Burning season does not affect post‐fire regeneration but fire alters the balance of the dominant species in a seeder‐dominated Mediterranean shrubland

Abstract

Question: In a seeder-dominated shrubland, does burning season affect postfire regeneration? Are herbs and shrubs similarly affected? Is the dominance of the main species modified by burning and its timing?Location: Los Puntales, Sierra Morena (C ordoba, southern Spain). Methods:The shrubland was 12 yr old, dominated by several species of Cistus, among the main seeders. Four blocks, each containing plots of 25 9 25 m, were burned in late May (early season, ES) and late September (late season, LS) with similar fire intensity. Woody plant density and woody and herbaceous cover and richness were monitored during the first three post-fire years and compared to pre-fire using ANOVA and ordination techniques.Results: Burning season did not affect cover of the herbaceous or woody species in general, nor cover of the main groups (monocots, dicots, annuals and perennials) or density of the main woody species 3 yr after fire. Fire, however, differentially affected the relative abundance of the main shrub species. Ordination analysis showed that, while succession of herbaceous species was on track to convergence with the pre-fire vegetation, this was not the case for the woody species.Conclusions: Burning season was not a significant factor in altering the postfire regeneration in this seeder-dominated shrubland. Thus, the temporal window for prescribed fires is large, and both seasons could equally be used for management purposes. However, changes in the relative dominance of species due to fire indicate that managers should be alert when this shrubland burns.

Multiple fire-related cues stimulate germination inChaenorhinum rubrifolium(Plantaginaceae), a rare annual in the Mediterranean Basin

“…Our results on C. rubrifolium constitute a step towards explaining the physiology of the well-known post-fire establishment behaviour of annual plants in the Mediterranean Basin. Indeed, the stimulation of germination with several fire-related cues in our laboratory experiments is in accordance with the field observations on the seedling emergence of C. rubrifolium in the first year after a fire (Céspedes et al, 2014;G. Ergan et al, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey, unpublished observations).…”

“…1A). Although there were a few observations of the post-fire emergence of C. rubrifolium (Céspedes et al, 2014;G. Ergan et al, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey, unpublished observations), nothing is known about the mechanism of population regeneration by germination following fire.…”

Fire season modifies the perennial plant community composition through a differential effect on obligate seeders in eastern Mediterranean woodlands

“…A similar result was reported in a previous study, in the western Mediterranean Basin, examining the effect of fire season on germination density from the soil seed bank (Céspedes et al., ). A vegetation survey in this same experimental system revealed no significant differences in the abundances of resprouters and seeders between burning seasons (Céspedes, Torres, Perez, Luna, & Moreno, ). Other studies asserted that germination of obligate seeders is affected by time between the physical dormancy break of seeds by fire heat and the onset of the rainy season (Daskalakou & Thanos, ; Ooi, Auld, & Whelan, ; Pausas, Ribeiro, & Vallejo, ; Prevosto, Gavinet, Ripert, & Fernandez, ).…”

Taxonomic notes on the genus Chaenorhinum (Plantaginaceae) in Turkey

“…Our research indicated that seeds of this species have a high-level of dormancy, and they germinate only when some fire-related germination cues are applied (Tavşanoğlu et al 2017). This germination behaviour of this annual species can explain why it is scarce, and can be found in recently burned Mediterranean sites (Céspedes et al 2014, Tavşanoğlu et al 2017. Fernandes (1971) defined three subspecies and two forms for European C. rubrifolium, and following his treatment, Sutton (1988) divided the species into four subspecies: subsp.…”