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Experimental evidence that fire causes a tree recruitment bottleneck in an Australian tropical savanna
Citation
Prior, LD and Williams, RJ and Bowman, DMJS, Experimental evidence that fire causes a tree recruitment bottleneck in an Australian tropical savanna, Journal of Tropical Ecology, 26, (6) pp. 595-603. ISSN 0266-4674 (2010) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2010 Cambridge University Press & LD Prior et. al.
Official URL: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstra...
DOI: doi:10.1017/S0266467410000362
Abstract
A fire-mediated recruitment bottleneck provides a possible explanation for the coexistence of trees andgrasses
in mesic savannas. The key element of this hypothesis is that saplings are particularly vulnerable to fire because they
are small enough to be top-killed by grass fires, but unlike juveniles, they take several years to recover their original
size. This limits the number of recruits into the adult size classes. Thus savanna vegetation may be maintained by
a feedback whereby fire restricts the density of adult trees and allows a grass layer to develop, which provides fuel
for subsequent fires. Here, we use results from a landscape-scale fire experiment in tropical Australia, to explore the
possible existence of a recruitment bottleneck. This experiment compared tree recruitment and survival over 4 y under
regimes of no fire, annual early and annual late dry-season fire. Stemmortality decreased with increasing stem height
in the fire treatments but not in the unburnt treatment. Tree recruitment was 76–84% lower in the fire treatments
than the unburnt treatment. Such fire-induced stem loss of saplings and reduced recruitment to the canopy layer in
this eucalypt savanna are consistent with the predictions of the fire-mediated recruitment bottleneck hypothesis.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | Eucalyptus, fire ecology, Kakadu National Park, monsoonal tropics, stand dynamics |
Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
Research Group: | Ecology |
Research Field: | Terrestrial ecology |
Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
Objective Group: | Terrestrial systems and management |
Objective Field: | Evaluation, allocation, and impacts of land use |
UTAS Author: | Prior, LD (Dr Lynda Prior) |
UTAS Author: | Bowman, DMJS (Professor David Bowman) |
ID Code: | 66878 |
Year Published: | 2010 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 59 |
Deposited By: | Plant Science |
Deposited On: | 2011-02-16 |
Last Modified: | 2011-08-31 |
Downloads: | 674 View Download Statistics |
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