Impact of two wildfires on endemic granite outcrop vegetation in Western Australia

In seasonally dry regions of the world fire is a recurring disturbance but little is known of how fire interacts with granite outcrop vegetation. We hypothesize that the floristic composition in granite vegetation, usually attributed to the edaphic environment, may also reflect the impact of disturb...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of vegetation science 2003-04, Vol.14 (2), p.185-194
Main Authors: Yates, Colin J, Hopper, Stephen D, Brown, Andrew, van Leeuwen, Stephen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
annuals
botanical composition
Cyperaceae
dry environmental conditions
dry season
edaphic factors
Endemism
Eucalyptus
Fire
flora
Granite
grasses
herbaceous plants
indigenous species
Mallees
Obligate seeder
Outcrops
Perennials
plant communities
Plant demography
Plants
Rain
recruitment
Resprouter
s
Seedlings
Semi-arid
shrubs
Species
Taxa
Vegetation
Vegetation dynamics
vegetative propagation
wildfires
woody plants
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Summary:In seasonally dry regions of the world fire is a recurring disturbance but little is known of how fire interacts with granite outcrop vegetation. We hypothesize that the floristic composition in granite vegetation, usually attributed to the edaphic environment, may also reflect the impact of disturbances such as fire. Dramatic differences in floristic composition and cover over 13 years and two fires were observed in vegetation on a Western Australian granite outcrop. This was very marked in the first year following the two fires, with annuals and geophytes showing the greatest turnover of species. Even among the perennial shrubs there was considerable turnover in a number of obligate seeders. After the first fire the number of species declined for woody perennials, herbaceous perennials and annuals, remained unchanged for perennial grasses and sedges, and varied with highest richness 4 yr after fire for geophytes. Demographic studies of two endemic woody obligate seeders and three endemic mallee eucalypt resprouters similarly showed dramatic differences within and between species in seedling recruitment following the two fires. Fire does have a significant impact on the floristic composition of semi-arid granite outcrop vegetation communities. Studies on other granite outcrop systems are needed to test the generality of this conclusion.
ISSN:1100-9233
1654-1103
DOI:10.1658/1100-9233(2003)014[0185:IOTWOE]2.0.CO;2