Flammability as an ecological and evolutionary driver

Journal of Ecology

Volumn 105, Issue 2, 2017, Pages 289-297

  Pausas, Juli G ^a   Keeley, Jon E ^b,c   Schwilk, Dylan W ^d  

^a CDIS UV Generalitat Valenciana)   (Spain)

^b U S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^d TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

fire prone ecosystems; flammability dimensions; plant flammability strategies; scale

Indexed keywords

ECOLOGICAL IMPACT; EVOLUTIONARILY STABLE STRATEGY; FIRE; FLORA; LIFE HISTORY TRAIT; PLANT; REPRODUCTION; SCALE EFFECT; SURVIVAL; THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODELING;

EID: 85006021641     PISSN: 00220477     EISSN: 13652745     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.12691     Document Type: Review

References (74)

1. Anderson, H.E. (1970) Forest fuel ignitibility. Fire Technology, 6, 312–319.
2. Behm, A.L., Duryea, M.L., Long, A.J. & Zipperer, W.C. (2004) Flammability of native understory species in pine flatwood and hardwood hammock ecosystems and implications for the wildland−urban interface. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 13, 355–365.
3. Bond, W.J. (1983) Dead leaves and fire survival in Southern African tree aloes. Oecologia, 58, 110–114.
4. Bond, W.J. & Midgley, J.J. (1995) Kill thy neighbour: an individualistic argument for the evolution of flammability. Oikos, 73, 79–85.
5. Bond, W.J. & Scott, A.C. (2010) Fire and the spread of flowering plants in the Cretaceous. New Phytologist, 188, 1137–1150.
6. Bond, W.J., Woodward, F.I. & Midgley, G.F. (2005) The global distribution of ecosystems in a world without fire. New Phytologist, 165, 525–538.
7. Bowman, D.M.J.S., French, B.J. & Prior, L.D. (2014) Have plants evolved to self-immolate? Frontiers in Plant Science, 5, 590.
8. Caturla, R.N., Raventós, J., Guàrdia, R. & Vallejo, V.R. (2000) Early post-fire regeneration dynamics of Brachypodium retusum Pers. (Beauv.) in old fields of the Valencia region (eastern Spain). Acta Oecologica, 21, 1–12.
9. Charles-Dominique, T., Beckett, H., Midgley, G.F. & Bond, W.J. (2015) Bud protection: a key trait for species sorting in a forest–savanna mosaic. New Phytologist, 207, 1052–1060.
10. Christensen, N.L. (1985) Shrubland fire regimes and evolutionary consequences. The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and Patch Dynamics (eds S.T.A. Pickett & P.S. White), pp. 85–100. Academic Press Inc., Orlando, FL, USA.
11. Cornwell, W.K., Elvira, A., van Kempen, L., van Logtestijn, R.S.P., Aptroot, A. & Cornelissen, J.H.C. (2015) Flammability across the gymnosperm phylogeny: the importance of litter particle size. New Phytologist, 206, 672–681.
12. Cousins, S.R., Witkowski, E.T.F. & Pfab, M.F. (2016) Beating the blaze: fire survival in the fan aloe (Kumara plicatilis), a succulent monocotyledonous tree endemic to the Cape fynbos, South Africa. Austral Ecology, 41, 466–479.
13. Dantas, V.L., Batalha, M.A. & Pausas, J.G. (2013) Fire drives functional thresholds on the savanna–forest transition. Ecology, 94, 2454–2463.
14. Dantas, V.L., Hirota, M., Oliveira, R.S. & Pausas, J.G. (2016) Disturbance maintains alternative biome states. Ecology Letters, 19, 12–19.
15. D'Antonio, C.M. & Vitousek, P.M. (1992) Biological invasions by exotic grasses, the grass/fire cycle and global change. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 23, 63–87.
16. Engber, E.A. & Varner, J.M. (2012) Patterns of flammability of the California oaks: the role of leaf traits. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 42, 1965–1975.
17. Everson, C.S., Everson, T.M. & Tainton, N.M. (1988) Effects of intensity and height of shading on the tiller initiation of six grass species from the Highland sourveld of Natal. South African Journal of Botany, 54, 315–318.
18. Fonda, R.W. (2001) Burning characteristics of needles from eight pine species. Forest Science, 47, 390–396.
19. Gagnon, P.R., Passmore, H.A., Platt, W.J., Myers, J.A., Paine, C.E.T. & Harms, K.E. (2010) Does pyrogenicity protect burning plants? Ecology, 91, 3481–3486.
20. Gill, A.M. & Zylstra, P. (2005) Flammability of Australian forests. Australian Forestry, 68, 87–93.
21. Givnish, T.J., McDiarmid, R.W. & Buck, W.R. (1986) Fire adaptation in Neblinaria celiae (Theaceae), a high-elevation rosette shrub endemic to a wet equatorial tepui. Oecologia, 70, 481–485.
22. Grigulis, K., Lavorel, S., Davies, I.D., Dossantos, A., Lloret, F. & Vilà, M. (2005) Landscape-scale positive feedbacks between fire and expansion of the large tussock grass, Ampelodesmos mauritanica in Catalan shrublands. Global Change Biology, 11, 1042–1053.
23. Hall, J., Ellis, P.F., Cary, G.J., Bishop, G. & Sullivan, A.L. (2015) Long-distance spotting potential of bark strips of a ribbon gum (Eucalyptus viminalis). International Journal of Wildland Fire, 24, 1109–1117.
24. He, T., Lamont, B.B. & Downes, K.S. (2011) Banksia born to burn. New Phytologist, 191, 184–196.
25. He, T., Pausas, J.G., Belcher, C.M., Schwilk, D.W. & Lamont, B.B. (2012) Fire-adapted traits of Pinus arose in the fiery Cretaceous. New Phytologist, 194, 751–759.
26. Hoffmann, W.A., Geiger, E.L., Gotsch, S.G., Rossatto, D.R., Silva, L.C.R., Lau, O.L., Haridasan, M. & Franco, A.C. (2012) Ecological thresholds at the savanna-forest boundary: how plant traits, resources and fire govern the distribution of tropical biomes. Ecology Letters, 15, 759–768.
27. Jackson, W. (1968) Fire, air, water and earth—an elemental ecology of Tasmania. Proceedings of the Ecological Society of Australia, 3, 9–16.
28. Kane, J.M., Varner, J.M. & Hiers, J.K. (2008) The burning characteristics of southeastern oaks: discriminating fire facilitators from fire impeders. Forest Ecology and Management, 256, 2039–2045.
29. Keeley, J.E. & Rundel, P.W. (2005) Fire and the Miocene expansion of C4 grasslands. Ecology Letters, 8, 683–690.
30. Keeley, J.E. & Zedler, P.H. (1998) Evolution of life histories in Pinus. Ecology and Biogeography of Pinus (ed. D.M. Richardson), pp. 219–250. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
31. Keeley, J.E., Pausas, J.G., Rundel, P.W., Bond, W.J. & Bradstock, R.A. (2011) Fire as an evolutionary pressure shaping plant traits. Trends in Plant Science, 16, 406–411.
32. Keeley, J.E., Bond, W.J., Bradstock, R.A., Pausas, J.G. & Rundel, P.W. (2012) Fire in Mediterranean Ecosystems: Ecology, Evolution and Management. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
33. Kerr, B., Schwilk, D.W., Bergman, A. & Feldman, M.W. (1999) Rekindling an old flame: a haploid model for the evolution and impact of flammability in resprouting plants. Evolutionary Ecology Research, 1, 807–833.
34. Koo, E., Pagni, P.J., Weise, D.R. & Woycheese, J.P. (2010) Firebrands and spotting ignition in large-scale fires. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 19, 818–843.
35. Krawchuk, M. & Moritz, M. (2011) Constraints on global fire activity vary across a resource gradient. Ecology, 92, 121–132.
36. Laland, K.N., Odling-Smee, F.J. & Feldman, M.W. (1999) Evolutionary consequences of niche construction and their implications for ecology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 96, 10242–10247.
37. Lamont, B.B. & Cowling, R.M. (1984) Flammable infrutescences in Banksia: a fruit-opening mechanism. Australian Journal of Ecology, 9, 295–296.
38. Lamont, B.B., Wittkuhn, R. & Korczynskyj, D. (2004) Ecology and ecophysiology of grasstrees. Australian Journal of Botany, 52, 561–582.
39. Loehle, C. (2000) Strategy space and the disturbance spectrum: a life-history model for tree species coexistence. American Naturalist, 156, 14–33.
40. Magalhães, R.M.Q. & Schwilk, D.W. (2012) Leaf traits and litter flammability: evidence for non-additive mixture effects in a temperate forest. Journal of Ecology, 100, 1153–1163.
41. Maurin, O., Davies, T.J., Burrows, J.E., Daru, B.H., Yessoufou, K., Muasya, A.M., van der Bank, M. & Bond, W.J. (2014) Savanna fire and the origins of the ‘underground forests’ of Africa. New Phytologist, 204, 201–214.
42. Midgley, J.J. (2013) Flammability is not selected for, it emerges. Australian Journal of Botany, 61, 102–106.
43. Moreira, B., Castellanos, M.C. & Pausas, J.G. (2014) Genetic component of flammability variation in a Mediterranean shrub. Molecular Ecology, 23, 1213–1223.
44. Murphy, B.P. & Bowman, D.M.J.S. (2012) What controls the distribution of tropical forest and savanna? Ecology Letters, 15, 748–758.
45. Mutch, R.W. (1970) Wildland fires and ecosystems–a hypothesis. Ecology, 51, 1046–1051.
46. Nowacki, G.J. & Abrams, M.D. (2008) The demise of fire and “mesophication” of forests in the eastern United States. BioScience, 58, 123–138.
47. Ormeño, E., Céspedes, B., Sánchez, I.A., Velasco-García, A., Moreno, J.M., Fernandez, C. & Baldy, V. (2009) The relationship between terpenes and flammability of leaf litter. Forest Ecology and Management, 257, 471–482.
48. Pausas, J.G. (2015a) Alternative fire-driven vegetation states. Journal of Vegetation Science, 26, 4–6.
49. Pausas, J.G. (2015b) Bark thickness and fire regime. Functional Ecology, 29, 315–327.
50. Pausas, J.G. (2015c) Evolutionary fire ecology: lessons learned from pines. Trends in Plant Science, 20, 318–324.
51. Pausas, J.G. & Keeley, J.E. (2009) A burning story: the role of fire in the history of life. BioScience, 59, 593–601.
52. Pausas, J.G. & Keeley, J.E. (2014a) Evolutionary ecology of resprouting and seeding in fire-prone ecosystems. New Phytologist, 204, 55–65.
53. Pausas, J.G. & Keeley, J.E. (2014b) Abrupt climate-independent fire regime changes. Ecosystems, 17, 1109–1120.
54. Pausas, J.G. & Moreira, B. (2012) Flammability as a biological concept. New Phytologist, 194, 610–613.
55. Pausas, J.G. & Ribeiro, E. (2013) The global fire–productivity relationship. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 22, 728–736.
56. Pausas, J.G., Alessio, G.A., Moreira, B. & Corcobado, G. (2012) Fires enhance flammability in Ulex parviflorus. New Phytologist, 193, 18–23.
57. Pausas, J.G., Alessio, G.A., Moreira, B. & Segarra-Moragues, J.G. (2016) Secondary compounds enhance flammability in a Mediterranean plant. Oecologia, 180, 103–110.
58. Pérez-Harguindeguy, N., Díaz, S., Garnier, E. et al. (2013) New handbook for standardised measurement of plant functional traits worldwide. Australian Journal of Botany, 61, 167–234.
59. Peterson, D.W. & Reich, P.B. (2001) Prescribed fire in oak savanna: fire frequency effects on stand structure and dynamics. Ecological Applications, 11, 914–927.
60. Ripley, B., Visser, V., Christin, P.-A., Archibald, S., Martin, T. & Osborne, C. (2015) Fire ecology of C3 and C4 grasses depends on evolutionary history and frequency of burning but not photosynthetic type. Ecology, 96, 2679–2691.
61. Scarff, F.R. & Westoby, M. (2006) Leaf litter flammability in some semi-arid Australian woodlands. Functional Ecology, 20, 745–752.
62. Schwilk, D.W. & Ackerly, D.D. (2001) Flammability and serotiny as strategies: correlated evolution in pines. Oikos, 94, 326–336.
63. Schwilk, D.W. & Caprio, A.C. (2011) Scaling from leaf traits to fire behaviour: community composition predicts fire severity in a temperate forest. Journal of Ecology, 99, 970–980.
64. Schwilk, D.W. & Kerr, B. (2002) Genetic niche-hiking: an alternative explanation for the evolution of flammability. Oikos, 99, 431–442.
65. Simon, M., Grether, R., De Queiroz, L., Skema, C., Pennington, R. & Hughes, C. (2009) Recent assembly of the Cerrado, a neotropical plant diversity hotspot, by in situ evolution of adaptations to fire. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106, 20359.
66. Simpson, K.J., Ripley, B.S., Christin, P.-A., Belcher, C.M., Lehmann, C.E.R., Thomas, G.H. & Osborne, C.P. (2016) Determinants of flammability in savanna grass species. Journal of Ecology, 104, 138–148.
67. Snyder, J.R. (1984) The role of fire: much ado about nothing? Oikos, 43, 404–405.
68. Thomas, P.A. (1991) Response of succulents to fire: a review. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 1, 11–22.
69. Trauernicht, C., Murphy, B.P., Portner, T.E. & Bowman, D.M.J.S. (2012) Tree cover–fire interactions promote the persistence of a fire-sensitive conifer in a highly flammable savanna. Journal of Ecology, 100, 958–968.
70. Troumbis, A.Y. & Trabaud, L. (1989) Some questions about flammability in fire ecology. Acta Oecologica, 10, 167–175.
71. Twidwell, D., Fuhlendorf, S.D., Taylor, C.A. & Rogers, W.E. (2013a) Refining thresholds in coupled fire–vegetation models to improve management of encroaching woody plants in grasslands. Journal of Applied Ecology, 50, 603–613.
72. Twidwell, D., Rogers, W.E., Fuhlendorf, S.D., Wonkka, C.L., Engle, D.M., Weir, J.R., Kreuter, U.P. & Taylor, C.A. (2013b) The rising Great Plains fire campaign: citizens’ response to woody plant encroachment. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 11, e64–e71.
73. Varner, J.M., Kane, J., Kreye, J. & Engber, E. (2015) The flammability of forest and woodland litter: a synthesis. Current Forestry Reports, 1, 91–99.
74. Vilagrosa, A., Hernández, E.I., Luis, V.C., Cochard, H. & Pausas, J.G. (2014) Physiological differences explain the co-existence of different regeneration strategies in Mediterranean ecosystems. New Phytologist, 201, 1277–1288.