Journal article
Appraising widespread resprouting but variable levels of postfire seeding in Australian ecosystems: The effect of phylogeny, fire regime and productivity
Australian Journal of Botany, Vol.70(2), pp.114-130
2022
Abstract
Postfire resprouting (R+) and recruitment from seed (S+) are common resilience traits in Australian ecosystems. We classified 2696 woody Australian taxa as R+ or not (R−) and as S+ or not (S−). The proportions of these traits in Australian ecosystems were examined in relation to fire regimes and other ecological correlates, and by trait mapping on a phylogeny scaled to time. Resprouting mapped as an ancestral trait. Postfire reseeding recruitment, while ancient, is more taxonomically restricted and has evolved independently several times. Nevertheless, both R+ and S+ are common in most clades, but negatively correlated at the ecosystem level indicating an evolutionary trade-off related to differences in the severity of fire regimes, determined in part by ecosystem productivity. Thus, R+ was associated with persistence in ecosystems characterised by higher productivity and relatively frequent surface fires of moderate to low severity (fire-productivity hypothesis). S+, the fire-stimulated recruitment by seed, occurred in ecosystems characterised by infrequent but intense crown-fire and topkill, reducing competition between postfire survivors and recruits (fire-resource-competition hypothesis). Consistently large proportions of R+ or S+ imply fire has been a pervasive evolutionary selection pressure resulting in highly fire-adapted and fire-resilient flora in most Australian ecosystems.
Details
- Title
- Appraising widespread resprouting but variable levels of postfire seeding in Australian ecosystems: The effect of phylogeny, fire regime and productivity
- Authors/Creators
- M.J. Lawes (Author/Creator) - University of KwaZulu-NatalM.D. Crisp (Author/Creator) - Australian National UniversityP.J. Clarke (Author/Creator) - University of New EnglandB.P. Murphy (Author/Creator) - Charles Darwin UniversityJ.J. Midgley (Author/Creator) - University of Cape TownJ. Russell-Smith (Author/Creator) - Charles Darwin UniversityC.E.M. Nano (Author/Creator) - Department of Land Resource ManagementR.A. Bradstock (Author/Creator) - University of WollongongN.J. Enright (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityJ.B. Fontaine (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityC.R. Gosper (Author/Creator) - Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and AttractionsL-A Woolley (Author/Creator) - Charles Darwin University
- Publication Details
- Australian Journal of Botany, Vol.70(2), pp.114-130
- Publisher
- CSIRO Publishing
- Identifiers
- 991005544537807891
- Copyright
- © 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)).
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Environmental and Conservation Sciences
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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- Domestic collaboration
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- Citation topics
- 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
- 3.40 Forestry
- 3.40.86 Plant Communities
- Web Of Science research areas
- Plant Sciences
- ESI research areas
- Plant & Animal Science