Resprouters are plant species that are able to survive fire by the activation of dormant vegetative buds to produce regrowth. [1]
Plants may resprout from a bud bank that can be located in different places, including in the trunk or major branches (epicormic shoots) or in belowground structures like lignotubers, bulbs, and other structures. [2]
Resprouters characterize chaparral, fynbos, kwongan, savanna and other landscapes that experience periodic fires.
Protea cynaroides, also called the king protea, is a flowering plant. It is a distinctive member of Protea, having the largest flower head in the genus. The species is also known as giant protea, honeypot or king sugar bush. It is widely distributed in the southwestern and southern parts of South Africa in the fynbos region.
Rooibos, or Aspalathus linearis, is a broom-like member of the plant family Fabaceae that grows in South Africa's fynbos biome.
A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a response to coppicing or other environmental stressors. However, lignotubers are specifically part of the normal course of development of the plants that possess them, and often develop early on in growth. The crown contains buds from which new stems may sprout, as well as stores of starch that can support a period of growth in the absence of photosynthesis. The term "lignotuber" was coined in 1924 by Australian botanist Leslie R. Kerr.
Pioneer species are hardy species that are the first to colonize barren environments or previously biodiverse steady-state ecosystems that have been disrupted, such as by wildfire.
The Brussels sprout is a member of the Gemmifera cultivar group of cabbages, grown for its edible buds. The leaf vegetables are typically 1.5–4.0 cm (0.6–1.6 in) in diameter and resemble miniature cabbages. The Brussels sprout has long been popular in Brussels, Belgium, from which it gained its name.
Brassica oleracea is a plant species from family Brassicaceae that includes many common cultivars used as vegetables, such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, Savoy cabbage, kohlrabi, and gai lan.
In biology, stolons, also known as runners, are horizontal connections between parts of an organism. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton. Typically, animal stolons are exoskeletons.
Fire ecology is a scientific discipline concerned with natural processes involving fire in an ecosystem and the ecological effects, the interactions between fire and the abiotic and biotic components of an ecosystem, and the role as an ecosystem process. Many ecosystems, particularly prairie, savanna, chaparral and coniferous forests, have evolved with fire as an essential contributor to habitat vitality and renewal. Many plant species in fire-affected environments use fire to germinate, establish, or to reproduce. Wildfire suppression not only endangers these species, but also the animals that depend upon them.
The soil seed bank is the natural storage of seeds, often dormant, within the soil of most ecosystems. The study of soil seed banks started in 1859 when Charles Darwin observed the emergence of seedlings using soil samples from the bottom of a lake. The first scientific paper on the subject was published in 1882 and reported on the occurrence of seeds at different soil depths. Weed seed banks have been studied intensely in agricultural science because of their important economic impacts; other fields interested in soil seed banks include forest regeneration and restoration ecology.
Banksia attenuata, commonly known as the candlestick banksia, slender banksia, or biara to the Noongar people, is a species of plant in the family Proteaceae. Commonly a tree, it reaches 10 m (33 ft) high, but it is often a shrub in drier areas 0.4 to 2 m high. It has long, narrow, serrated leaves and bright yellow inflorescences, or flower spikes, held above the foliage, which appear in spring and summer. The flower spikes age to grey and swell with the development of the woody follicles. The candlestick banksia is found across much of the southwest of Western Australia, from north of Kalbarri National Park down to Cape Leeuwin and across to Fitzgerald River National Park.
Populus tremuloides is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America, one of several species referred to by the common name aspen. It is commonly called quaking aspen, trembling aspen, American aspen, mountain or golden aspen, trembling poplar, white poplar, and popple, as well as others. The trees have tall trunks, up to 25 meters tall, with smooth pale bark, scarred with black. The glossy green leaves, dull beneath, become golden to yellow, rarely red, in autumn. The species often propagates through its roots to form large clonal groves originating from a shared root system. These roots are not rhizomes, as new growth develops from adventitious buds on the parent root system.
Crown sprouting is the ability of a plant to regenerate its shoot system after destruction by activating dormant vegetative structures to produce regrowth from the root crown. These dormant structures take the form of lignotubers or basal epicormic buds. Plant species that can accomplish crown sprouting are called crown resprouters and, like them, are characteristic of fire-prone habitats such as chaparral.
A fire regime is the pattern, frequency, and intensity of the bushfires and wildfires that prevail in an area over long periods of time. It is an integral part of fire ecology, and renewal for certain types of ecosystems. A fire regime describes the spatial and temporal patterns and ecosystem impacts of fire on the landscape, and provides an integrative approach to identifying the impacts of fire at an ecosystem or landscape level. If fires are too frequent, plants may be killed before they have matured, or before they have set sufficient seed to ensure population recovery. If fires are too infrequent, plants may mature, senesce, and die without ever releasing their seed.
The forest floor, also called detritus or duff, is the part of a forest ecosystem that mediates between the living, aboveground portion of the forest and the mineral soil, principally composed of dead and decaying plant matter such as rotting wood and shed leaves. In some countries, like Canada, forest floor refers to L, F and H organic horizons. It hosts a wide variety of decomposers and predators, including invertebrates, fungi, algae, bacteria, and archaea.
An epicormic shoot is a shoot growing from an epicormic bud, which lies underneath the bark of a trunk, stem, or branch of a plant.
Sequoia sempervirens is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae. Common names include coast redwood, coastal redwood, and California redwood. It is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living 1,200–2,200 years or more. This species includes the tallest living trees on Earth, reaching up to 115.9 m (380.1 ft) in height and up to 8.9 m (29 ft) in diameter at breast height. These trees are also among the longest-living organisms on Earth. Before commercial logging and clearing began by the 1850s, this massive tree occurred naturally in an estimated 810,000 ha along much of coastal California and the southwestern corner of coastal Oregon within the United States.
Pyrogenic flowering is the fire-adapted trait in plants that is defined by an increase or a peak in flowering after a fire event. Pyrogenic flowering allows for plants to persist in fire-prone environments. Pyrogenic flowering can be facultative, meaning the rate of flowering temporarily increases following burning, or obligate, meaning flowering only occurs post-fire. There is high variation in the length of time between when a fire occurs and when pyrogenic flowering is triggered, and it is frequently species specific. Some pyrogenic flowering does not occur until up to a year post-fire whereas in extreme cases some flowers can emerge just hours after fire disturbance. Precise physiological triggers for pyrogenic flowering have not been heavily studied as is likely to vary between groups. Some suggested stimuli of pyrogenic flowering are the increase in light due to loss of canopy or competition, nutrient changes in the soil, or chemicals associated with fires acting as a trigger.
A geoxyle is a plant in which an enlarged, woody structure occurs beneath the surface of the ground. Such plants have developed independently in various plant lineages, mostly evolving in the Pliocene and subsequently diverging within the last two million years. In contrast to their close relatives, these plants have developed in areas with both high rainfall and a high frequency of fires. They are sometimes known as underground trees, and the areas where they grow as underground forests.
Fire adaptations are traits of plants and animals that help them survive wildfire or to use resources created by wildfire. These traits can help plants and animals increase their survival rates during a fire and/or reproduce offspring after a fire. Both plants and animals have multiple strategies for surviving and reproducing after fire. Plants in wildfire-prone ecosystems often survive through adaptations to their local fire regime. Such adaptations include physical protection against heat, increased growth after a fire event, and flammable materials that encourage fire and may eliminate competition.
Protea repens, known as the common sugarbush and in Afrikaans as the suikerbossie, is an erect shrub growing in the southern regions of South Africa. Related to other proteas, this plant is a relatively adaptable and variable species and can be found growing widely in various soils. Due to its showy flowers and adaptability, it is a popular garden subject for use in wildlife gardens in South Africa.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)  | This plant morphology article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |