Classifying the fire‐response traits of plants: How reliable are species‐level classifications?

Vivian, Lyndsey M.; Doherty, Michael; Cary, Geoffrey J.

doi:10.1111/j.1442-9993.2009.02032.x

Cited by 22 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…At the outset, we acknowledge that populations of various taxa may exhibit some degree of variability (both genetic and environmental) with respect to fire response, time to first seeding, and seedbank longevity traits (Vivian et al. , 2010).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire persistence traits can be used to predict vegetation response to changing fire regimes at expansive landscape scales – an Australian example

Russell‐Smith

Gardener

Brock³

et al. 2012

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim Building on a substantial literature addressing the fire responses of woody plants, particularly under mediterranean climates, we assess the extent to which fire persistence traits can be used to predict vegetation responses to fire regime changes in fire‐prone arid and savanna landscape settings. Location Australia, applying data from arid central to monsoonal northern regions (11–26° S, 129–138° E). Methods With reference to a substantial sub‐continental floristics dataset, we first assigned the fire response (obligate seeder, resprouter) and seedbank persistence (transient, dormant) of rapid and longer‐maturing (> 3 years) woody taxa. Using logistic regression, we then modelled the proportions of taxa possessing these traits as a function of mean annual rainfall (highly correlated with fire frequency) and terrain roughness (a measure of topographic variability) in 0.25° × 0.25° and 1° × 1° grid cells. Separate assessments were undertaken with datasets for 1264 sclerophyll and 236 rain forest taxa. Results This woody flora is characterized by taxa exhibiting mostly resprouting and dormant seedbank traits that promote site persistence. While numbers of obligate seeder and resprouter taxa were related positively to both rainfall and roughness, the relative abundance of both sclerophyll and rain forest obligate seeders decreased significantly with rainfall. The relative abundance of sclerophyll (especially long‐lived) obligate seeders alone increased with topographic roughness. The proportion of taxa with transient seedbanks increased with rainfall in resprouters generally, and in rain forest obligate seeders alone. Main conclusions We find that resprouters are favoured on more productive, fire‐prone sites, and obligate seeders are favoured in less productive, more fire‐protected settings. Seedbank persistence responses are more variable. These findings concur generally with theoretical constructs, and support comparable assessments in Australian and other fire‐prone systems ranging from mediterranean to boreal environments. Our observations illustrate that resprouting and obligate seeding syndromes, but not necessarily seedbank persistence, are useful predictors of vegetation responses to changing fire regime conditions at large landscape scales.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire persistence traits can be used to predict vegetation response to changing fire regimes at expansive landscape scales – an Australian example

Russell‐Smith

Gardener

Brock³

et al. 2012

Journal of Biogeography

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“…Similar to the overall high survival observed in this study, high post-fire survival and resprouting has been reported in previous studies of remnant grassy woodlands (Knox & Clarke 2004). Vivian et al 2010) or reduced mortality as a result of small-scale variation in fire intensity (Gill 1981) may have contributed to high survival of species classified as obligate seeders. Contrary to expectations, obligate seeders showed similar survival in burnt and unburnt sites for tubestock and remnant woodlands.…”

Section: Survivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within-species variation in fire response (e.g. Vivian et al 2010) or reduced mortality as a result of small-scale variation in fire intensity (Gill 1981) may have contributed to high survival of species classified as obligate seeders. In addition, the low survival of individual Acacia plants that could not be identified to the species level may have inflated the survival of obligate seeders in revegetation sites.…”

Section: Survivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post‐fire recovery of revegetated woodland communities in south‐eastern Australia

Pickup

Wilson²,

Freudenberger³

et al. 2012

Austral Ecology

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The primary goal of restoration is to create self-sustaining ecological communities that are resilient to periodic disturbance. Currently, little is known about how restored communities respond to disturbance events such as fire and how this response compares to remnant vegetation. Following the 2003 fires in south-eastern Australia we examined the post-fire response of revegetation plantings and compared this to remnant vegetation. Ten burnt and 10 unburnt (control) sites were assessed for each of three types of vegetation (direct seeding revegetation, revegetation using nursery seedlings (tubestock) and remnant woodland). Sixty sampling sites were surveyed 6 months after fire to quantify the initial survival of mid-and overstorey plant species in each type of vegetation. Three and 5 years after fire all sites were resurveyed to assess vegetation structure, species diversity and vigour, as well as indicators of soil function. Overall, revegetation showed high (>60%) post-fire survival, but this varied among species depending on regeneration strategy (obligate seeder or resprouter). The native ground cover, mid-and overstorey in both types of plantings showed rapid recovery of vegetation structure and cover within 3 years of fire.This recovery was similar to the burnt remnant woodlands. Non-native (exotic) ground cover initially increased after fire, but was no different in burnt and unburnt sites 5 years after fire. Fire had no effect on species richness, but burnt direct seeding sites had reduced species diversity (Simpson's Diversity Index) while diversity was higher in burnt remnant woodlands. Indices of soil function in all types of vegetation had recovered to levels found in unburnt sites 5 years after fire. These results indicate that even young revegetation (stands <10 years old) showed substantial recovery from disturbance by fire.This suggests that revegetation can provide an important basis for restoring woodland communities in the fire-prone Australian environment.

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“…It is unwise to burn most Australian heaths at an interval of less than 8-10 years because of the potential loss of obligate seed regenerators (Bradstock and Myerscough 1981;Bradstock et al 1997;Gill and Stephens 2009), however, our results strongly suggest that too frequent fire is currently not a problem, and that more frequent planned burning should be undertaken in the coastal heathlands of south-eastern Tasmania. Furthermore, since different populations of the same species can vary in their capacity to resprout or regenerate from seed after fire, it may be more useful to consider the fire response at a population level, rather than considering species response traits individually (Vivian et al 2010). Burning should take place before heath turns into scrub, as burning after this transition may fail to regenerate a substantial subset of native species, and merely reinforce the dominance of the species constituting the scrub.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transition from heathland to scrub in south-eastern Tasmania: extent of change since the 1970s, floristic depletion and management implications

Bargmann

Kirkpatrick

2014

Biodivers Conserv

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Heathland is a speciose and floriferous vegetation type, defined by its stature (\2 m) and dominance by scleromorphic shrubs. Heathland has been in decline globally, and much of its loss has been due to less frequent fire, while in some places more frequent fire has resulted in degradation through the loss of obligate seeding species. The aims of the present study were to determine: (1) the extent of the transition from heathland to scrub in south-eastern Tasmania, Australia between c1976 and 2013; (2) the spatial attributes of heathland that are likely to have been the most instrumental in heathland loss; (3) whether the transition to scrub resulted in the loss of local species richness and changed species composition when taking both above ground vegetation and the soil seed bank into account; and (4) the implications of the answers to the first three questions for heathland management. Changes in heathland and scrub extent were mapped from remote sensing imagery and ground truthing. At one locality with floristic data from the heathland of 1976, the scrub that has replaced the heathland was surveyed and soil collected to determine seed banks under heating and non-heating treatments. Approximately one third of the 1976 heathland had become scrub by 2013, mostly around the margins of heathland patches and near built up areas. Twenty-two species present in 1976 were not found in either the scrub or seed bank, with only three species absent from the scrub, but present in the 1976 heath, being found in the seed bank. The species composition of germinates in the unheated treatment was dominated by taxa that colonise mechanically disturbed areas, such as Juncus, while germinates in the heat treated soils were largely scleromorphic heath species. The depletion of species richness by the transition to scrub, and the large extent of its 123Biodivers Conserv (2015) 24:213-228 DOI 10.1007 incidence, suggest that a higher frequency of planned fire is needed in south-eastern Tasmania.

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Classifying the fire‐response traits of plants: How reliable are species‐level classifications?

Cited by 22 publications

References 39 publications

Fire persistence traits can be used to predict vegetation response to changing fire regimes at expansive landscape scales – an Australian example

Fire persistence traits can be used to predict vegetation response to changing fire regimes at expansive landscape scales – an Australian example

Post‐fire recovery of revegetated woodland communities in south‐eastern Australia

Transition from heathland to scrub in south-eastern Tasmania: extent of change since the 1970s, floristic depletion and management implications

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