Tumbleweeds, commonly found in Southern California during late summer and early winter, pose a significant fire risk due to their invasive nature. Driven by strong Santa Ana winds, these rolling plants release thousands of seeds, contributing to the spread of wildfires.
Late summer into early winter is when we see tumbleweeds in Southern California, blown about by strong Santa Ana winds. But you may not know how intrusive and dangerous they are."When we have a lot of fires, like we've seen in Southern California recently, these invasive weeds, like tumbleweeds, can really amplify fire risk," Mark Hoddle, an invasive species specialist at UC Riverside, said.
"Then those tumbleweeds just spread across the western United States and they've found a great home here in California," saidWhen"it's healthy and still alive, it's got, I think, a rather attractive green color to it, but it's very prickly, kind of like a thistle, but if you have long pants on, you can pretty much push through it OK, and it won't cause too much damage," Hoddle said.
"All those seeds need to find is a little patch of moist ground, and then they're pretty much established there for a long time," Hoddle said. That’s because the different types of tumbleweeds that have established themselves here have hybridized — something that's thought to be unlikely to happen in their native habitat." There's been a lot of work going into figuring out, well, you know, where did those tumbleweeds come from?" he said.
INVASIVE SPECIES FIRE RISK SANTA ANA WINDS TUMBLEWEEDS BIOLOGICAL CONTROLS
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