Extreme fire severity interacts with seed traits to moderate post-fire species assemblages.

ABSTRACT:

Premise

Climate change is globally pushing fire regimes to new extremes, with unprecedented large-scale severe fires. Persistent soil seed banks are a key mechanism for plant species recovery after fires, but extreme fire severity may generate soil temperatures beyond thresholds seeds are adapted to. Seeds are protected from lethal temperatures through soil burial, with temperatures decreasing with increasing depth. However, smaller seeds, due to their lower mass and corresponding energy stores, are restricted to emerging from shallower depths compared to the depths for larger seeds. We examined recruitment patterns across a landscape-scale gradient of fire severity to determine whether seed mass and dormancy class mediate shifts in community assemblages.

Methods

We surveyed

SUBMITTER: Sano M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12572683 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature