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Effects of fire regime shift in Mediterranean Basin ecosystems: changes in soil seed bank composition among functional types

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Abstract

We studied the soil seed bank in a possible scenario of fire regime shift and asked: (1) Does high fire frequency impact the density of seeds stored, species richness and evenness? (2) Overall, does high fire frequency produce changes in the presence–absence and abundance of species? The study was implemented in a Mediterranean Basin ecosystem in plots with increasing fire frequency (unburned, burned once and burned twice in the last 66 years). The number of seeds increased with fire frequency for all life forms (shrub, scrub, perennial forb, annual forb and perennial graminoid). Species richness of annual forbs also increased. Evenness of shrubs diminished because the number of seeds in all the species decreased, except C. albidus, which increased. Overall, differences in the abundance of species were found, mainly by depleting shrubs and increasing forbs. There were no differences in the presence–absence data. In conclusion, high fire frequencies act as a filtering factor for species of a larger size and advanced maturity age. In contrast, life forms of small size and rapid onset of reproductive maturity can be enhanced. This community conversion from woody to herbaceous soil seed banks is fundamental to identify vegetation changes in future regimes of high fire frequency.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Segundo Ríos for his help in seedling identification. V. M. Santana has been supported by a VAli+d post-doctoral grant awarded by the Generalitat Valenciana. J. G. Alday has been supported by Basque Country Government post-doctoral grant (DEUI BFI-2010-245). We would like to thank again the reviewers and the Editor for the time dedicated to our manuscript and for their numerous, constructive and helpful comments provided. This research has been carried out as part of the RESILIEN (CGL 2011-30515-C02-02) and the Consolider-Ingenio 2010 (GRACCIE CSD2007-00067) projects. CEAM is supported by the Generalitat Valenciana.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fundación de la Generalitat Valenciana Centro de Estudios Ambientales del Mediterráneo (CEAM), Parque Tecnológico Paterna, C/Charles Darwin, 14, 46980, Paterna, Valencia, Spain

    Victor M. Santana & M. Jaime Baeza

  2. School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GP, UK

    Victor M. Santana & Josu G. Alday

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  1. Victor M. Santana
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  2. Josu G. Alday
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  3. M. Jaime Baeza
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Correspondence to Victor M. Santana.

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Communicated by Neal J. Enright.

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Santana, V.M., Alday, J.G. & Baeza, M.J. Effects of fire regime shift in Mediterranean Basin ecosystems: changes in soil seed bank composition among functional types. Plant Ecol 215, 555–566 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-014-0323-1

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