Effect of fire season, aspect and pre-fire plant size on the growth of Arbutus unedo L. (strawberry tree) resprouts

Abstract

Resprouting is an important survival strategy for many plant species that allows their survival after fire. The time of fire has been identified as one of the factors affecting the ability and vigor of resprouting in a variety of ways. It is believed that plants recovering after spring fire have a comparative advantage over those recovering after autumn fire due to the larger pool of stored carbohydrates in the beginning of the growing season which can lead in more vigor resprouting. In the current study we present the results of an experiment on the effect of fire season, aspect and pre-fire plant size on the resprout growth of the common Mediterranean shrub Arbutus unedo L. The growth parameters of height and diameter were monitored every 3 months for the total of 3 years after fire. Fire season has no immediate effect on resprout height by the end of the first post-fire growing season. It has however an effect on resprout diameter with plants recovering after spring fire reaching bigger diameter by the end of the first post-fire growing season. Aspect has an important effect on both height and diameter of resprouts. The pre-fire plant size was also found to be affecting growth of resprouts especially after the second post-fire growing season.