Presenting pieces of a larger puzzle

Written By: Dr. Jennifer Fill

My colleague and fellow postdoc Dr. Carolina Baruzzi and I recently presented a very brief overview of wiregrass’s niche in pine savannas. Or I should say- what we currently know about it! To view our recent presentation for the Florida Native Plant Society Lunch & Learn, visit their YouTube channel. Last week, Dr. Baruzzi also discussed our work with Dr. Marcus Lashley for the Fire University Podcast on an episode titled, “Planting the Idea for More Fire.”

While preparing the Florida Native Plant Society talk, I reflected on how much our lab has learned about wiregrass ecology over the last few years, and how much “wiregrass watchers” (to use Andy Clewell’s phrase from his 1989 natural history paper) have learned about how wiregrass functions in these ecosystems over the last several decades. For example, I myself first met wiregrass in late summer 2009. On one of my introductory visits to pine savannas, I remember walking around in a sunny, pine flatwoods stand that had not burned in several years. I wobbled over the thick bunchgrass bases covered by a bumpy mat of stems. What a strange plant! Just lying there until fire would move through, consume the litter, and clean house for the flower display that would appear six months afterwards.

In November, I saw some of the most beautiful stands of flowering wiregrass. I heard for the first time that decades ago, people thought it never produced any seed.

Although once thought to be a sterile grass, wiregrass is now appreciated for its post-fire flowering, and researchers and practitioners have made great strides towards understanding its seed ecology, including how fire regimes influence the amount and quality of the seed and best practices for using seeds in restoration. Although it is often slow-going to find the pieces for these puzzles, bit by bit we’re excited to be adding chapters to the story!