Increased fire frequency can result in a decline of obligate seeding plants, which rely on re-seeding for population persistence following canopy scorching fire. The resilience of obligate seeding plants to fire at any point in time depends on plant maturity and the size of plants in relation to potential fire scorch height. We investigated variation in the resilience of post-fire regenerating Eucalyptus delegatensis subsp. delegatensis (alpine ash) to a short inter-fire interval at its boundaries with E. fastigata (brown barrel) stands. The resilience of post-fire E. delegatensis regeneration was modelled across these stand boundaries as a function of the height of the plants, their reproductive maturity and predicted fire behaviour derived from local fuel characteristics. We measured these attributes 14 years following the Canberra 2003 wildfires and stratified study sites by fire severity. The height and reproductive maturity of post-fire E. delegatensis saplings decreased at stand boundaries with E. fastigata, while fuel was uniformly abundant and capable of supporting canopy scorching fire under mild fire weather conditions. This suggests that E. delegatensis is less resilient to frequent fire in the presence of interspecific competition and other environmental conditions that occur at stand boundaries, which represent the edge of the species’ realised niche. With forecasts for increased fire frequency in south eastern Australia, persistence of E. delegatensis may be greatest in pure stands corresponding to the core of the species’ realised niche, and in moist and sheltered topographic areas that are less prone to frequent canopy scorching fire. Our findings suggest the importance of considering fine-scale spatial variation in important obligate seeding plant traits when predicting and managing the response of obligate seeding species to frequent fire.

中文翻译：

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林分边界对专性播种桉树再生和高低严重火灾后的燃料动力学的影响：对物种对反复火灾的恢复能力的影响

火灾频率的增加会导致专性播种植物的减少，这些植物依赖于在冠层灼烧后重新播种以维持种群的持久性。专性播种植物在任何时间点对火灾的恢复能力取决于植物成熟度和与潜在火烧高度相关的植物大小。我们调查了火灾后再生桉树亚种的弹性变化。delegatensis（高山灰）在其边界具有短火间的间隔E. fastigata（棕色桶）的缩写。火灾后E. delegensis的恢复力根据植物高度、生殖成熟度和根据当地燃料特性预测的火灾行为，跨这些林分边界对再生进行建模。我们在堪培拉 2003 年野火发生 14 年后测量了这些属性，并按火灾严重程度对研究地点进行了分层。高度和次生火灾的生殖成熟E. delegatensis树苗在与立场边界下降E. fastigata，而燃料是均匀丰富，能够温和火险气象条件下支持树冠烧焦的火。这表明E. delegatensis在存在种间竞争和发生在林分边界的其他环境条件下，它对频繁火灾的适应性较差，这些条件代表物种已实现的生态位的边缘。随着对澳大利亚东南部火灾频率增加的预测，E. delegensis在与该物种已实现生态位核心相对应的纯林中以及在不太容易频繁发生冠层灼烧的潮湿和遮蔽的地形区域中的持久性可能最大。我们的研究结果表明，在预测和管理专性播种物种对频繁火灾的响应时，考虑重要专性播种植物性状的细尺度空间变化的重要性。