Small fire refugia in the grassy matrix and the persistence of Afrotemperate forest in the Drakensberg mountains

Abstract Afrotemperate forests situated in the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa are characteristically small (1–10 s ha) and widely dispersed in a vast fire-prone grassland. Compared with lowland forests, they are typically species poor with low levels of endemism and species turnover, patterns...

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Autores principales:	Hylton Adie, D. Johan Kotze, Michael J. Lawes
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/0216b936267842129405d44a19ee6120
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:0216b936267842129405d44a19ee61202021-12-02T11:40:42ZSmall fire refugia in the grassy matrix and the persistence of Afrotemperate forest in the Drakensberg mountains10.1038/s41598-017-06747-22045-2322https://doaj.org/article/0216b936267842129405d44a19ee61202017-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-06747-2https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Afrotemperate forests situated in the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa are characteristically small (1–10 s ha) and widely dispersed in a vast fire-prone grassland. Compared with lowland forests, they are typically species poor with low levels of endemism and species turnover, patterns that are to date unexplained. Here we show that the richness, composition and functional traits of tree species distributed on extremely small (10–100 s m2) rocky fire-refugia situated in grassland are indistinguishable from that in forest. Afrotemperate forest tree species in the Drakensberg are widely dispersed and conform to the habitat generalist strategy. Most forest trees are bird dispersed; wind dispersal is rare and is associated only with species that resprout in response to fire. We present the ‘matrix refuge hypothesis’, which proposes that fire and extreme conditions associated with exposed rocky outcrops have filtered the Afrotemperate forest tree composition resulting in convergence in functional traits essential for trees to arrive, establish and persist on fire refugia in the grassland matrix. Most Afrotemperate forest tree diversity in the Drakensberg thus resides in the matrix where it may function as a recolonisation reservoir during climatic bottlenecks.Hylton AdieD. Johan KotzeMichael J. LawesNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Hylton Adie D. Johan Kotze Michael J. Lawes Small fire refugia in the grassy matrix and the persistence of Afrotemperate forest in the Drakensberg mountains
description	Abstract Afrotemperate forests situated in the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa are characteristically small (1–10 s ha) and widely dispersed in a vast fire-prone grassland. Compared with lowland forests, they are typically species poor with low levels of endemism and species turnover, patterns that are to date unexplained. Here we show that the richness, composition and functional traits of tree species distributed on extremely small (10–100 s m2) rocky fire-refugia situated in grassland are indistinguishable from that in forest. Afrotemperate forest tree species in the Drakensberg are widely dispersed and conform to the habitat generalist strategy. Most forest trees are bird dispersed; wind dispersal is rare and is associated only with species that resprout in response to fire. We present the ‘matrix refuge hypothesis’, which proposes that fire and extreme conditions associated with exposed rocky outcrops have filtered the Afrotemperate forest tree composition resulting in convergence in functional traits essential for trees to arrive, establish and persist on fire refugia in the grassland matrix. Most Afrotemperate forest tree diversity in the Drakensberg thus resides in the matrix where it may function as a recolonisation reservoir during climatic bottlenecks.
format	article
author	Hylton Adie D. Johan Kotze Michael J. Lawes
author_facet	Hylton Adie D. Johan Kotze Michael J. Lawes
author_sort	Hylton Adie
title	Small fire refugia in the grassy matrix and the persistence of Afrotemperate forest in the Drakensberg mountains
title_short	Small fire refugia in the grassy matrix and the persistence of Afrotemperate forest in the Drakensberg mountains
title_full	Small fire refugia in the grassy matrix and the persistence of Afrotemperate forest in the Drakensberg mountains
title_fullStr	Small fire refugia in the grassy matrix and the persistence of Afrotemperate forest in the Drakensberg mountains
title_full_unstemmed	Small fire refugia in the grassy matrix and the persistence of Afrotemperate forest in the Drakensberg mountains
title_sort	small fire refugia in the grassy matrix and the persistence of afrotemperate forest in the drakensberg mountains
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/0216b936267842129405d44a19ee6120
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Small fire refugia in the grassy matrix and the persistence of Afrotemperate forest in the Drakensberg mountains

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