RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 The effect of fire severity on first-year seedling establishment in a Pinus canariensis forest on Tenerife, Canary Islands
A1 Otto, Rüdiger
A1 García del Rey, Eduardo
A1 Gil Muñoz, Pascual
A1 Fernández-Palacios, José María
K1 Post-fire regeneration
K1 Pinus canariensis
K1 Regression tree
K1 Regeneración posterior al fuego
K1 Regeneración posterior al fuego Pinus canariensis
AB The Canarian pine (Pinus canariensis) exhibitsa striking combination of high adult resistance to fire andintermediate serotiny. Hence, the study of its post-fireregeneration can support valuable new insights aboutfunctional adaptations to fire. Here, we analyse the firstyearseedling establishment after fire in a P. canariensisforest on the northern slope of Tenerife, Canary Islands.The effects of fire severity and other explanatory variableson the seedling density recorded 9 months after fire wereexamined. We detected a clear unimodal relationshipbetween seedling density and fire severity, with maximumregeneration associated with intermediate fire severity andno regeneration associated with very high crown damage.The results suggested that high severity fires may havecaused the partial destruction of the aerial seed bank and/orthe creation of unfavourable seedbed conditions for germinationand seedling emergence. The density of largepine trees, reflecting seed availability, was the second mostimportant factor explaining the distribution of seedlings.Cover of scorched needle litter on the ground correlatedstrongly and positively with pine seedling density andnegatively with fire severity. The complete lack of regenerationat sites most strongly affected by fire does notrepresent a major threat for the stand recovery of theCanarian pine, due to the very high tree resistance to fireand the tremendous capacity of the Canarian pine toresprout after fire. The observed very high seedling densitiesat sites with intermediate fire impacts can probably berelated to both the complete liberation of the seed bank(including seeds stored in serotinous cones) and favourablemicro-environmental conditions for seed germination andseedling establishment.
PB Springer
SN 1612-4669
YR 2009
FD 2009
LK http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/16488
UL http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/16488
LA en
DS Repositorio institucional de la Universidad de La Laguna
RD 17-nov-2024