Allocation strategies of savanna and forest tree seedlings in response to fire and shading: outcomes of a field experiment.

ABSTRACT: The forest-savanna ecotone may be very sharp in fire-prone areas. Fire and competition for light play key roles in its maintenance, as forest and savanna tree seedlings are quickly excluded from the other ecosystem. We hypothesized a tradeoff between seedling traits linked to fire resistance and to competition for light to explain these exclusions. We compared growth- and survival-related traits of two savanna and two forest species in response to shading and fire in a field experiment. To interpret the results, we decomposed our broad hypothesis into elementary tradeoffs linked to three constraints, biomass allocation, plant architecture, and shade tolerance, that characterize both savanna and adjacent forest ecosystems. All seedlings reached similar biomasses, but forest seedlings grew t

SUBMITTER: Gignoux J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5175285 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature