Naslov
Rising from the ashes – Four-year field experiment of plant recolonization after controlled fire (National Park “Krka”, Croatia)

Autori
Hršak, Vladimir ; Šegota, Vedran ; Sedlar, Zorana ; Rimac, Anja ; Alegro, Antun ; Marguš, Drago

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
Book of Abstracts Sixth Croatian Botanical Symposium with International Participation / Jasprica, Nenad ; Car, Ana - Zagreb : Hrvatsko Botaničko Društvo, 2019, 14-14

ISBN
978-953-8097-02-7

Skup
6. hrvatski botanički simpozij = 6th Croatian Botanical Symposium

Mjesto i datum
Zagreb, Hrvatska, 30.08.2019. - 01.09.2019

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Burning ; habitat maintenance ; pastures ; rocky grasslands ; sustainable model

Sažetak
Large areas of National park "Krka" used to be covered with dry rocky grasslands, used for centuries as pastures and maintained by permanent coppicing and occasional burning. The abandonment of this traditional land use in the second half of the 20th century caused major changes through encroachment of pastures by shrubs and trees. The aim of this study was to understand the dynamics of plant recolonization on grasslands and provide a sustainable model for habitat maintenance by monitoring the effects of controlled fire. Two closed transects of eight and nine 10 × 10 m subplots were regularly monitored three times a year, starting from 2015, before first burning, using Braun-Blanquet extended scale. The results have shown that in the first year after the fire, the vegetation structure is unstable exhibiting “non interactive species equilibrium”, when annual ruderal species prevail in flora composition. However, during second and third year “interactive species equilibrium” was established, when typical grassland species start to dominate and the number of species drastically increased in comparison to the pre- fire condition. Simultaneously, deciduous shrubs and trees started to recover from the underground plant parts. In contrast, Juniperus oxycedrus and Pinus halepensis do not show such renewal, but establish exclusively from new seedlings. Interestingly, there is also high variability in recolonization and flora structure with respect to previous plant cover, e.g. the slowest recolonization rate is evident at the spots of burnt juniper shrubs, where grass species show remarkably poor ability to enter this microhabitat.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biologija

POVEZANOST RADA