Canopy seed survival through extreme fire in non-serotinous conifers: An unexpected source of forest resilience.

ABSTRACT: Across much of the semiarid conifer forests of western North America ("dry conifer forests"), the dominant tree species are non-serotinous, lack soil seedbanks, and rarely disperse seeds much farther than 100 m, so tree regeneration in large, high-severity burned patches is expected to be highly seed-limited. Conifer seedlings do, however, sometimes establish at high densities deep within high-severity patches in these forests, implying that seeds can sometimes survive intense wildfire even when all overstory trees die. Does seed survival in the canopies of non-serotinous trees provide an unexpected source of forest resilience? To answer this question, we surveyed tree survival, fire severity, and seedling abundance across two very large wildfires in the first year after fire. Several of t

SUBMITTER: Young DJN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12623069 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature