Postfire Succession in Californian Coastal Sage Scrub: The Role of Continual Basal Sprouting

Malanson, George P.; Westman, Walter E.

doi:10.2307/2425576

Cited by 45 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Native shrubs recovered under ambient conditions, consistent with other studies demonstrating postfire crown-sprouting and seed germination (Keeley and Keeley 1984, Malanson and Westman 1985, Keeley et al 2005b). The slower increase in cover of native shrubs in the reduced-water plots and the faster recovery in the added-water plots supports previous reports that recovery of shrub cover during succession was correlated with precipitation (Keeley et al 2005b).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Altered water and nitrogen input shifts succession in a southern California coastal sage community

Kimball

Goulden

Suding

et al. 2014

Ecological Applications

144

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Vegetation‐type conversions between grasslands and shrublands have occurred worldwide in semiarid regions over the last 150 years. Areas once covered by drought‐deciduous shrubs in Southern California (coastal sage scrub) are converting to grasslands dominated by nonnative species. Increasing fire frequency, drought, and nitrogen deposition have all been hypothesized as causes of this conversion, though there is little direct evidence. We constructed rain‐out shelters in a coastal sage scrub community following a wildfire, manipulated water and nitrogen input in a split‐plot design, and collected annual data on community composition for four years. While shrub cover increased through time in all plots during the postfire succession, both drought and nitrogen significantly slowed recovery. Four years after the fire, average native shrub cover ranged from over 80% in water addition, ambient‐nitrogen plots to 20% in water reduction, nitrogen addition plots. Nonnative grass cover was high following the fire and remained high in the water reduction plots through the third spring after the fire, before decreasing in the fourth year of the study. Adding nitrogen decreased the cover of native plants and increased the cover of nonnative grasses, but also increased the growth of one crown‐sprouting shrub species. Our results suggest that extreme drought during postfire succession may slow or alter succession, possibly facilitating vegetation‐type conversion of coastal sage scrub to grassland. Nitrogen addition slowed succession and, when combined with drought, significantly decreased native cover and increased grass cover. Fire, drought, and atmospheric N deposition are widespread aspects of environmental change that occur simultaneously in this system. Our results imply these drivers of change may reinforce each other, leading to a continued decline of native shrubs and conversion to annual grassland.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Altered water and nitrogen input shifts succession in a southern California coastal sage community

Kimball

Goulden

Suding

et al. 2014

Ecological Applications

144

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Changes in vegetation and soil characteristics in the first 5-6 yr after fire have been measured annually or semi-annually on each of these sites, and can be compared with immediate pre-fire conditions for five of the sites. In addition, a simulation model of post-fire succession has been built (Malanson, 1983(Malanson, , 1984a(Malanson, , b, 1985Malanson & Westman, 1985) based on data from 23 coastal Venturan sites, including one of the sites described here in detail. Results of this model are used to describe additional features of ecosystem resilience to fire over a 200-yr period for Venturan coastal sage scrub.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measures of resilience: the response of coastal sage scrub to fire

Westman

O’Leary

1986

Vegetatio

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Measures of four components of resilience are developed and used to quantify the response of coastal sage scrub to fire in southern California: (1) elasticity (rate of recovery following disturbance), (2) amplitude (threshold of disturbance beyond which recovery to the original state no longer occurs), (3) malleability (extent of alteration of the new stable-state from the original) and (4) damping (extent and duration of oscillation in an ecosystem parameter following disturbance). Vegetation and soil properties measured before fire, and for the first 5 -6 yr after fire on four coastal (Venturan association) and four inland (Riversidian association) sites of coastal sage were used to follow changes. In addition, results from a simulation model of postfire succession in Venturan coastal sage scrub (the FINICS model of Malanson) were used to examine resilience behavior over a 200 yr period. Resilience behavior of coastal sage scrub is critically influenced by the presence of a competitive mix of inherently strongly and weakly resprouting species. Sites dominated by weak resprouters exhibit lower elasticity and less damping of year-to-year fluctuations in composition in the early post-fire years. Sites with a mixture of weak and strong resprouters have a lower threshold of disturbance (amplitude) before species extirpation occurs, a result intensified by a higher frequency of disturbance. Malleability is also greater in these systems under higher disturbance frequency.

show abstract

“…A number of studies have investigated sprouting ability resulting from physical disturbances, such as cutting (Kamitani, 1986;Ito 1996;Negreros-Castillo and Hall, 2000;Rydberg, 2000;Luoga et al, 2004), fire (Malanson and Westman, 1985;Crow, 1988;Keeley, 1992), and hurricanes (Basnet, 1993;Bellingham et al, 1994;Zimmerman et al, 1994). Kamitani (1986) reported that the patterns of sprouting after cutting (expressed in numbers of sprouts over time) could be classified as convex, increasing, or constant.…”

Section: Traits Of C Japonicum Sproutsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ability to encourage sprouting varies by species (Basnet, 1993;Bellingham et al, 1994;Zimmerman et al, 1994), stem size and age (Kamitani, 1986;Ito and Gyokusen, 1996), and the intensity of and interval between damage events (Malanson and Westman, 1985;Crow, 1988;Keeley, 1992). Generally, sprouting is very common in non-coniferous trees in coppice forests following overstory removal for human use (Negreros-Castillo and Hall, 2000;Rydberg, 2000;Luoga et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Age structure and dynamics of Cercidiphyllum japonicum sprouts based on growth ring analysis

Kubo¹,

Sakio²,

Shimano³

et al. 2005

Forest Ecology and Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We investigated the factors that encourage sprouting by Cercidiphyllum japonicum, as well as its ability to sprout after cutting, by analyzing the age structure, distribution, and growth of sprouts in one stool of this species. C. japonicum produced numerous sprouts in various age classes, ranging from 7-92 years old; the main stem was 226 years old.Sprouts that were relatively close in age (e.g., 30 or 80 years old) tended to form clusters.Based on an increase in the width of annual growth rings, we estimated that gap formation occurred about 30 years ago. This encouraged existing sprouts to grow more, and many sprouts were produced on the periphery of the stand to take advantage of the improved light conditions. After cutting, larger stems produced more simultaneous sprouts; therefore, sprout occurrence probably depends on the biomass of parent stems, although smaller stems were also able to produce some simultaneous sprouts. In the absence of physical damage, C. japonicum produced more sprouts as a function of increased age as a means of self-maintenance. C. japonicum sprouted simultaneously in response to external disturbances, such as gap formation and cutting, and it sprouted sequentially with increasing age. Therefore, although C. japonicum seedlings are rarely found in forests, C. japonicum can maintain its populations over long periods by sprouting, which compensates for sparse seedling regeneration.

show abstract

Postfire Succession in Californian Coastal Sage Scrub: The Role of Continual Basal Sprouting

Cited by 45 publications

References 21 publications

Altered water and nitrogen input shifts succession in a southern California coastal sage community

Altered water and nitrogen input shifts succession in a southern California coastal sage community

Measures of resilience: the response of coastal sage scrub to fire

Age structure and dynamics of Cercidiphyllum japonicum sprouts based on growth ring analysis

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About