The effect of fire severity on first-year seedling establishment in a <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pinus canariensis</Emphasis> forest on Tenerife,Canary Islands |
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Authors: | Rüdiger Otto Eduardo García-del-Rey Pascual Gil Muñoz José María Fernández-Palacios |
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Institution: | 1.Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Biología,Universidad de La Laguna,La Laguna, Tenerife,Spain;2.Sección de Montes, Medio Ambiente,Cabildo Insular de Tenerife,Santa Cruz de Tenerife,Spain |
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Abstract: | The Canarian pine (Pinus canariensis) exhibits a striking combination of high adult resistance to fire and intermediate serotiny. Hence, the study of its post-fire
regeneration can support valuable new insights about functional adaptations to fire. Here, we analyse the first-year seedling
establishment after fire in a P. canariensis forest on the northern slope of Tenerife, Canary Islands. The effects of fire severity and other explanatory variables on
the seedling density recorded 9 months after fire were examined. We detected a clear unimodal relationship between seedling
density and fire severity, with maximum regeneration associated with intermediate fire severity and no regeneration associated
with very high crown damage. The results suggested that high severity fires may have caused the partial destruction of the
aerial seed bank and/or the creation of unfavourable seedbed conditions for germination and seedling emergence. The density
of large pine trees, reflecting seed availability, was the second most important factor explaining the distribution of seedlings.
Cover of scorched needle litter on the ground correlated strongly and positively with pine seedling density and negatively
with fire severity. The complete lack of regeneration at sites most strongly affected by fire does not represent a major threat
for the stand recovery of the Canarian pine, due to the very high tree resistance to fire and the tremendous capacity of the
Canarian pine to resprout after fire. The observed very high seedling densities at sites with intermediate fire impacts can
probably be related to both the complete liberation of the seed bank (including seeds stored in serotinous cones) and favourable
micro-environmental conditions for seed germination and seedling establishment. |
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