What drives grassland-forest boundaries? Assessing fire and frost effects on tree seedling survival and architecture.

ABSTRACT: Fire and frost represent two major hurdles for the persistence of trees in open grassy biomes and have both been proposed as drivers of grassland-forest boundaries in Africa.We assess the response of young tree seedlings, which represent a vulnerable stage in tree recruitment, to traumatic fire and frost disturbances.In a greenhouse experiment, we investigated how seedling traits predicted survival and resprouting ability in response to fire versus frost; we characterized survival strategies of seedlings in response to the two disturbances, and we documented how the architecture of surviving seedlings is affected by fire versus frost injury.Survival rates were similar under both treatments. However, different species displayed different levels of sensitivity to fire and frost. Seedling sur

SUBMITTER: Botha M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7548188 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature