Early post‐fire regeneration of a Pinus halepensis forest on Mount Párnis, Greece

Abstract

The post-fire regeneration of a 45-yr-old Pinus halepensis (Aleppo pine) forest, burned in July 1989, has been studied on Mount P h i s , Attiki, Greece. Four experimental plots at various slopes and exposures were established at altitudes of 400 -450 m, and monitored for 3 yr at 3-month intervals. Early regeneration took place abundantly, through both resprouting and seed germination of mostly hard-seeded herbs and shrubs; the floristic richness was high with 80 taxa. Pine seedling emergence took place during the winter of the first post-fire year. The mean pine seedling density by the end of the recruitment period (March 1990) was 5 -6 seedlings/m2. This density decreased slightly during late spring and considerably during summer. During the second post-fire year only a relatively slight decline was observed; thereafter the density was stabilized to 1 -2 seedlings/m2. Mortality follows a negative exponential curve that levels off at ca. 20 ' %. Height distributions throughout the three post-fire years were all positively skewed as a result of the presence of few very tall saplings. A considerable fraction (20 %) of very short (5 -15 cm) saplings were still alive 39 months after the fire; these may constitute the sapling bank. Based on the analysis of height distribution curves, it is concluded that the taller seedlings survived significantly better than the shorter ones.

Burn severity influence on post-fire vegetation cover resilience from Landsat MESMA fraction images time series in Mediterranean forest ecosystems

“…pinaster is a seeder. Similar to other Mediterranean Pinus species, such as Pinus halepensis Mill., P. pinaster reacts to fire by a rapid seed dispersal that starts at the beginning of fire and continues for a few months after the fire is extinguished (Herranz et al, 1997;Thanos et al, 1996). For P. pinaster, established temperature ranges cause post-fire germination seeds; specifically, as expressed by Herrero et al (2007), the temperature range between 70 and 110°C germinates P. pinaster seeds, regardless of exposure time.…”

Probability of germination after heat treatment of native Spanish pines

“…For that reason, Mediterranean pines have been traditionally considered as 'active pyrophytes' [1,2,10,28,30,31,54,57,59,65] and even their forests as 'fire type' or 'fire climax'. The reasons for this biological interpretation must be related to the fact that Mediterranean pine forests are particularly prone to periodic fires [17,57], thousands of hectares being burnt every year around the Mediterranean basin.…”

First results on early post-fire succession in an Abies cephalonica forest (Parnitha National Park, Greece)

“…2) of the A. cephalonica forest, 10 562 ha of P. halepensis, and 3 976 ha of evergreen broad-leaved shrublands. Whereas the P. halepensis forest is expected to get naturally regenerated (Daskalakou 1996, Thanos et al 1996, it is doubtful whether the A. cephalonica forest can regenerate. …”