Shrubland fire regimes and their evolutionary consequences.
In most shrublands, fires play a significant role in the maintenance of community structure and function, and have been important selective forces in the evolution of plant form and life history. Fires are patchy phenomena, and contribute greatly to temporal and spatial heterogeneity among and within shrublands. This paper reviews variability with respect to 1) fire regimes in shrublands, their causes and control (looking at fire type, intensity, frequency and season); 2) environmental consequences of such fires (including discussion of nutrient changes, water relations, allelochemicals, and impact on animals); 3) the evolution of fire-related adaptations (survivorship, and fire-stimulated flowering, seed release and germination); and 4) the nature and mechanisms of community response to fire (succession, production, and changes in community composition and diversity). -P.J.Jarvis
