Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Artigo Produção Nacional Revisado por pares

BIBTEX RIS

Quantifying the short-term flowering after fire in some plant communities of a cerrado grassland

2018; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 11; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17550874.2018.1517396

1755-1668

Natashi A. L. Pilon, William A. Hoffmann, Rodolfo Cesar Real de Abreu, Giselda Durigan,

Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies

Background: Fire has been reported to trigger the production of flowers and fruits in many fire-prone ecosystems around the world. However, for tropical savannas, little is known about the effects of fire on flower production at community and species scale, especially for the ground-layer.Aims: We assessed the role of fire as a trigger to short-term flowering in cerrado grassland, compared with unburned vegetation.Methods: We recorded the presence of flowers or fruits in 2,441 individuals from 47 plant species (grasses, forbs and subshrubs), during 6 months after fire, in burned and unburned areas of cerrado grasslands, in south-eastern Brazil.Results: In the burned areas, 63% of individuals sampled flowered, in contrast to 19% in unburned areas, demonstrating a strong and positive effect of fire on plant communities of cerrado grasslands. Fire significantly induced flowering in 79% of the studied species, of which 20 species flowered only after fire (nine grasses, seven subshrubs and four forbs).Conclusions: These results highlight the role of fire triggering important ecological processes in the cerrado grasslands, potentially benefiting seed production and genetic diversity of many species. Fire is a crucial factor to be maintained for conservation of these ecosystems and their biodiversity.