Catálogo de publicaciones - revistas

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Question</jats:title><jats:p>Under climate change and increased ignitions by humans, burning of forests in which severe fires were naturally infrequent may result in environmental changes that increase the probability that they will burn again. On the eastern slopes of the northern <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">P</jats:styled-content>atagonian <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>ndes, after fire‐resistant <jats:italic><jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">N</jats:styled-content>othofagus pumilio</jats:italic> forests burn they are typically replaced by fire‐prone shrublands dominated by resprouting shrubs. We examine fuel properties and microclimatic conditions at the community level as potential fire feedback mechanisms mediating switches from fire‐resistant <jats:italic><jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">N</jats:styled-content>. pumilio</jats:italic> forests to fire‐prone shrublands.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Location</jats:title><jats:p>Northwestern <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C</jats:styled-content>hubut province, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">P</jats:styled-content>atagonia, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>rgentina.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>We characterized the volume and vertical distribution of fine fuels, understorey woody and semi‐woody plant composition, stand structure and microclimatic conditions in unburned and burned <jats:italic><jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">N</jats:styled-content>. pumilio</jats:italic> forest and shrublands 14–29 yr after severe fire.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Fuel amount and arrangement in unburned <jats:italic><jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">N</jats:styled-content>. pumilio</jats:italic> forests are unfavourable for fire activity compared with post‐fire <jats:italic><jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">N</jats:styled-content>. pumilio</jats:italic> forests and shrublands. Unburned <jats:italic><jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">N</jats:styled-content>. pumilio</jats:italic> forests presented vertical discontinuities in fine fuel distribution and lesser amounts of fine fuels near the ground in comparison to fuels in shrublands. Floristic understorey composition of unburned and burned shrublands was very similar, while composition of unburned and burned <jats:italic><jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">N</jats:styled-content>. pumilio</jats:italic> forests showed clear differences. Additionally, microclimatic conditions following burning of <jats:italic><jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">N</jats:styled-content>. pumilio</jats:italic> forests and shrublands were significantly warmer and drier than in the unburned forest, and more frequently exceeded thresholds associated with fire activity in this region.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>Positive feedbacks from initial burning of otherwise fire‐resistant <jats:italic><jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">N</jats:styled-content>. pumilio</jats:italic> forest will accelerate the rate of fire‐induced conversion of forests to non‐forest assemblages. Once transformed to the alternative state of shrublands, return to a forest cover is unlikely due to increased probability of burning in shrublands, as well as the unfavourable effects of warmer and drier conditions on tree establishment.</jats:p></jats:sec>

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Analyses of functional traits have become fundamental tools for understanding patterns and processes in plant community ecology. In this context, regenerative seed traits play an important, yet overlooked, role because they largely determine the ability of plants to disperse and re‐establish. A survey of recent publications in community ecology suggests that seed germination traits in particular are neglected at the expense of other relevant but overused traits based only on seed morphology. As a response to this bias, we discuss the functional significance of seed germination traits in comparison with morphological and biophysical seed traits, and advocate their use in vegetation science. We also demonstrate how research in community assembly, climate change and restoration ecology can benefit from the inclusion of germination traits, encompassing functions that cannot be explained solely by adult plant traits. Seed germination experiments conducted in the laboratory or field to quantify these traits provide ecologically meaningful and relatively easy‐to‐obtain information about the functional properties of plant communities. We argue that bridging the gap between seed physiologists and community ecologists will improve the prediction of plant assemblages, and propose further perspectives for including seed traits into the research agenda of functional community ecologists.</jats:p>