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Climate and local factors influence Eucalyptus globulus establishment after off-season fires

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Abstract

Eucalyptus globulus Labill. is one of the most widely planted hardwood species worldwide. This species occupies a quarter of the country's forested area in Portugal, so there is a growing concern about its post-fire dispersal. Although it is generally recognised that fire promotes E. globulus natural regeneration and that precipitation and topography influence recruitment, little is known about the role of post-fire conditions on the establishment of the species following off-season fires. We examine how post-fire conditions affect E. globulus natural regeneration and invasive potential. Sapling establishment was assessed in plantations and under old and large isolated eucalyptus trees (seed-trees) following two off-season fire events (2017 June and October fires). Abiotic and biotic local factors affected differently sapling establishment in plantations and under seed-trees. In plantations, sapling cover was more influenced by tree-related traits (age and height), whereas the conditions beneath seed-trees mitigated the impact of harsh conditions on saplings. In both cases, post-fire climatic conditions constrained natural regeneration, with less impact under seed-trees, reinforcing their importance in establishment success. Thus, isolated seed-trees should be considered while managing the species’ unplanned spread.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mariana Ramos, Inês Mirra, Bárbara O'Neill, Denisele Flores and Carla Saraiva for their helpful support in fieldwork. This research was funded by FCiências.ID and Forest and Paper Research Institute (RAIZ) in the frame of Andreia Anjos PhD scholarship, as well as by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), Research Unit grant number UIDB/00329/2020. The FCT project PORBIOTA supported SC through a postdoctoral fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal

    A. Anjos, O. Correia, C. Máguas & S. Chozas

  2. cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE - Institute for Global Change and Sustainability, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal

    A. Anjos, J. G. Jesus, O. Correia, C. Máguas & S. Chozas

  3. RAIZ - Forest and Paper Research Institute, 3800-783, Eixo, Portugal

    C. Marques, N. Borralho & C. Valente

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  1. A. Anjos
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  2. J. G. Jesus
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  3. C. Marques
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  4. N. Borralho
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Contributions

AA and JJ conducted fieldwork. All authors contributed to the conceptualization and methodology design; AA, JJ, and SC analyzed the data. AA led the writing, and all the authors made substantial contributions. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to A. Anjos.

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Anjos, A., Jesus, J.G., Marques, C. et al. Climate and local factors influence Eucalyptus globulus establishment after off-season fires. New Forests 54, 981–992 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-022-09950-w

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