Fire and herbivory shape belowground bud banks in a semi-arid African savanna

Autor(es)

Bombo, A. B. ^[1] ; Siebert, F. ^[2] ; Fidelis, A. ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Estadual Paulista UNESP, Inst Biociencias, Rio Claro - Brazil

^[2] North West Univ, Unit Environm Sci & Management, Potchefstroom - South Africa

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: AFRICAN JOURNAL OF RANGE & FORAGE SCIENCE; OCT 2021.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Fire and herbivory are major drivers in tropical savanna ecosystems and they selected a flora composed of species able to cope with recurrent aboveground biomass removal. Renewal of the herbaceous stratum is made possible by resprouting, mostly through a belowground bud bank. Evaluating the impacts of disturbances on the bud bank can assist in predicting post-disturbance responses and system resilience. In a semi-arid savanna, we aimed to verify whether lower fire frequency, fire and herbivory exclusion could affect belowground bud bank and organs diversity and consequently, the resprouting potential. Lower fire frequency or suppression and absence of herbivory were expected to reduce the bud bank density, which was confirmed by our results. If the fire is suppressed or fire frequency is reduced, the total, graminoid and the shrub bud bank decreased, whereas herbivory exclusion resulted in total and a forb bud bank of lower densities. Belowground buds were identified in non-woody and woody rhizomes, stolons, root crowns, and bulbs or corms. Despite having bud banks of lower density, disturbance exclusion promoted belowground biomass accumulation. Our results indicated the importance of maintaining the endogenous disturbances to the preservation of the belowground community and regeneration strategy, guaranteeing resilience in semi-arid savanna communities. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 17/02934-1 - Depois do fogo, de onde rebrotam as plantas? Avaliação do banco de gemas e órgãos subterrâneos do Cerrado
• Beneficiário: Aline Bertolosi Bombo
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 15/06743-0 - Como a época do fogo afeta a vegetação do cerrado?
• Beneficiário: Alessandra Tomaselli Fidelis
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Jovens Pesquisadores
• Processo FAPESP: 18/17612-2 - Efeito da frequência do fogo no banco de gemas e órgãos subterrâneos na savana africana
• Beneficiário: Aline Bertolosi Bombo
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Exterior - Estágio de Pesquisa - Pós-Doutorado