Plant trait information is essential for understanding plant evolution, vegetation dynamics, and vegetation responses to disturbance and management. Furthermore, in Mediterranean ecosystems, changes in fire regime may be more relevant than direct changes in climatic conditions, making the knowledge of fire-related traits especially important. Thus the purpose of this data set was to compile the most updated and comprehensive information on fire-related traits for vascular plant species of the Mediterranean Basin, that is, traits related to plant persistence and regeneration after fire. Data were collected from an extensive literature review and from field and experimental observations. The data source is documented for each value. Since life history traits may vary spatially or with environmental conditions, we did not aggregate them by species; i.e., traits and species are repeated in different records if they were observed by different researchers and/or in different locations. Life history traits included in the data set are: life form, resprouting ability (after fire, after clipping, or after other disturbances that remove all the aboveground biomass), resprouting bud source, heat-stimulated germination, other germination cues, seed bank location and longevity, post-fire seedling emergence and survival, maturity age of resprouts and saplings, and seed mass. Several traits are unknown for many species; consequently, the data set reflects the state of the knowledge on the topic. However, since the ability to resprout is a trait of paramount relevance in fire-prone environments, it was considered a core trait in the data set, and thus species whose resprouting capacity was unknown were not included. Life form is also provided for all taxa. The structure of the database allows different levels of information (and accuracy) for each entry, and thus some traits may include different types of data (quantitative, semi-quantitative, or categorical) from different sources.The data set is structured in 8263 records and 11 columns, obtained from 301 published and unpublished sources of information. It includes 952 taxa determined at specific or infraspecific level, which comprise 859 species, 384 genera, and 79 families. Although this is the most comprehensive data set of fire-relevant plant traits for Mediterranean species, there is still a considerable need for observations and experiments, especially in little-studied Mediterranean areas, such as northern Africa.

Large, infrequent fires (LIFs) can have substantial impacts on both ecosystems and the economy. To better understand LIFs and to better predict the effects of human management and climate change on their occurrence, we must first determine the factors that produce them. Here, we review local and regional literature investigating the drivers of LIFs. The emerging conceptual model proposes that ecosystems can be typified based on climatic conditions that determine both fuel moisture and fuel amount. The concept distinguishes three ecosystem types: (1) biomass-rich, rarely dry ecosystems where fuel moisture rather than fuel amount limits LIFs; (2) biomass-poor, at least seasonally dry ecosystems where fuel amount rather than fuel moisture limits LIFs; and (3) biomass-poor, rarely dry ecosystems where both fuel amount and fuel moisture limit the occurrence of LIFs. Our main goal in this paper is to discuss the drivers of LIFs and the three mentioned ecosystem types in a global context. Further, we will discuss the drivers that are not included within the `fuels' versus `climate' discussion. Finally, we will address the question: what kinds of additional information are needed if models predicting LIFs are to be coupled with global climate models? As with all generalizations, there are local deviations and modifications due to processes such as disturbance interaction or human impact. These processes tend to obscure the general patterns of the occurrence of LIFs and are likely to cause much of the observed controversy and confusion in the literature.

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Local adaptations to environmental conditions are of high ecological importance as they determine distribution ranges and likely affect species responses to climate change. Increased environmental stress (warming, extreme drought) due to climate change in combination with decreased genetic mixing due to isolation may lead to stronger local adaptations of geographically marginal than central populations. We experimentally observed local adaptations of three marginal and four central populations of Fagus sylvaticaL., the dominant native forest tree, to frost over winter and in spring (late frost). We determined frost hardiness of buds and roots by the relative electrolyte leakage in two common garden experiments. The experiment at the cold site included a continuous warming treatment; the experiment at the warm site included a preceding summer drought manipulation. In both experiments, we found evidence for local adaptation to frost, with stronger signs of local adaptation in marginal populations. Winter frost killed many of the potted individuals at the cold site, with higher survival in the warming treatment and in those populations originating from colder environments. However, we found no difference in winter frost tolerance of buds among populations, implying that bud survival was not the main cue for mortality. Bud late frost tolerance in April differed between populations at the warm site, mainly because of phenological differences in bud break. Increased spring frost tolerance of plants which had experienced drought stress in the preceding summer could also be explained by shifts in phenology. Stronger local adaptations to climate in geographically marginal than central populations imply the potential for adaptation to climate at range edges. In times of climate change, however, it needs to be tested whether locally adapted populations at range margins can successfully adapt further to changing conditions.

Though observations on re-colonisation of post-fire sites in the Mediterranean Basin are plentiful, there still is an ongoing debate on the interrelation of fire regimes and species traits related to fire adaptation. Most of the studies found are restricted to particular species or claim to present community attributes. Therefore they often lack information for the evaluation of evolutionary evidence and historical contingency of the local fire regime and other abiotic conditions, which may act as selective pressure for plant regeneration strategies. Indeed, knowledge about the success of regeneration mechanisms and their interrelation with ecological factors is essential for the interpretation of the high spatio-temporal variability found in post-fire species performance. Such knowledge would be necessary to assess the potential of different regeneration mechanisms to cope with ongoing land-use and climate change-a crucial scientific challenge.A summary is given of the knowledge about the limits and potential of plant regeneration mechanisms after fire in the Mediterranean Basin, along with corresponding studies conducted in other parts of the world with similar climatic conditions in order to present the fullest possible picture. Moreover, the positive or negative impacts of particular parameters of a fire regime on different regeneration strategies (post-fire seeders, resprouters, and facultative resprouters) are explained and discussed in the light of published literature. To conclude, reference is made to scientific gaps that need to be filled in order to analyse species resistance and community resilience absorbing possible climate or land use changes.