Postfire Chaparral Succession in Southern California

The vegetation of two chaparral stands of different age in the San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California was analyzed in 1959, was completely destroyed by wildfire in 1960, and was reanalyzed by 1/100—acre quadrats in 1965, 4½ year after the wildfire. The 1965 vegetation of north—facing slopes in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology (Durham) 1967-03, Vol.48 (2), p.259-264
Main Authors: Hanes, Ted L., Jones, Harold W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chaparral
Experimental forests
Forest soils
Plants
Sage
Seedlings
Shrubs
Sloping terrain
Sprouts
Vegetation
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Description
Summary:The vegetation of two chaparral stands of different age in the San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California was analyzed in 1959, was completely destroyed by wildfire in 1960, and was reanalyzed by 1/100—acre quadrats in 1965, 4½ year after the wildfire. The 1965 vegetation of north—facing slopes in both stands contained more plants and more species and generally taller individual plants than south—facing slopes. Postfire vegetation was composed mainly of rootcrown sprouts and seedlings of prefire species. Direct comparisons of prefire (1959) and postfire vegetation (1965) showed that, although overall shrub composition of chaparral in Southern California is relatively stable, vegetation after fire was altered in plant number within species and in species composition. Seedlings of invading species are influential in stand succession.
ISSN:0012-9658
1939-9170
DOI:10.2307/1933108