Abstract
Soil temperatures recorded with thermocouples and temperature-sensitive paints were quantified during Florida sand pine scrub prescribed fires at Ocala National Forest and Archbold Biological Station in May 1993. Thermocouples and glass petri dishes painted with temperature-sensitive paints and containing seeds ofEriogonum floridanumwere placed at 0 cm and 2 cm depth, and in vegetated and open microsites. Maximum temperatures were higher and peak temperature durations shorter at 0 cm than at 2 cm depth. Temperatures did not differ between microsites during the Ocala fire, but were higher in open microsites during the Archbold fire, probably due to combustion of well-aerated litter. Maximum temperatures of petri dishes were lower than those of adjacent thermocouples due to time required to melt paints. AllEriogonumseeds recovered from petri dishes after the Archbold fire failed to germinate. Germination was quantified forEriogonum floridanumandGarberia heterophyllaseeds heated to C and C under laboratory conditions. Seeds failed to germinate at C, while germination was similar to controls for seeds exposed to C. Results from this study suggest that small-scale spatial variation temperatures at the soil surface during fires is essential for seed survival and subsequent post-fire recruitment.
Highlights
Seeds that survive fires in the soil contribute to postfire recruitment to varying degrees among fire-influenced communities [1, 2]
Overstories differed in the two sites, ; sand pine was the only species in the overstory at Ocala, while at Archbold sand pines were interspersed with south Florida slash pines (Pinus elliottii var. densa)
Depth in the soil has a strong influence on magnitude and variability of temperatures during Florida sand pine scrub fires, and influences seed survival during fires
Summary
Seeds that survive fires in the soil contribute to postfire recruitment to varying degrees among fire-influenced communities [1, 2]. A large volume of field research and laboratory research has been conducted on temperatures reached during natural fires [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24], and on seed germination responses to elevated temperatures [4, 6, 9, 13, 16, 25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35] These two lines of research usually have been mutually exclusive, and have concentrated largely on Mediterranean-climate ecosystems and their species. Soil temperatures reached during fires tend to vary with microsites, with temperatures in open microsites lower than temperatures in microsites with higher fuel accumulations [12, 15]
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