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Fire is a major modifier of communities, but the evolutionary origins of its prevalent role in shaping current biomes are uncertain. Australia is among the most fire-prone continents, with most of the landmass occupied by the fire-dependent sclerophyll and savanna biomes. In contrast to biomes with similar climates in other continents, Australia has a tree flora dominated by a single genus, Eucalyptus, and related Myrtaceae. A unique mechanism in Myrtaceae for enduring and recovering from fire damage likely resulted in this dominance. Here, we find a conserved phylogenetic relationship between post-fire resprouting (epicormic) anatomy and biome evolution, dating from 60 to 62 Ma, in the earliest Palaeogene. Thus, fire-dependent communities likely existed 50 million years earlier than previously thought. We predict that epicormic resprouting could make eucalypt forests and woodlands an excellent long-term carbon bank for reducing atmospheric CO(2) compared with biomes with similar fire regimes in other continents.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	flammable biomes, fire-dependent communities, epicormic resprouting, carbon bank, atmospheric CO2
Research Division:	Biological Sciences
Research Group:	Plant biology
Research Field:	Plant biology not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Environmental Management
Objective Group:	Terrestrial systems and management
Objective Field:	Terrestrial biodiversity
UTAS Author:	Bowman, DMJS (Professor David Bowman)
ID Code:	76670
Year Published:	2011
Web of Science® Times Cited:	179
Deposited By:	Plant Science
Deposited On:	2012-03-09
Last Modified:	2017-11-01
Downloads:	3 View Download Statistics