Vegetation succession after fire in sclerophyll woodland communities in south‐eastern Australia

Abstract

AbstractThe dynamics of vegetation regeneration after burning were examined in three dry sclerophyll communities near Canberra, in south‐eastern Australia. Changes in seedling and regrowth populations were followed in permanent quadrats during the first two years after burning, compared with both the preburn vegetation and population changes over the same period in adjacent, unburnt plots.All species represented either by living plants in the tree and shrub strata and/or by seed in the soil and litter prior to burning regenerated during the first year after the fire treatments. No new species invaded the areas after burning. Species varied in their regenerative strategy and recovered after the fires either by germination of seed residual in the soil and ash or released from trees after burning, by regrowth from surviving vegetative organs, or by a combination of germination and regrowth. Both seedling input and the vegetative recovery of populations were higher during the first than second year after burning. The vegetative multiplication and seed gertnination of many species were stimulated by fire.It was concluded that the regeneration of the communities studied, as well as the post‐fire recovery of numerous different communities reported in the literature, closely resembled an initial floristic composition model. It is considered that the process of vegetation redevelopment after a disturbance (i.e. secondary succession) will be influenced greatly by the species composition at the time of disturbance, and by the type of disturbing agent. A single model would not be expected to adequately describe secondary succession following disturbance by agents imposing different stress conditions on a community.