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This study assesses the impact of four fire treatments applied yearly over 3 y, i.e. early fire, mid-season fire, late fire and no fire treatments, on the grass communities of Lamto savanna, Ivory Coast. We describe communities of perennial tussock grasses on three replicated 5 × 5-m or 10 × 5-m plots of each fire treatment. Tussock density did not vary with fire treatment. The relative abundance of grass species, the circumference of grass tussocks and the probability of having a tussock with a central die-back, varied with fire treatment. Mid-season fire had the highest proportion of tussocks with a central die-back while the late fire had the smallest tussocks. Tussock density, circumference, relative abundance and probability of having a central die-back varied with species. Andropogon canaliculatus and Hyparrhenia diplandra were the most abundant of the nine grass species. They had the largest tussocks and the highest proportion of tussock with a central die-back. Loudetia simplex was the third most abundant species but was very rare in no fire plots. The distribution of tussock circumferences was right skewed and dominated by small tussocks. The proportion of the tussocks with a central die-back strongly increased with circumference, which could lead to tussock fragmentation. Taken together, this study suggests that fire regimes impact grass demography and that this impact depends on grass species and tussock size.

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Questions Perennial tussock grasses represent the principal fuel source for savanna fires; however, basic information about the impact of fire on their demography remains scarce. Do dominant perennial grass species differ in their demographic parameters? What is the overall impact of tussock circumference and fire regimes on grass demographic parameters? Do grass species differ in the sensitivity of their demographic parameters to fire regimes and tussock circumference? Location The study site is located in the savanna of the Lamto reserve, in the center of Ivory Coast (6°9′ to 6°18′ N, 5°15′ to 4°57′ E). Methods Data on the nine dominant species of tussock grasses were sampled over one year under four fire treatments (early fire, mid‐season fire, late fire and no fire). We studied the impact of these fire treatments and tussock circumference on five demographic parameters: mortality, fragmentation (the division of a tussock into several smaller ones), growth, retrogression (the decrease in tussock size) and fecundity. Results All demographic parameters varied among species and across the fire regimes. Late fire had the largest negative effect on all parameters except fecundity. Schizachyrium platyphyllum was the most disadvantaged species by fire in terms of mortality, retrogression and growth, whilst Andropogon ascinodis was the most prone to fragmentation. Hyparrhenia smithiana and Sorghastrum bipennatum produced the most seeds and Brachiaria brachylopha produced the most new tussocks. The circumference of perennial grasses impacted all demographic parameters. Small individuals had the highest mortality and growth rates, while large individuals showed the highest fragmentation and retrogression rates, and produced the most seeds. Conclusions This study showed that perennial grass species differed in their sensitivity to fire treatments. Nevertheless, the mid‐season fire could be advised to managers for the sustainable management of the Lamto savanna.

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This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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In mesic savannas worldwide, trees experience frequent fires, almost all set by humans. Management fires are set to reduce or enhance tree cover. Success depends greatly on responses of sub‐adult trees to such fires. To date, the number of successive years that sub‐adult trees can resprout nor the number of years that they must resist being top‐killed by successive fires, nor the requisite height, have been reported. In a 6‐year experimental field study in Guinean savannas of West Africa, we monitored annually the heights and responses of 1,765 permanently tagged sub‐adult trees under annual fires set in three different periods of the long dry season: early‐dry season (EDS), mid‐dry season (MDS) and late‐dry season (LDS). Annual MDS fires are the common local management protocols of Guinean savannas, although EDS fires are common in some of the savannas. Results showed that overall, the proportion of sub‐adults that resisted being top‐killed differed across fire seasons. Furthermore, resisting one fire gave a better chance of resisting the next. Only sub‐adults that were able to resist direct damage for three successive EDS and MDS fires reached sufficient height to be recruited to the adult stage. Resistance height (avoiding topkill) was ∼1 m for EDS and ∼2 m for both MDS and LDS fires. Recruitment height (threshold for transition to adult stage) was ∼3 m for EDS and ∼ 3.3 m for MDS fires. No height was great enough for sub‐adult trees to be recruited to adult stages in LDS fire. Synthesis and applications. The results of this novel field study showed clearly that successive early‐ and mi‐dry season fires can enhance tree density and that successive late‐dry season fires alone reduce tree density in Guinean savannas due to the effects of successive fires on sub‐adult trees. The results suggest that a planned regime of these seasons of fire could be used to maintain the desired tree density in Guinean savannas and may inform fire management in other mesic savannas where goals are to increase or decrease tree densities. It also provides relevant information for comparative studies on the mechanisms of recruitment of sub‐adult trees to an adult stage in all mesic savannas, a process that ultimately determines savanna physiognomy.