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Hopkins JR, Huffman JM, Jones NJ, Platt WJ, Sikes BA. Pyrophilic Plants Respond to Postfire Soil Conditions in a Frequently Burned Longleaf Pine Savanna. Am Nat 2023; 201:389-403. [PMID: 36848518 DOI: 10.1086/722569] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
AbstractFire-plant feedbacks engineer recurrent fires in pyrophilic ecosystems like savannas. The mechanisms sustaining these feedbacks may be related to plant adaptations that trigger rapid responses to fire's effects on soil. Plants adapted for high fire frequencies should quickly regrow, flower, and produce seeds that mature rapidly and disperse postfire. We hypothesized that the offspring of such plants would germinate and grow rapidly, responding to fire-generated changes in soil nutrients and biota. We conducted an experiment using longleaf pine savanna plants that were paired on the basis of differences in reproduction and survival under annual ("more" pyrophilic) versus less frequent ("less" pyrophilic) fire regimes. Seeds were planted in different soil inoculations from experimental fires of varying severity. The more pyrophilic species displayed high germination rates followed by species-specific rapid growth responses to soil location and fire severity effects on soils. In contrast, the less pyrophilic species had lower germination rates that were not responsive to soil treatments. This suggests that rapid germination and growth constitute adaptations to frequent fires and that plants respond differently to fire severity effects on soil abiotic factors and microbes. Furthermore, variable plant responses to postfire soils may influence plant community diversity and fire-fuel feedbacks in pyrophilic ecosystems.
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Ibanez T, Platt WJ, Bellingham PJ, Vieilledent G, Franklin J, Martin PH, Menkes C, Pérez-Salicrup DR, Russell-Smith J, Keppel G. Altered cyclone-fire interactions are changing ecosystems. TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 27:1218-1230. [PMID: 36244895 DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2022.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2021] [Revised: 07/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Global change is altering interactions between ecological disturbances. We review interactions between tropical cyclones and fires that affect woody biomes in many islands and coastal areas. Cyclone-induced damage to trees can increase fuel loads on the ground and dryness in the understory, which increases the likelihood, intensity, and area of subsequent fires. In forest biomes, cyclone-fire interactions may initiate a grass-fire cycle and establish stable open-canopy biomes. In cyclone-prone regions, frequent cyclone-enhanced fires may generate and maintain stable open-canopy biomes (e.g., savannas and woodlands). We discuss how global change is transforming fire and cyclone regimes, extensively altering cyclone-fire interactions. These altered cyclone-fire interactions are shifting biomes away from historical states and causing loss of biodiversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Ibanez
- AMAP, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Montpellier, France.
| | - William J Platt
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
| | - Peter J Bellingham
- Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, Lincoln 7640, New Zealand; School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | | | - Janet Franklin
- Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA; Department of Geography, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA
| | - Patrick H Martin
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208, USA
| | - Christophe Menkes
- ENTROPIE, UMR 9220, IRD, Univ. de la Réunion, CNRS, 101 Promenade Roger Laroque, Nouméa, New Caledonia
| | - Diego R Pérez-Salicrup
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 58190, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
| | - Jeremy Russell-Smith
- Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, 0909, Northern Territory, Australia; International Savanna Fire Management Initiative (ISFMI), Level 4, 346 Kent Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
| | - Gunnar Keppel
- UniSA STEM and Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
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Torres I, Parra A, Moreno JM. Effects of spatial distance and woody plant cover on beta diversity point to dispersal limitation as a driver of community assembly during postfire succession in a Mediterranean shrubland. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e9130. [PMID: 35898419 PMCID: PMC9309027 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2022] [Revised: 06/22/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Beta diversity, and its components of turnover and nestedness, reflects the processes governing community assembly, such as dispersal limitation or biotic interactions, but it is unclear how they operate at the local scale and how their role changes along postfire succession. Here, we analyzed the patterns of beta diversity and its components in a herbaceous plant community after fire, and in relation to dispersal ability, in Central Spain. We calculated multiple-site beta diversity (βSOR) and its components of turnover (βSIM) and nestedness (βSNE) of all herbaceous plants, or grouped by dispersal syndrome (autochory, anemochory, and zoochory), during the first 3 years after wildfire. We evaluated the relationship between pairwise beta diversity (βsor), and its components (βsim, βsne), and spatial distance or differences in woody plant cover, a proxy of biotic interactions. We found high multiple-site beta diversity dominated by the turnover component. Community dissimilarity increased with spatial distance, driven mostly by the turnover component. Species with less dispersal ability (i.e., autochory) showed a stronger spatial pattern of dissimilarity. Biotic interactions with woody plants contributed less to community dissimilarity, which tended to occur through the nestedness component. These results suggest that dispersal limitation prevails over biotic interactions with woody plants as a driver of local community assembly, even for species with high dispersal ability. These results contribute to our understanding of postfire community assembly and vegetation dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iván Torres
- Departamento de Ciencias AmbientalesUniversidad de Castilla‐La ManchaToledoSpain
| | - Antonio Parra
- Departamento de Ciencias AmbientalesUniversidad de Castilla‐La ManchaToledoSpain
| | - José M. Moreno
- Departamento de Ciencias AmbientalesUniversidad de Castilla‐La ManchaToledoSpain
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Blanchard MD, Platt WJ. Ground Layer Microhabitats Influence Recruitment of Longleaf Pine in an Old-growth Pine Savanna. AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 2021. [DOI: 10.1674/0003-0031-185.1.15] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew D. Blanchard
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 70803
| | - William J. Platt
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 70803
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Han J, Shen Z, Li Y, Luo C, Xu Q, Yang K, Zhang Z. Beta Diversity Patterns of Post-fire Forests in Central Yunnan Plateau, Southwest China: Disturbances Intensify the Priority Effect in the Community Assembly. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2018; 9:1000. [PMID: 30050551 PMCID: PMC6050402 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2018.01000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2018] [Accepted: 06/19/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Post-fire succession is an ideal case for studying effects of disturbance on community assembly, and the key is to disentangle the contributions of assembly processes to the variation of community composition, namely beta diversity, and the contingent scales. The central Yunnan Plateau of Southwest China is characterized by monsoon related seasonal drought, and frequent forest fires. We sampled five fire sites burned in different years and a middle aged forest, measured species composition dissimilarity and its species turnover and nestedness components, within each fire site and across all sites. Results indicated species turnover as the primary component of beta diversity within all communities. There was no trend of change with year-since-fire (YSF) in beta diversity among early post-fire communities, but beta diversity in the middle aged community was significantly higher. Species turnover patterns across fire sites revealed a weak dispersal limit effect, which was stronger at lower than upper slope position for woody plants, and reverse for herbs. At the site scale, the species dissimilarity and turnover both enlarged with increasing slope position difference, especially in the middle-aged community, but the species nestedness had no consistent trend among sites, except a decreasing trend in the middle-aged forest. (Partial) Mantel tests indicated habitat filtering [primarily indicating total nitrogen (TN) and slope position] played a much stronger role than dispersal limit and YSF (indicating competition intensity) for the post-fire forest assembly at the landscape scale, for both woody and herbaceous layers. However, at the site scale, Mantel tests indicated a diminishing effect of soil nutrient filtering with increasing YSF, while effects of topography and spatial distance in the middle aged community was stronger. This divergence suggests the primary assembly mechanism gradually shift away from the soil constraint. While the seasonal drought and the mountain topography dominate the environmental legacy, our results imply that fires may reinforce a priority effect in the forests assembly in this region, by creating a habitat filtering (e.g., moisture and nitrogen limitation) effect on species composition in post-fire communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Han
- Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Zehao Shen
- Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Yiying Li
- Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Caifang Luo
- Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Qian Xu
- School of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
| | - Kang Yang
- Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Zhiming Zhang
- School of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
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