Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/28474
Appears in Collections:Biological and Environmental Sciences Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Aridity and competition drive fire resistance trait covariation in mountain trees
Author(s): Fréjaville, Thibaut
Vilà‐Cabrera, Albert
Curt, Thomas
Carcaillet, Christopher
Keywords: bark thickness
crown basal height
height–diameter
interspecific
intraspecific
mountain forests
surface fire
trait covariation
Issue Date: 31-Dec-2018
Date Deposited: 10-Jan-2019
Citation: Fréjaville T, Vilà‐Cabrera A, Curt T & Carcaillet C (2018) Aridity and competition drive fire resistance trait covariation in mountain trees. Ecosphere, 9 (12), Art. No.: e02493. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2493
Abstract: Fire resistance traits drive tree species composition in surface‐fire ecosystems, but how they covary at different scales of variation and with the environment is not well documented. We assessed the covariation of bark thickness (BT), tree height, and crown base‐to‐height ratio across Alpine forests, after accounting for the effects of tree diameter and competition for light on individual trait variation. Traits consistently correlated across individuals and communities, although the variance of BT mainly occurred among species, whereas crown elevation traits varied mainly within species. Aridity, temperature, and competition contributed to explain the variation of fire resistance traits among and within species, driving a trade‐off between fire resistance and the ability to compete for light. Thick‐barked species (fire‐tolerant) that self‐prune their lower branches (flame‐avoiders) dominated the most fire‐prone and flammable communities in sub‐Mediterranean southern Alps, whereas thin‐barked tree species that grow tall (competition for light) dominated the least fire‐prone communities in the northern Alps. Our findings suggest a long‐term interaction between mountain tree species and fire regime. Higher allocation to trunk elongation occurs in moist and shade environments, while higher allocation to thicken the bark and distancing the crown base from surface fuels occurs in open‐canopy, dry forests where fire spreads with higher intensity.
DOI Link: 10.1002/ecs2.2493
Rights: © 2018 The Authors. 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.
Licence URL(s): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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