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Copyright
2003 The Associated Press
The Cedar Fire, which started on October
24, 2003, and spread rapidly over the weekend, burned our study
site on the Elliot Chaparral
Reserve northeast of San Diego. This photo shows a hillside on the Mirimar
Naval Air Base next to Interstate 15. The fire, which burned over
100,000 acres in the first two days and about 400,000 acres overall,
crossed the interstate near here.
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Post-fire recovery of an obligate plant-pollinator
mutualism
Photo gallery |
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The above map (courtesy of the US Forest Service) shows
the locations and status of fires throughout southern California as of
October 26, 2003. I have superimposed three of our research sites. The
Sky Oaks Reserve (SDSU)
burned in late
July 2003. The Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve (SMER; SDSU) is near
the Camp Pendleton fire, but escaped damage. The Elliot
Chaparral
Reserve (UCSD) is between the Mirimar Marine Air Base and the Scripps Ranch
subdivision, just south of Pomerado Road. It burned in the
Cedar Fire. |
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"Before" and "after" at Elliot
Reserve. The picture to the left was taken in May 2002. The picture
to the right was taken
by the director
of the Elliot Reserve, Isabelle Kay, on November 3, 2003. Notice
that some H. whipplei survived with minimal damage. Even most heavily
damaged plants managed to survive.
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The burned plants in this photo that look like pineapples
are H.
whipplei.
The leaves that are visible have been killed by the heat from the
fire, but inner leaves remained green. These plants survived the
fire and
are making a strong comeback. Approximately 90% of the established
yuccas at our study site survived, and many flowered in 2004..
This photo also shows the Scripps Ranch Development as seen from
our study site at the Elliot Reserve (looking NW). These houses escaped
the
fire.
Most of the houses that burned are just on the other side of the burned trees
in the upper right of the photograph.
Photo taken by Isabelle Kay 11/03/03
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