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Abstract

Plant regeneration strategies are commonly dichotomised as 'resprouter' v. 'non-resprouter', but this fails to recognise that the extent and type of resprouting following fire disturbance vary within species. Here, we report a case of widespread mortality of resprouters following a fire that burnt 98% of an 80-km2 island in Bass Strait, Australia. A field survey, which assessed woody vegetation in 197 plots across the island, showed fire severity ranged from low to high, with crown defoliation occurring across 85% of the island. In total, 1826 of the 1831 woody stems in the burnt plots were top-killed. Only 7.5% resprouted, despite 89% of the stems belonging to species that have the capacity to resprout. Even in species with at least 5% resprouting, only 22% of top-killed stems resprouted. Resprouting rates were maximal (30%) at intermediate fire severity, and only 5 and 8% at the lowest and highest severity classes respectively. Our findings demonstrate the need to understand factors influencing resprouting, and to incorporate these when modelling vegetation recovery after wildfire.

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Nicholson, A and Prior, LD and Perry, GLW and Bowman, DMJS
Keywords:	Australia, Clarke Island, fire severity, interval squeeze, persistence niche
Journal or Publication Title:	International Journal of Wildland Fire
Publisher:	CSIRO Publishing
ISSN:	1049-8001
DOI / ID Number:	10.1071/WF16211
Copyright Information:	Copyright 2017 IAWF
Related URLs:	Google Scholar: Prior, LD UTAS Profile: Prior, LD Google Scholar: Bowman, DMJS UTAS Profile: Bowman, DMJS
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