Patterns of post-fire flowering and fruiting in Chlorogalum pomeridianum var. pomeridianum (DC.) Kunth in southern California chaparral

Abstract

For many geophytes living in Mediterranean ecosystems, the passage of fire can produce bursts of flowering, seed production, vegetative growth, and seedling recruitment. In the present study, we investigated patterns of flowering and fruit production of the chaparral geophyte Chlorogalum pomeridianum (common soap plant) at two sites: one burned in a prescribed fire and one in nearby unburned chaparral. Both sites burned in a wildfire 2 years later, and we continued monitoring marked plants for an additional 6 years, enabling us to observe the effects of recent reburning on reproduction and growth. We found that flowering was stimulated by fire but was not strictly fire-dependent. There was a positive relationship between bulb size and leaf area, as well as between these two characteristics and flower and fruit production. Flower stalk initiation occurred when plants reached a minimum leaf area of ~1000 cm2, indicating that a minimum bulb size must be reached before reproductive effort is initiated. Direct herbivory of flowering stalks reduced fruiting and leaf herbivory indirectly prevented the initiation of flowering stalks. In the first several years after fire, flower and fruit production could be explained by resource matching but in subsequent years, resource matching was replaced by resource switching.