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A palaeoecological attempt to classify fire sensitivity of trees in the southern AlpsInstitute of Geobotany, Section Palaeoecology, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, CH-3013 Bern, Switzerland; Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois, 505 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Sottostazione Sud delle Alpi, PO Box 57, CH-6504 Bellinzona, Switzerland
Institute of Geobotany, Section Palaeoecology, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, CH-3013 Bern, Switzerland Using pollen percentages and charcoal influx to reconstruct the Holocene vegetation and fire history, we differentiate six possible responses of plants to fire of medium and high frequency: fire-intolerant, fire damaged, fire-sensitive, fire-indifferent, fire-enhanced and fire-adapted. The fire sensitivity of 17 pollen types, representing 20 woody species in the southern Alps, is validated by comparison with today's ecological studies of plant chronosequences. A surprising coincidence of species reaction to fire of medium frequency is character istic for completely different vegetation types, such as woodlands dominated byAbies alba (7000 years ago) andCastanea sativa (today). The temporal persistence of post-fire behaviour of plant taxa up to thousands of years suggests a generally valid species-related fire sensitivity that may be influenced only in part by changing external conditions. A non-analogous behaviour of woody taxa after fire is documented for high fire frequencies. Divergent behaviour patterns of plant taxa in response to medium and high fire frequencies (e.g., increases and decreases ofAlnus glutinosa) also indicate that post-fire plant reactions may change with increasing fire fre quency.
Key Words: Charcoal analysis • pollen analysis • long-term fire ecology • post-fire vegetation dynamics • southern Alps
The Holocene, Vol. 10, No. 5,
565-574 (2000) This article has been cited by other articles:
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