics of two 
          pocosin shrubs, the evergreen Lyonia lucida and the deciduous Zenobia 
          puluerulenta (profile analysis, wetlands, fire). Ph.D. Dissertation. 
          Duke University, Durham, NC. 186 pp.

A 20 to 40 year fire cycle controls nutrient availability in nutrient-deficient pocosins. Compensatory growth response to fire in plants resprouting from underground rhizomes may be due to destruction of aboveground parts, to fertilization, or both. Rather than being adapted to different nutrient regimes, the species studied (fetterbush lyonia and zenobia), despite differences in response to fertilization, are adapted to highly competitive conditions in which fire occasionally destroys aboveground parts, increases the likelihood of seedling establishment, and enhances the availability of the limiting nutrient, phosphorus. [From author's abstract]

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