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Effects of fire on mortality and resprouting patterns of Stryphnodendron adstringens (Fabaceae)

  • Ecology & Biogeography - Original Article
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Abstract

In the last 20 years, fire frequency in South America's largest savanna, the Cerrado, has increased by 41%. Although resprouting represents the main post-fire regeneration mechanism that allows plant species to persist in the Cerrado, under the new scenario of high fire incidence, small individual trees may not be able to regrow, while large individual trees may be subject to meristematic apical death or “topkill”. In this study, we evaluated the resistance and resilience of a tree species with a wide geographic distribution in the Cerrado, Stryphnodendron adstringens (Fabaceae) to non-prescribed fire and its resprouting dynamics. Seventy out of the 72 individuals of S. adstringens studied suffered topkill, indicating a low resistance to fire. To monitor the development and dynamics of resprouts for 17 months, we randomly selected 54 individual trees. Altogether, 143 resprouts were recorded in these 54 individuals during 3, 6, 10, and 17 months after fire, being 90% in the first 3 months. Larger individual trees had a larger number of resprouts and of larger sizes. Resprout mortality (14%) was higher in the 17th month post-fire. Multiple logistic regressions revealed that the survival probability of resprouts to the 17th month increased with their size but decreased with their number. We conclude that S. adstringens has low resistance but high resilience to, at least, a single fire. Also, there is a trade-off between the production of resprouts and their chance of survival. Thus, frequent fires can reduce the recruitment and persistence of the species.

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Acknowledgements

We thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable inputs, the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) the Centro de Instrução e Adaptação da Aeronáutica team (in special Cap Felipe de Moura Ribeiro and Brig Mário Sérgio Rodrigues da Costa) , and the Bio-Bridge Initiative (BBI)/CDB—Cascading Long Term Effects of Fire on Savanna Biodiversity in the southern hemisphere, Brazil and Namibia. We would also like to thank Arthur Lamouiner Moura for his encouragement and suggestions for the development of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Genética, Ecologia e Evolução, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Bárbara Stephanie Silva Ferreira, Yumi Oki, José Eugênio Côrtes Figueira, Ramiro Aguilar, Vinícius Abreu Baggio & Geraldo Wilson Fernandes

  2. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, CONICET, CC 495, 5000, Córdoba, Argentina

    Ramiro Aguilar

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  1. Bárbara Stephanie Silva Ferreira
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  2. Yumi Oki
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  3. José Eugênio Côrtes Figueira
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  4. Ramiro Aguilar
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  5. Vinícius Abreu Baggio
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  6. Geraldo Wilson Fernandes
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Contributions

BSSF performed all field collection and contributed to data analysis and writing; Y Oki contributed to field collection, data analysis and writing; JECF contributed to the design, data analysis and writing; RA assisted in data analysis and writing; VAB contributed with field collection and writing; GWF supervised the project, contributed to data analysis, writing.

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Correspondence to Geraldo Wilson Fernandes.

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Ferreira, B.S.S., Oki, Y., Figueira, J.E.C. et al. Effects of fire on mortality and resprouting patterns of Stryphnodendron adstringens (Fabaceae). Braz. J. Bot 46, 705–714 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-023-00906-8

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