Germination and seedling growth of <i>Calluna vulgaris</i> is sensitive to regional climate, heathland succession, and drought

Birkeli, Kristine; Gya, Ragnhild; Haugum, Siri Vatsø; Velle, Liv Guri; Vandvik, Vigdis

doi:10.1002/ece3.10199

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 103 publications

(167 reference statements)

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“…In our study, low seeding numbers could be due to bryophytes and lichen left behind after the burning delaying seedling establishment (Figure 7), or because seedlings died before they were recorded during the relatively warm and dry summer of 2018. This drought might have had a more negative impact in the north, as the northern seeds and seedlings are less adapted to drought (Birkeli et al, 2023). Heathland seed banks generally harbour vast numbers of Calluna seeds (Måren & Vandvik, 2009), and we can expect additional seedlings to emerge over time, although the majority of new individuals after fire normally establish within the first 2-3 years after burning (Måren et al 2014;Måren & Vandvik, 2009;Vandvik et al, 2014).…”

Section: Prescribed Burning Resets the Post-fire Successionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prescribed burning can promote recovery of Atlantic coastal heathlands suffering dieback after extreme drought events

Velle,

Haugum,

Telford

et al. 2023

Applied Vegetation Science

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QuestionsDuring the winter of 2014, an intense drought combined with sub‐zero temperatures resulted in a massive Calluna dieback in Norwegian heathlands. We studied the initial vegetation recovery under two management approaches: natural recovery and prescribed burning. We hypothesized that natural recovery will be slower in more drought‐affected sites, whereas burning will facilitate post‐fire recovery in all sites by effectively removing dead and damaged heath. Both natural recovery and post‐fire succession will be slower in the north.LocationCalluna heath in seven sites spanning an approx. 600‐km latitudinal gradient along the coast of Norway (60.22–65.69° N).MethodsAfter a natural drought, 10 permanent plots per site were either burnt or left for natural recovery. Vegetation data were recorded annually in 2016 (pre‐fire) and 2017–2019 (post‐fire) reflecting a factorial repeated‐measures design (n = 280). The data were analyzed using mixed‐effects models.ResultsTwo years after the drought, we observed high but variable Calluna damage and mortality. Over the four years of study, damaged Calluna recovered, whereas dead Calluna showed little recovery. Both the extent of the damage and mortality, as well as the rate of natural recovery, are only weakly related to site climate or environmental factors. Fire efficiently removed dead and damaged Calluna and facilitated post‐fire successional dynamics and recovery in a majority of sites.ConclusionsExtreme winter drought resulted in substantial and often persistent damage and dieback on Calluna along the latitudinal gradient. In sites with high mortality, prescribed burning removed the dead biomass and, in some cases, facilitated vegetation recovery. Traditional heathland management, which uses burning to facilitate all‐year grazing by Old Norse sheep in Atlantic coastal heathlands, can be an efficient tool to mitigate dieback events and more generally to increase resistance to and resilience after extreme drought events in the future.

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Section: Prescribed Burning Resets the Post-fire Successionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prescribed burning can promote recovery of Atlantic coastal heathlands suffering dieback after extreme drought events

Velle,

Haugum,

Telford

et al. 2023

Applied Vegetation Science

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An optical satellite-based analysis of phenology and post-fire vegetation recovery in UK upland moorlands

Labenski,

Millin-Chalabi,

Pacheco-Pascagaza

et al. 2024

Environmental and Sustainability Indicators

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Among‐population variation in drought responses is consistent across life stages but not between native and non‐native ranges

Nagy,

Thoma,

Al‐Gharaibeh

et al. 2024

New Phytologist

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Summary Understanding how widespread species adapt to variation in abiotic conditions across their ranges is fundamental to ecology. Insight may come from studying how among‐population variation (APV) in the common garden corresponds with the environmental conditions of source populations. However, there are no such studies comparing native vs non‐native populations across multiple life stages. We examined APV in the performance and functional traits of 59 Conyza canadensis populations, in response to drought, across large aridity gradients in the native (North America) and non‐native (Eurasia) ranges in three experiments. Our treatment (dry vs wet) was applied at the recruitment, juvenile, and adult life stages. We found contrasting patterns of APV in drought responses between the two ranges. In the native range, plant performance was less reduced by drought in populations from xeric than mesic habitats, but such relationship was not apparent for non‐native populations. These range‐specific patterns were consistent across the life stages. The weak adaptive responses of non‐native populations indicate that they can become highly abundant even without complete local adaptation to abiotic environments and suggest that long‐established invaders may still be evolving to the abiotic environment. These findings may explain lag times in invasions and raise concern about future expansions.

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Germination and seedling growth of Calluna vulgaris is sensitive to regional climate, heathland succession, and drought

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 5 publications

References 103 publications

Prescribed burning can promote recovery of Atlantic coastal heathlands suffering dieback after extreme drought events

Prescribed burning can promote recovery of Atlantic coastal heathlands suffering dieback after extreme drought events

An optical satellite-based analysis of phenology and post-fire vegetation recovery in UK upland moorlands

Among‐population variation in drought responses is consistent across life stages but not between native and non‐native ranges

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