Vegetation responses to season of fire in an aseasonal, fire-prone fynbos shrubland

PeerJ

article

Tineke Kraaij¹  Richard M. Cowling²  Brian W. van Wilgen³  Diba R. Rikhotso⁴  Mark Difford² 

[1] School of Natural Resource Management, Nelson Mandela University;Botany Department, Nelson Mandela University;Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch;Garden Route Scientific Services, South African National Parks

关键词: Fire season;    Post-fire recruitment;    Protea;    Germination;    Prescribed burning;    Cape Floral Kingdom;    South Africa;    Leucadendron;    Seed planting experiment;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.3591

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

7 years) had little effect. In the seed-planting experiment, germination occurred during the cooler months and mostly within two months of planting, except for summer-plantings, which took 2–3 months longer to germinate. Although recruitment success differed significantly among planting seasons, sites and species, significant interactions occurred among the experimental factors. In both the post-fire surveys and seed planting experiment, recruitment success in relation to fire- or planting season varied greatly within and among species and sites. Results of these two datasets were furthermore inconsistent, suggesting that proteoid recruitment responses are not related to the season of fire. Germination appeared less rainfall-dependent than in winter-rainfall shrublands, suggesting that summer drought-avoiding dormancy is limited and has less influence on variation in recruitment success among fire seasons. The varied response of proteoid recruitment to fire season (or its simulation) implies that burning does not have to be restricted to particular seasons in eastern coastal fynbos, affording more flexibility for fire management than in shrublands associated with winter rainfall.

【 授权许可】

CC BY