IMBIV   05474
INSTITUTO MULTIDISCIPLINARIO DE BIOLOGIA VEGETAL
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Fire effects on the soil seed bank and post-fire resilience of a semi-arid shrubland in central Argentina
Autor/es:
FUNES, G; DÍAZ, S; LIPOMA, ML
Revista:
AUSTRAL ECOLOGY
Editorial:
WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC
Referencias:
Año: 2018 vol. 43 p. 46 - 55
ISSN:
1442-9985
Resumen:
Abstract Soil seed bank is an important source of resilience of plant communities who suffered disturbances.We analysed the effect of an intense fire in the soil seed bank of a semi-arid shrubland of Cordoba Argentina. We asked if the fire affected seed abundance, floristic and functional composition of the soil seed bank at twodifferent layers (0?5 cm and 5?10 cm), and if fire could compromise the role of the soil seed bank as a source ofresilience for the vegetation. We collected soil samples from a burned site and from a control site that had notburned. Samples were installed in a greenhouse under controlled conditions. During 12 months, we recorded allgerminated seedlings. We compare soil seed bank with pre-fire vegetation in terms of floristic and functionalcomposition. The high-intensity fire deeply affected the abundance of seeds in the soil, but it did not affect itsfloristic or functional composition. Floristic and functional composition of soil seed banks ? at burned andunburned sites- differed markedly from that of the pre-fire vegetation, although a previous study at the same siteindicated high resilience after fire of this plant community. Our results indicate that resilience of this system isnot strongly dependent on direct germination from seeds buried in the soil. Other sources of resilience, like colonizationfrom neighbouring vegetation patches and resprouting from underground organs appear to gain relevanceafter an intense fire.