Abstract
Fire in tropical forests jeopardizes natural regeneration and can lead to the establishment of an alternative stable state. To address the effects of fire on natural regeneration in a lowland tropical forest, we performed a time series study over 12 years, focusing on the impact of fire frequency and post-fire regeneration time on vegetation structure, diversity, and functional composition in secondary forests. The study was conducted in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest at sites subjected to different fire frequencies (never, once, three, and four times over 44 years) and old-growth forests. During 12 years of monitoring time, no significant difference was observed in community structure and diversity among sites subjected to fire, which suggests an arrested succession pattern and corroborates with the establishment of an alternative stable state. Functional traits associated with fire resistance, including wood density and bark thickness, were higher in areas with fire history compared to old-growth forests. Therefore, our results showed that recurrent fires can lead communities toward an arrested succession pattern with a high divergence in community structure and functional composition compared to old-growth forest. These results have several practical implications for restoration and conservation programs in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.
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Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to Adilson Pintor for supporting the fieldwork. We thank Bernardo Flores for important considerations of an earlier version of the manuscript. This study is part of the first author’s doctoral thesis. We are grateful to Gustavo Luna and the entire ICMBio Staff at the Poço das Antas Biological Reserve for the logistical support. JS is supported by PQ-2 Grant from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).
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This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior: Brasil (CAPES): Finance Code 001 and Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro (JBRJ).
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Mata, S., Braga, J.M.A., Moser, P. et al. Forever young: arrested succession in communities subjected to recurrent fires in a lowland tropical forest. Plant Ecol 223, 659–670 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-022-01239-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-022-01239-4