气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): Fire severity impacts on tree mortality and post-fire recruitment in tall eucalypt forests of southwest Australia

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DOI	10.1016/j.foreco.2019.117850
	Fire severity impacts on tree mortality and post-fire recruitment in tall eucalypt forests of southwest Australia
	Etchells H.; O'Donnell A.J.; Lachlan McCaw W.; Grierson P.F.
发表日期	2020
ISSN	0378-1127
卷号	459
英文摘要	Wildfires are predicted to increase in both frequency and severity across Mediterranean climate regions worldwide. While many Mediterranean-type ecosystems are considered broadly fire tolerant, there is little understanding of how differences in fire severity affect plant community dynamics, tree mortality and recruitment. In the tall karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor F. Muell) forests of southwest Australia, low to moderate severity wild and prescribed fires are relatively common. Mature karri trees survive these events and recover rapidly due to their thick bark and ability to prolifically resprout from epicormic buds. However, despite a projected increase in the frequency of high severity wildfires, the impact of such extreme fires on tree mortality and understory community composition is not well understood. We used a large and severe wildfire event in southwest Australia to assess how fire severity impacted recruitment and survival of karri seedlings, the mortality of mature karri trees, and the composition of the understory plant community. Mature karri tree mortality was 87% greater at sites burnt at high severity compared to unburnt sites and sites burnt at low severity. Understorey plant community composition of burnt sites was different to unburnt sites, driven largely by significant shifts in dominance. Notably, the usually dominant understorey shrub Trymalium odoratissimum was entirely absent from forests burnt at extreme high severity. These results indicate that karri forests burnt at very high severity undergo changes in stand structure that will persist for many decades, and that the structure and species composition of the understorey may also be altered significantly. This indication of a possible fire severity threshold is consistent with the findings of recent studies in other Mediterranean climates following catastrophic wildfires. This study highlights the need for further research into the effects of severe wildfire on forest ecosystems that are otherwise considered fire tolerant. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.
关键词	Climatology Ecosystems Reforestation Seed Structure (composition)Eucalyptus diversicolor Karri forest Regeneration Soil nitrogen Understorey Fires community composition community dynamics deciduous forest mortality plant community recruitment (population dynamics)regeneration shrub soil nitrogen stand structure understory wildfire Ecosystems Eucalyptus Diversicolor Fires Meteorology Reforestation Australia Eucalyptus diversicolor Trymalium
语种	英语
来源机构	Forest Ecology and Management
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/133042
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Etchells H.,O'Donnell A.J.,Lachlan McCaw W.,et al. Fire severity impacts on tree mortality and post-fire recruitment in tall eucalypt forests of southwest Australia[J]. Forest Ecology and Management,2020,459.
APA	Etchells H.,O'Donnell A.J.,Lachlan McCaw W.,&Grierson P.F..(2020).Fire severity impacts on tree mortality and post-fire recruitment in tall eucalypt forests of southwest Australia.,459.
MLA	Etchells H.,et al."Fire severity impacts on tree mortality and post-fire recruitment in tall eucalypt forests of southwest Australia".459(2020).