Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

For a few years more: reductions in plant diversity 70 years after the last fire in Mediterranean forests

  • Published:
Plant Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Changes in community diversity and dynamics after fires in Mediterranean ecosystems are rarely investigated more than a few years after the fire even though pronounced changes can be expected in the longer term due to substitution of canopy species. Pinus halepensis is strongly promoted by wildfire and should therefore be gradually substituted by Quercus species as the time since the last fire increases. We hypothesized that this tree substitution would cause changes in understorey plant diversity by changing resource availability and the abundance and properties of woody debris, leading to changes in biogeochemical processes. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the effect of the time since last fire on vascular plant composition and diversity by studying a 130 years post-fire chronosequence in mixed Mediterranean forests. The canopy composition went from domination by Pinus halepensis to domination by Quercus 70 years after the most recent fire. This transformation was associated with a change in the understorey involving a rarefaction of species present during the first decades after the fire. The plant density or cover also changed with time since the last fire, indicating a succession driven by species rarefaction rather than substitution. The mean richness and Shannon diversity per quadrat were highest shortly after the fire, and were significantly lower 70 or more years after the last fire. Fires are important for supporting highly diversified fire-dependent plant communities, and total plant richness decreases monotonically over time after fires, suggesting that fire suppression may reduce diversity in Mediterranean forests.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aedo C, Garcia MA, Alarcon ML, Aldasoro JJ, Navarro C (2007) Taxonomic revision of Geranium subsect. Mediterranea (Geraniaceae). Syst Bot 32:93–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baeza MJ, Valdecantos A, Alloza JA, Vallejo VR (2007) Human disturbance and environmental factors as drivers of long-term post-fire regeneration patterns in Mediterranean forests. J Veg Sci 18:243–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barbero M, Bonin G, Loisel R, Quezel P (1990) Changes and disturbances of forest ecosystems caused by human activities in the western part of the Mediterranean basin. Vegetatio 87:151–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barbero M, Loisel R, Quézel P, Richardson D, Romane F (1998) Pines of the Mediterranean basin. In: Richardson DM (ed) Ecology and biogeography of Pinus. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 153–170

    Google Scholar 

  • Bates D, Sarkar D (2007) lme4: Linear mixed-effects models using S4 classes. R package version 0.999375-37. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=lme4

  • Bond WJ, Keeley JE (2005) Fire as a global ‘herbivore’: the ecology and evolution of flammable ecosystems. TREE 20:387–394

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bond WJ, Van Wilgen BW (1996) Fire and plants. Chapman & Hall, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Capitanio R, Carcaillet C (2008) Post-fire Mediterranean vegetation dynamics and diversity: a discussion of succession models. For Ecol Manag 255:431–439

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter ZW, Sullivan BW, Qualls RG, Blank RR, Schmidt CA, Verburg PSJ (2018) Charcoal increases microbial activity in eastern Sierra Nevada forest soils. Forests 9:93. https://doi.org/10.3390/f9020093

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carvalho A, Carvalho CA, Martins H, Marques C, Rocha A, Borrego C, Viegas DX, Miranda AI (2011) Fire weather risk assessment under climate change using a dynamical downscaling approach. Environ Model Softw 26:1123–1133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cespedes B, Torres I, Luna B, Perez B, Moreno JM (2012) Soil seed bank, fire season, and temporal patterns of germination in a seeder-dominated Mediterranean shrubland. Plant Ecol 213:383–393

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chauchard S, Carcaillet C, Guibal F (2018) Fir expansion not controlled by moderate densities of large herbivores: a Mediterranean mountain grassland conservation issue. Ann For Sci 75(4):94. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-018-0774-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cherubini P, Gartner BL, Tognetti R, Braker OU, Schoch W, Innes JL (2003) Identification, measurement and interpretation of tree rings in woody species from Mediterranean climates. Biol Rev 78:119–148

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Clements FE (1916) Plant succession: an analysis of the development of vegetation. Carnegie Institute Publication 242, Washington DC

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Collins SL, Glenn SM, Gibson DJ (1995) Experimental analysis of intermediate disturbance and initial floristic composition: decoupling cause and effect. Ecology 76:486–492

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell JH (1978) Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 199:1302–1310

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Connell JH, Slatyer RO (1977) Mechanisms of succession in natural communities and their role in community stability and organization. Am Nat 111:1119–1144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cramer W, Guiot J, Fader M, Garrabou J, Gattuso JP, Iglesias A, Lange MA, Lionello P, Llasat MC, Paz S, Peñuelas J, Snoussi M, Toreti A, Tsimplis MN, Xoplak E (2018) Climate change and interconnected risks to sustainable development in the Mediterranean. Nat Clim Chang 8:972–980

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cruz-Alonso V, Villar-Salvador P, Ruiz-Benito P, Ibanez I, Rey-Benayas JM (2019) Long-term dynamics of shrub facilitation shape the mixing of evergreen and deciduous oaks in Mediterranean abandonned field. J Ecol. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daskalakou EN, Thanos CA (2010) Postfire seedling dynamics and performance in Pinus halepensis Mill. populations. Acta Oecol 36:446–453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis RA, Doherty TS, van Etten EJB, Radford JQ, Holmes F, Knuckey C, Davis BJ (2016) Conserving long unburnt vegetation is important for bird species, guilds and diversity. Biodivers Conserv 25:2709–2722

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Debussche M, Lepart J (1992) Establishment of woody-plants in Mediterranean old field—opportunity in space and time. Landsc Ecol 6:133–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeLuca TH, Sala A (2006) Frequent fire alters nitrogen transformations in ponderosa pine stands of the inland northwest. Ecology 87:2511–2522

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Duncan R (1989) An evaluation of errors in tree age estimates based on increment cores in kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides). N Z Nat Sci 16:1–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Egler FE (1954) Vegetation science concepts I. Initial floristic composition, a factor in old-field vegetation development. Vegetatio 4:412–417

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fernandes PM, Davies G, Ascoli D, Fernandez C, Moreira F, Rigolot E, Stoof CR, Vega JA, Molina D (2013) Prescribed burning in southern Europe: developing fire management in a dynamic landscape. Front Ecol Environ 11:e4–e14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortuny X, Carcaillet C, Chauchard S (2014) Land use legacies and site variables control the understorey plant communities in Mediterranean broadleaved forests. Agric Ecosyst Environ 189:53–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortuny X, Carcaillet C, Chauchard S (2020) Selective and taxon-dependent effects of semi-feral cattle grazing on tree regeneration in an old-growth Mediterranean mountain forest. For Ecosyst 7:11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40663-020-00222-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fournier T, Battipaglia G, Brossier B, Carcaillet C (2013) Fire-scars and polymodal age-structure provide evidence of fire-events in an Aleppo pine population in southern France. Dendrochronologia 31:159–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2013.05.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fournier TP, Brossier B, Gauthier O, Carcaillet C (2012) Post-fire dynamics and spatial heterogeneity of woody debris associated with Pinus halepensis in an oak-pine Mediterranean ecosystem. Ecoscience 19:356–363. https://doi.org/10.2980/19-4-3502

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fréjaville T, Curt T (2017) Seasonal changes in the human alteration of fire regimes beyond the climate forcing. Environ Res Lett 12:035006. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5d23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garnier E et al (2004) Plant functional markers capture ecosystem properties during secondary succession. Ecology 85:2630–2637

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giorgi F, Lionello P (2008) Climate change projections for the Mediterranean region. Glob Planet Change 63:90–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez-De Vega S, de las Heras J, Moya D (2019) Post-fire regeneration and diversity response to burn severity in Pinus halepensis Mill. forests. Forests 9:299. https://doi.org/10.3390/f906029

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gosper CR, Yates CJ, Prober SM (2013) Floristic diversity in fire-sensitive eucalypt woodlands shows a ‘U’-shaped relationship with time since fire. J Appl Ecol 50:1187–1196

    Google Scholar 

  • Gotellli NJ, Colwell RK (2001) Quantifying biodiversity: procedures and pitfalls in measurement and comparison of species richness. Ecol Lett 4:379–391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gracia M, Retana J, Roig P (2002) Mid-term successional patterns after fire of mixed pine-oak forests in NE Spain. Acta Oecol 23:405–411

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grime JP (1977) Evidence for the existence of three primary strategies in plants and its relevance to ecological and evolutionary theory. Am Nat 111:1169–1194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grime JP (1998) Benefits of plant diversity to ecosystems: immediate, filter and founder effects. J Ecol 86:902–910

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grissino-Mayer HD (2001) Evaluating crossdating accuracy: a manual and tutorial for the computer program COFECHA. Tree-Ring Res 57:205–221

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo QF (2001) Early post-fire succession in California chaparral: Changes in diversity, density, cover and biomass. Ecol Res 16:471–485

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hattenschwiler S, Vitousek PM (2000) The role of polyphenols in terrestrial ecosystem nutrient cycling. TREE 15:238–242

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hernandez-Serrano A, Verdu M, Santos-del-Blanco L, Climent J, Gonzalez-Martinez SC, Pausas JG (2014) Heritability and quantitative genetic divergence of serotiny, a fire-persistence plant-trait. Ann Bot 114:571–577

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hinojosa MB, Laudicina VA, Parra A, Albert-Belda E, Moreno JM (2019) Drought and its legacy modulate the post-fire recovery of soil functionality and microbiobial community structure in a Mediterranean shrubland. Glob Change Biol 25:1409–1427

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacquet K, Prodon R (2009) Measuring the post-fire resilience of a bird-vegetation system: a 28-year study in a Mediterranean oak woodland. Oecologia 161:801–811

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson EA, Miyanishi K (2008) Testing the assumptions of chronosequences in succession. Ecol Lett 11:419–431

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kazanis D, Arianoutsou M (2004) Long-term post-fire vegetation dynamics in Pinus halepensis forest of Central Greece: a functional group approach. Plant Ecol 171:101–121. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:VEGE.0000029376.15741.b4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knox KJ, Clarke PJ (2006) Fire season and intensity affect shrub recruitment in temperate sclerophyllous woodlands. Oecologia 149:730–739

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kouba Y, Camarero JJ, Alados CL (2012) Roles of land-use and climate change on the establishment and regeneration dynamics of Mediterranean semi-deciduous oak forests. For Ecol Manag 274:143–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurth VJ, Hart SC, Ross CS, Kaye JP, Fulé PZ (2014) Stand-replacing wildfires increase nitrification for decades in southwestern ponderosa pine forests. Oecologia 175:395–407

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lavorel S, Garnier E (2002) Predicting changes in community composition and ecosystem functioning from plant traits: revisiting the Holy Grail. Funct Ecol 16:545–566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lazarina M, Devalez J, Neokosmidis L, Sgardelis SP, Kallimanis AS, Tscheulin T, Tsalkatis P, Kourtidou M, Mizerakis V, Nakas G, Palaiologou P, Kalabodikis K, Vujic A, Petanidou T (2019) Moderate fire severity is best for the diversity of most of the pollinator guilds in Mediterranean pine forests. Ecology 100:e02615

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mackey RL, Currie DJ (2001) The diversity-disturbance relationship: is it generally strong and peaked? Ecology 82:3479–3492

    Google Scholar 

  • Magurran AE (1988) Ecological diversity and its measurement. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Moritz MA, Parisien MA, Batllori E, Krawchuck MA, Van Dorn J, Ganz DJ, Hayhoe K (2012) Climate change and disruptions to global fire activity. Ecosphere 3:49. https://doi.org/10.1890/ES11-00345.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moya D, Gonzalez-De Vega S, Garcia-Orenes F, Morugan-Coronado A, Arcenegui V, Mataix-Solera J, Lucas-Borja ME, De las Heras J (2018) Temporal characterisation of soil-plant natural recovery related to fire severity in burned Pinus halepensis Mill. forest. Sci Total Environ 640:41–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Mouillot F, Rambal S, Joffre R (2002) Simulating climate change impacts on fire frequency and vegetation dynamics in a Mediterranean-type ecosystem. Glob Change Biol 8:423–437

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Navarro LM, Pereira HM (2012) Rewilding abandonned landscapes in Europe. Ecosystems 15:900–912

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niklasson M, Zin E, Zielonka T, Feijen M, Korczyk AF, Churski M, Samo-jlik T, Jedrzejewska B, Gutowski JM, Brzeziecki B (2010) A 350-year tree-ring fire record from Bialowieza primeval forest, Poland: implications for Central European lowland fire history. J Ecol 98:1319–1329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pal JS, Giorgi F, Bi XQ (2004) Consistency of recent European summer precipitation trends and extremes with future regional climate projections. Geophys Res Lett 31:L13202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panaïotis C, Carcaillet C, M’Hamedi M (1997) Determination of the natural mortality age of an holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) stand in Corsica (Mediterranean Island). Acta Oecol 18:519–530

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pausas JG (2004) Changes in fire and climate in the eastern Iberian Peninsula (Mediterranean basin). Clim Change 63:337–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pausas JG, Fernandez-Munoz S (2011) Fire regime changes in the Western Mediterranean Basin: from fuel-limited to drought-driven fire regime. Clim Change 110:215–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pausas JG, Llovet J, Rodrigo A, Vallejo R (2008) Are wildfires a disaster in the Mediterranean basin? A review. Int J Wildland Fire 17:713–723

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pausas JG, Ouadah N, Ferran A, Gimeno T, Vellejo R (2003) Fire severity and seedling establishment in Pinus halepensis woodlands, eastern Iberian Peninsula. Plant Ecol 169:205–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perez-Valera E, Verdu M, Navarro-Cano JA, Goberna M (2018) Resilience to fire of phylogentic diversity across biological domains. Mol Ecol 27:2896–2908

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pickett STA, White PS (1985) The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Pons A, Quézel P (1998) On the installation of the Mediterranean climate. C R Acad Sci Terre Planet 327:755–760

    Google Scholar 

  • R Team (2013) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • Retana J, Espelta JM, Habrouk A, Ordonez JL, de Sola-Morales F (2002) Regeneration patterns of three Mediterranean pines and forest changes after a large wildfire in northeastern Spain. Ecoscience 9:89–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Risberg L, Granström A (2014) Exploiting a window in time: fate of recruiting populations of two rare fire-dependent Geranium species after forest fire. Plant Ecol 215:613–624

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schweingruber FH (1988) Tree rings-basics and applications of dendrochronology. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Serre-Bachet F (1992) Les enseignements écologiques de la variation de l’épaisseur du cerne chez le pin d’Alep. Forêt Mediterranéenne 13:171–176

    Google Scholar 

  • Shannon CE (1948) A mathematical theory of communication. Bell Syst Technol J 27:379–423

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheffield J, Wood EF (2008) Projected changes in drought occurrence under future global warming from multi-model, multi-scenario, IPCC AR4 simulations. Clim Dyn 31:79–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simioni G, Marie G, Davi H, Martin-St Paul N, Huc R (2020) Natural forest dynamics have more influence than climate change on the net ecosystem production of a mixed Mediterranean forest. Ecol Model 416:108921

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stokes MA, Smiley TL (1996) An introduction to tree-ring dating. University of Arizona Press, Tucson

    Google Scholar 

  • Tatoni T, Roche P (1994) Comparison of old-field and forest revegetation dynamics in Provence. J Veg Sci 5:295–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taudière A, Bellanger JM, Moreau PA, Carcaillet C, Christophe A, Læssøe T, Panaïotis C, Richard F (2017a) Xylobolus subpileatus, a hyper-specialized basidiomycete functionally linked to old canopy gaps. Can J For Res 47:965–973. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2016-0521

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taudière A, Richard F, Carcaillet C (2017b) Review on fire effects on ectomycorrhizal symbiosis, an unachieved work for a scalding topic. For Ecol Manag 391:446–457

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tedim F, Leone V, Xanthopoulos G (2016) A wildfire risk management concept based on a social-ecological approach in the European Union: fire smart territory. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 18:138–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ter Braak CJF (1986) Canonical correspondence analysis: a new eigenvector technique for multivariate direct gradient analysis. Ecology 67:1167–1179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thanos CA, Daskalakou EN (2000) Reproduction in Pinus halepensis and P. brutia. In: Ne’eman G, Trabaud L (eds) Ecology, biogeography and management of Pinus halepensis and P. brutia forest ecosystems in the Mediterranean basin. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, pp 79–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Thanos CA, Daskalakou EN, Nikolaidou S (1996) Early post-fire regeneration of a Pinus halepensis forest on Mount Parnis, Greece. J Veg Sci 7:273–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thuiller W, Lavorel S, Araujo MB, Sykes MT, Prentice IC (2005) Climate change threats to plant diversity in Europe. PNAS 102:8245–8250

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tsafrir A, Osem Y, Shemesh H, Carmel Y, Soref C, Ovadia O (2019) Fire season modifies the perennial plant composition through a differential effect on obligate seeders in eastern Mediterranean woodlands. Appl Veg Sci 22:115–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trabaud L (1987) Dynamics after fire of sclerophyllous plant communities in the Mediterranean basin. Ecol Mediterr 13:25–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trabaud L (2000) Post-fire regeneration of Pinus halepensis forests in the West Mediterranean. In: Ne’eman G, Trabaud L (eds) Ecology, biogeography and management of Pinus halepensis and P brutia forest ecosystems in the Mediterranean basin. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, pp 257–268

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker LR, Wardle DA, Bardgett RD, Clarkson BD (2010) The use of chronosequences in studies of ecological succession and soil development. J Ecol 98:725–736

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Financial support was provided by the FIREMAN programme (ERA-net BiodivERsA, ANR-08-BDVA-0004) to CC. We warmly thank Julie Aleman, Giovanna Battipaglia, Loïc Bircker, Laurent Bremond, Benoit Brossier, Xavier Fortuny, Olivier Gauthier, Sarah Ivorra, Bérangère Leys, Shane McCloskey, Laure Paradis, Sandrine Picq, Paul Roiron and Sandrine Subitani for their help during the fieldwork and the tree-ring analyses. We especially thank Raimondo Capitanio, who sampled five sites by himself while working on his Master’s thesis. The English text was edited by SEES-Editing Ltd.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. École Pratique Des Hautes Etudes (EPHE), Paris Sciences Lettres University (PSL), Paris, France

    Thomas Fournier, Jordan Fèvre & Christopher Carcaillet

  2. MARBEC (Université de Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD), Montpellier, France

    Frédérique Carcaillet

  3. LEHNA (Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, ENTPE), 69622, Villeurbanne, France

    Christopher Carcaillet

Authors
  1. Thomas Fournier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jordan Fèvre
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Frédérique Carcaillet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Christopher Carcaillet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

CC (PhD supervisor) and TF (PhD student) designed the study inspiring by the Capitanio and Carcaillet’s study (2008); TF and JF (MSc student) carried out the fieldwork and collected the data; JF identified plants. TF analyzed the data, and wrote the first draught as a chapter of his PhD thesis, but abandoned in 2013 after his PhD viver. CC edited the first draught to transform it in a research article and carried out the bibliographic watch. FC contributed for the statistics and to edit the manuscript. CC and FC approved the final version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher Carcaillet.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Communicated by Carissa Lyn Wonkka.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 18 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fournier, T., Fèvre, J., Carcaillet, F. et al. For a few years more: reductions in plant diversity 70 years after the last fire in Mediterranean forests. Plant Ecol 221, 559–576 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-020-01034-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-020-01034-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation