Survival of eight woody sprouting species following an autumn fire in Swartboskloof, Cape Province, South Africa

Maitre, David C Le; Jones, Charles; Forsyth, Gregory G.

doi:10.1016/s0254-6299(16)30787-6

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Some individuals in the stand likely had been killed by the fire and were not resprouting, but most of the B. noduliflora individuals (>90%) in the stand had vigorously resprouted following fire. This is similar to the fire survival rate reported previously for this species (Le Maitre et al . 1992).…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 92%

Dieback and mortality of South African fynbos shrubs is likely driven by a novel pathogen and pathogen‐induced hydraulic failure

et al. 2011

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We examined whether extensive dry season dieback and mortality in a South African fynbos community were due to drought or pathogen attack. Plant dieback and mortality have been reported elsewhere in similar plant communities suggesting potential for a widespread climatic or biotic threat to this community. We collected tissue samples from Brunia noduliflora, the dominant plant in the community, and cultured them for potential plant pathogens. We also measured dry season predawn and midday water potentials of healthy and stressed plants and constructed pressure-volume curves to assess turgor loss point. Plant stress and mortality were monitored over a 2-year study period. Both healthy plants and plants that displayed moderate signs of stress had dry season predawn water potentials well above their turgor loss point suggesting plants were not water stressed. However, plants displaying >60% crown dieback had much lower water potentials (as low as -12 MPa). A previously undescribed fungus (Pythium sp.) was isolated from the root vascular tissue of all stressed plants and was not present in healthy plants. The proximate cause of plant stress was likely pathogen-induced, while the ultimate cause of plant death appears to be extreme water stress. The present study suggests that Brunia (Bruniceae), Leucadendron (Proteaceae) and Erica (Ericaceae), all emblematic and dominant genera within the diverse fynbos community, may be susceptible to Pythium infection. This may pose a serious threat to communities already threatened by climate change.

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 92%

Dieback and mortality of South African fynbos shrubs is likely driven by a novel pathogen and pathogen‐induced hydraulic failure

et al. 2011

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“…This study has examined sprouting responses and their prediction for a wide range of species. Two advances of this study have been (1) the comprehensive sample of a local flora rather than a sample chosen to exemplify sprouters and non‐sprouters (Keeley and Zedler 1978, Cowling and Lamont 1987, Pate et al 1990), and (2) a range of growth forms rather than solely woody shrubs and trees (Keeley and Zedler 1978, Cowling and Lamont 1987, Pate et al 1990, le Maitre et al 1992, Bellingham et al 1994, Zimmerman et al 1994, Hodgkinson 1998).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, the dichotomy was robust to variation in space and time. (3) Intermediate sprouting proportions could arise because within‐species sprouting may be related to size‐related traits including number of stems (Malanson and Trabaud 1988, le Maitre et al 1992), stem circumference (Morrison and Renwick 2000), size of lignotuber (Noble 1984) and height (le Maitre et al 1992, Hodgkinson 1998). For a number of species, we found evidence that larger basal area and more stems per plant were associated with stronger sprouters.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sprouting by semi‐arid plants: testing a dichotomy and predictive traits

Vesk

Warton

Westoby³

2004

Oikos

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M. 2004. Sprouting by semi-arid plants: testing a dichotomy and predictive traits. Á/ Oikos 107: 72 Á/89.A widely-used description of vegetation response to fire is that species can be clearly classified as sprouters or non-sprouters. We aimed to assess: (1) how well this dichotomous classification (sprouter/non-sprouter) described the responses of a semiarid flora to experimental disturbance; (2) how similar were sprouting responses to treatments mimicking intense herbivory and fire; (3) how well easily-measured traits could predict sprouting. Sprouting was assessed for 45 species from a range of growth forms (grasses, forbs, sub-shrubs, woody shrubs and trees) from semi-arid southeastern Australia. We used two treatments: clipping at stem base, and clipping followed by burning with a blowtorch.A dichotomy accounted for !/60% of deviance explained by species identity. Models with three or four groups were not substantially better. The dichotomy was not between 0% and 100% sprouting, rather between 'weak' and 'strong' sprouters. Probabilities of sprouting for weak sprouters were 23% after clipping and 6% after burning, while strong sprouters had sprouting probabilities of 90% after clipping and 79% after burning. While sprouting varied in space and time, the dichotomy was robust to this variation. Sprouting ability increased with size in most of the species with variable sprouting.Sprouting was partially related to growth form; grasses sprouted strongly, chenopods weakly, and forb and woody species covered the range of sprouting. Strong sprouters were likely to have more stems per plant, greater basal area, shorter potential height and deeper buds than weak sprouters. A hierarchical model that used growth form and then stems-per-plant provided a simple, robust predictor of sprouting.Four-fifths of species responded consistently to clipping and burning while one-fifth of species were strong sprouters after clipping but weak sprouters after burning. Burning reduced sprouting most in intermediate sprouters. Differences between sprouting after clipping and burning reflected increased intensity and were related to the depth of buds below ground.

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“…Resprouting ericoid species are multistemmed evergreen shrubs which resprout after aerial biomass removal (Le Maitre et al 1992) from a woody swollen structure at the stem base known as a lignotuber or burl. Ericoids are good models for the study of the effects of shoot and root competition among ramets within the genet, because each sprout is a modular unit that recruits, grows, flowers and dies.…”

Section: Montserratmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of root competition and shading on resprouting dynamics of Erica multiflora L.

Vilà

1997

J Vegetation Science

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Abstract. Resprouting from underground structures is one of the main regeneration strategies of Mediterranean shrubs after aerial biomass disturbance such as fire or clear‐cutting to reduce fire risk. In order to study the effect of root competition and shading (simulated shoot competition) on Erica multiflora, growth, morphology, flowering performance and sprout size variability during resprouting, a factorial field experiment was conducted in which neighbours around target plants were eliminated and plants were shaded with mesh for two years. Root competition reduced sprout recruitment and sprout density (number of sprouts per unit stump area) more strongly than did shading. The negative effect of root competition on sprout biomass was constant with time, while the reduction due to shading increased with time. There was an interaction between root competition and shading on the biomass of sprouts 22 months after treatment: genets without root competition and shading were four times larger than in any other treatment. Both shading and root competition also decreased percentage branching but did not modify maximum sprout height. Only shading decreased the leaf/shoot biomass ratio and the percentage of flowering genets. One year after resprouting, root competition counteracted the effect of shading on inducing sprout biomass variability within the genet because it decreased sprout density. 22 months after treatment, sprout biomass variability was not affected by any main effect. The results suggest that competition among sprouts within the genet is asymmetric. However, shading by genet neighbours may not always increase sprout biomass variability if root competition is also severe.

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Survival of eight woody sprouting species following an autumn fire in Swartboskloof, Cape Province, South Africa

Cited by 14 publications

References 26 publications

Dieback and mortality of South African fynbos shrubs is likely driven by a novel pathogen and pathogen‐induced hydraulic failure

Dieback and mortality of South African fynbos shrubs is likely driven by a novel pathogen and pathogen‐induced hydraulic failure

Sprouting by semi‐arid plants: testing a dichotomy and predictive traits

Effect of root competition and shading on resprouting dynamics of Erica multiflora L.

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