Shared fire-survival and fire-persistence traits are found in taxonomically unrelated plant species that commonly grow in fire-prone ecosystems. Such traits include resprouting, after fire has killed the above-ground biomass, and postfire seed release after the death of individual plants. Classification of such traits has led to a change in focus from research on the impact of fire as a disturbance factor on individual species, towards research into plant functional types associated with fire. This has led to a better understanding of the timing and geographic evolution of such traits as either fire-adapted or as a selective response to other disturbance factors. The identification of fire-survival and fire-persistence traits in fire-prone ecosystems is the first focus of this paper. It is followed by a discussion of recent research which offers a critical reappraisal of patch mosaic burning as a means to increase landscape heterogeneity and biodiversity, including the role played by plant functional types in determining diversity. The fire-prone ecosystems of mediterranean-type shrublands and heathlands, savannas and grasslands, and boreal and other coniferous forests are the main geographic focus of the paper.
Allan, G.E. and Southgate, R.I.2002: Fire regimes in the spinifex landscapes of Australia . In Bradstock, R.A., Williams, J.E. and Gill, A.M., editors, Flammable Australia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 145-77.
Andersen, A.N., Cook, G.D. and Müller, W.J.2003: Synthesis: fire ecology and adaptive conservation management . In Andersen, A.N., Cook, G.D. and Williams, R.J., editors, Fire in tropical savannas, New York: Springer-Verlag, 153-64.
4.
Archibold, O.W.1995: Ecology of world vegetation. London : Chapman and Hall.
5.
Bond, W.J.1997: Functional types for predicting changes in biodiversity: a case study in Cape Fynbos. In Smith, T.M., Shugart, H.H. and Woodward, F.I., editors, Plant functional types, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 174-94.
6.
Bond, W.J. and Keely, J.E.2005: Fire as a global `herbivore': the ecology and evolution of flammable ecosystems. Trends in Ecology and Evolution20, 387-94.
7.
Bond, W.J. and Midgley, J.J.2001: Ecology of sprouting in woody plants: the persistence niche. Trends in Ecology and Evolution16, 45-51.
8.
Bond, W.J. and van Wilgen, B.W.1996: Fire and plants. London: Chapman and Hall.
9.
Bond, W.J., Woodward, F.I. and Midgley, J.J.2005: The global distribution of ecosystems in a world without fire. The New Phytologist165, 525-38.
10.
Christensen, N.L.1985: Shrubland fire regimes and their evolutionary consequences . In Picket, S.T.A. and White, P.S., editors, The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics, Orlando: Academic Press, 85-100.
11.
Cody, M.L. and Mooney, H.A.1978: Convergence versus non-convergence in Mediterranean-climate ecosystems. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics9, 265-321.
12.
Connell, J.H.1978: Diversity in tropical rainforests and coral reefs . Science199, 1302-10.
13.
Costanza, R., d'Arge, R., de Groot, R., Farber, S., Grasso, M., Hannon, B., Limburg, K., Naeem, S., O'Neill, R.V., Paruelo, J., Raskin, R.G., Sutton, P. and van den Belt, M.1997: The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature387, 253-60.
14.
Dimitrakopoulos, A.P.2001: A statistical classification of Mediterranean species based on their flammability components. International Journal of Wildland Fire10, 113-18.
15.
Floyd, M.L., Hanna, D., Romme, W.H. and Crews, T.E.2006: Predicting and mitigating weed invasions to restore natural post-fire succession in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, USA. International Journal of Wildland Fire15, 247-59.
16.
Gignoux, J., Clobert, J. and Menaut, J.-C.1997: Alternative fire strategies in savanna trees. Oecologia110, 576-83.
17.
Gill, A.M.1997: Eucalypts and fires: interdependent or independent? In Williams, J.E. and Woinarski, J.C.Z., editors, Eucalypt ecology , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 151-67.
18.
Gitay, H. and Noble, I.R.1997: What are functional types and how should we seek them? In Smith, T.M., Shugart, H.H. and Woodward, F.I., editors, Plant functional types, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 3-19.
19.
Higgins, S.I., Bond, W.J., February, E.C. and 11 others 2007: Effects of four decades of fire manipulation on woody vegetation structure in savanna. Ecology88, 1119-25.
20.
Holmes, P.M., Richardson, D.M., van Wilgen, B.W. and Gelderblom, C.2000: Recovery of South African fynbos vegetation following alien woody plant clearing and fire: implications for restoration. Austral Ecology25, 631-39.
21.
Hopper, S.D.1979: Biogeographical aspects of speciation in the southwestAustralian flora. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics10, 399-422.
22.
Johnson, E.A.1992: Fire and vegetation dynamics: studies from the North American boreal forest. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
23.
Keely, J.E.2006: Fire management impacts on invasive plants in the western United States. Conservation Biology20, 375-84.
24.
Keely, J.E. and Keely, M.B.1999: Role of charred wood, heat-shock, and light in germination of postfire phrygana species from the eastern Mediterranean Basin . Israel Journal of Plant Sciences47, 11-16.
25.
Kellman, M. and Tackaberry, R.1997: Tropical environments: the functioning and management of ecosystems. London: Routledge .
26.
Kershaw, A.P., Clark, J.S., Gill, A.M. and D'Costa, D.M.2002: A history of fire in Australia . In Bradstock, R.A.,Williams, J.E. and Gill, A.M. editors, Flammable Australia, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 3-25.
27.
Klink, C.A. and Machado, R.B.2005: Conservation of the Brazilian cerrado. Conservation Biology19, 707-13.
28.
Laris, P. and Wardell, D.A.2006: Good, bad or `necessary evil'? Reinterpreting the colonial burning experiments in the savanna landscapes of West Africa. The Geographical Journal172, 271-90.
29.
Le Maitre, D.C., van Wilgen, B.W., Gelderblom, C.M., Bailey, C., Chapman, R.A. and Nel, J.A.2002: Invasive alien trees and water resources in South Africa: case studies of the costs and benefits of management. Forest Ecology and Management160, 143-59.
30.
Marais, C., van Wilgen, B.W.and Stevens, D.2004: The clearing of invasive alien plants in South Africa: a preliminary assessment of costs and progress. South African Journal of Science100, 97-103.
31.
Martin, R.E. and Sapsis, D.B.1992: Fires as agents of biodiversity: pyrodiversity promotes biodiversity. Proceedings of the symposium on biodiversity in northwestern California. Wildland Resources Center, University of California, Berkeley, 150-57.
32.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment2005: Ecosystems and human well-being: synthesis. Washington, DC: Island Press.
33.
Miller, C.I.1998: Early evolution of pines. In Richardson, D.M., editor, Ecology and biogeography of Pinus , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 61-91.
34.
Mistry, J.1998: Fire in the cerrado (savannas) of Brazil: an ecological review. Progress in Physical Geography22, 425-48.
35.
Mooney, H.A. and Dunn, E.L.1970: Convergent evolution of mediterranean-climate evergreen sclerophyllous shrublands. Evolution24, 292-303.
36.
Nicolle, D.2006: A classification and census of regenerative strategies in the eucalypts (Angophora, Corymbia and Eucalyptus - Myrtaceae), with special reference to the obligate seeders. Australian Journal of Botany54, 391-407.
37.
Noble, I.R. and Slatyer, R.O.1980: The use of vital attributes to predict successional changes in plant communities subject to recurrent disturbances. Vegetatio43, 5-21.
38.
Noss, R.F., Franklin, J.F., Baker, W.L., Schoennagel, T. and Moyle, P.B.2006: Managing fire-prone forests in the western United States . Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment4, 481-87.
39.
Overbeck, G.E. and Pfadenhauer, J.2007: Adaptive strategies in burned and subtropical grassland in southern Brazil. Flora202, 27-49.
40.
Parr, C.L. and Andersen, A.N.2006: Patch mosaic burning for biodiversity conservation: a critique of the pyrodiversity paradigm. Conservation Biology20, 1610-19.
41.
Pausas, J.G. and Lloret, F.2007: Spatial and temporal patterns of plant functional types under simulated fire regimes. International Journal of Wildland Fire16, 484-92.
42.
Pausas, J.G. and Verdú, M.2005: Plant persistence traits in fire-prone ecosystems of the Mediterranean Basin: a phylogenetic approach. Oikos109, 196-202.
43.
Pausas, J.G., Bradstock, R.A., Keith, D.A., Keely, J.E.and the GCTE (Global Change of Terrestrial Ecosystems) Fire Network 2004: Plant functional traits in relation to fire in crown-fire ecosystems . Ecology85, 1085-100.
44.
Pausas, J.G., Keely, J.E. and Verdú, M.2006: Inferring differential evolutionary processes of plant persistence traits in northern hemisphere Mediterranean fire-prone ecosystems . Journal of Ecology94, 31-39.
45.
Raven, P.H.1973: The evolution of Mediterranean floras. In di Castri, F. and Mooney, H.A., editors, Mediterranean type ecosystems: origins and structure, Berlin: Springer-Verlag , 225-77.
46.
Sankaran, M., Hanan, N.P., Scholes, R.J. and 27 others 2005: Determinants of woody cover in African savannas. Nature438, 846-49.
47.
Suc, J.-P.1984: Origin and evolution of the Mediterranean vegetation and climate in Europe. Nature307, 429-32.
48.
Turner, M.G., Romme, W.H. and Tinker, D.B.2003: Surprises and lessons from the 1899 Yellow-stone fires . Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment1, 351-58.
49.
Turpie, J.K., Marais, C., Blignaut, J.N.2008: The Working for Water Programme: evolution of a payments for ecosystem services mechanism that addresses both poverty and ecosystem service delivery in South Africa. Ecological Economics65, 788-98.
50.
Uys, R.G., Bond, W.J. and Everson, T.M.2004: The effect of different fire regimes on plant diversity in southern African grasslands. Biological Conservation118, 489-99.
51.
van Wilgen, B.W., Bond, W.J. and Richardson, D.M.1992: Ecosystem management. In Cowling, R.M., editor, Fynbos: nutrients, fire and diversity, Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 345-71.
52.
van Wilgen, B.A., Govender, N. and Biggs, H.C.2007: The contribution of fire research to fire management: a critical review of a long-term experiment in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. International Journal of Wildland Fire16, 519-30.
53.
van Wilgen, B.W., Govender, N., Biggs, H.C., Ntsala, D. and Funda, X.N.2004: Response of savanna fire regimes to changing fire management policies in a large African national park. Conservation Biology18, 1533-40.
54.
van Wilgen, B.W., Le Maitre, D.C. and Cowling, R.M.1998: Ecosystem services, efficiency, sustainability and equity: South Africa's Working for Water programme. Trends in Ecology and Evolution13, 378.
55.
Wardell-Johnson, G.W.2000: Responses of forest eucalypts to moderate and high intensity fire in the Tingle Mosaic, south-western Australia: comparisons between locally endemic and regionally distributed species. Austral Ecology25, 409-21.
56.
Wardell-Johnson, G.W., Williams, J.E., Hill, K.D. and Cumming, R.1997: Evolutionary biogeography and contemporary distribution of eucalypts. In Williams, J.E. and Woinarski, J.C.Z., editors, Eucalypt ecology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 92-128.
57.
Whelan, R.J., Rogerson, L., Dickman, C.R. and Sutherland, E.F.2002: Critical life cycles of plants and animals: developing a process-based understanding of population changes in fire-prone landscapes. In Bradstock, R.A. , Williams, J.E. and Gill, A.M., editors, Flammable Australia , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 94-124.
58.
Williams, J.E. and Brooker, I.H.1997: Eucalypts: an introduction. In Williams, J.E. and Woinarski, J.C.Z., editors, Eucalypt ecology, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1-15.
59.
Wirth, C.2005: Fire regime and tree diversity in boreal forests: implication for the carbon cycle. In Scherer-Lorenzen, M.,Körner, Ch. and Schülze, E.-D., editors, Forest diversity and function: temperate and boreal systems, Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 309-434.
60.
Zedler, P.H.1995: Are some plants born to burn? Trends in Ecology and Evolution10, 393-95.
