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Questions:In fire-prone ecosystems, fire can enhance the flowering and fruiting of many species, a strategy assumed to be well represented in savanna. Despite this, there are surprisingly few studies assessing how prevalent fire-stimulated flowering is. Thus, we asked: (a) are there differences in the reproductive phenology of Cerrado plants between recently burned and unburned areas; (b) how does fire affect the speed of flowering and how does this differ between growth forms; and (c) what are the post-fire flowering (PFF) strategies of Cerrado species and is there evidence for high proportions of obligate PFF? Location: Open savannas (campo sujo in the Cerrado) in Central Brazil (Reserva Natural Serra do Tombador -RNST, 13°35-13°38' S and 47°45'-47°51' W).Methods: We established six plots, three recently and frequently burned (FB) and three excluded from fire for six years (E). In all treatments, the number of species flowering and fruiting was counted every 15 days for three months, and then at six, nine and 12 months after fire. We also counted the number of reproductive and vegetative shoots in 10 subplots (1 m × 1 m) per plot.Results: Approximately 66% of species studied were fire-stimulated, with half of these only flowering after fire (obligate PFF). Fire-enhanced flowering was rapid, with the clearest differences between burned and unburned plots seen in the first 30 days, and up to three months after fire, where there were up to two times more species flowering in the FB than E areas. Conclusions:The extremely high proportion of PFF species, at least five times that reported for heathlands and other shrub communities, highlights the role that shortinterval fire regimes have in savanna ecosystems, selecting for resprouting life forms and PFF dominance, particularly in herbaceous species. Rapid post-fire reproduction may be a strategy to disperse large quantities of seed into an environment with a small recruitment window.

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Advancing functional ecology depends fundamentally on the availability of data on reproductive traits, including those from tropical plants, which have been historically underrepresented in global trait databases. Although some valuable databases have been created recently, they are mainly restricted to temperate areas and vegetative traits such as leaf and wood traits. Here, we present Rock n' Seeds, a database of seed functional traits and germination experiments from Brazilian rock outcrop vegetation, recognized as outstanding For affiliation refer to page 2

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Invasive plants often change fire regimes, nutrient cycles, and replace native species (D' Antonio & Vitousek, 1992, Mack et al. 2000, Vilá et al., 2011. Invasive success usually relies on a better performance of the invader compared with natives due to, for example, release from natural enemies and competitors (Levine et al., 2004), and fluctuations in resources that follows disturbances and that coincides with availability of propagules from invasive species (Davis et al., 2000). Establishment of mutualisms with native animals, such as pollination and seed dispersal, is also a key to invasive success (Richardson et al., 2000). As seed dispersal is important for patch colonization of plants, knowledge about dispersal of propagules is crucial to manage and control invasive species (Puth & Post, 2005).Signalgrass Urochloa decumbens (Stapf) R.D. Webster (syn.Brachiaria decumbens Stapf) is a perennial C4 African grass introduced in Brazil for cattle ranching in the 50s (Miles et al., 1996). This grass became popular and now ~45% of the Cerrado (~500,000 km²) is occupied by pastures planted with U. decumbens and other African grasses (Klink & Machado, 2005). Urochloa spp. (hereafter Urochloa) are aggressive invaders in tropical savannas and grasslands, including most of the protected areas of Cerrado (Durigan et al., 2007;

Fire regimes play an important role in the flowering of several plant species. Frequent fires may have a positive impact by reducing dormancy levels, while fire exclusion may lead to decreased flower abundance due to competition (Coates et al., 2006). Post-fire flowering is a fire-adaptive trait that has been primarily described for Mediterranean-climate vegetation (Lamont & Downes, 2011). However, it is present in several families in different flammable ecosystems, although mostly described among monocots, such as orchids and grasses (Lamont & Downes, 2011). Grasses are less studied in this regard and may have their flowering affected by fire (Monasterio & Sarmiento, 1976), although it is not clear how fire stimulates grass flowering and how interaction between fire season (wet-and dry-season fires) and history affect grass phenology.Post-fire flowering may occur through the direct effect of heat on