juli g pausasJan 20, 2023

Estimating the age of #mediterranean #pines & their #cones is tricky, as they often produce more than 1 whorl per year!

Pic: #Pinus halepensis. From the bottom upwards: 🔵 arrows: 1st whorl of a growing season; 🔴 & 🟢 arrows: 2nd & 3rd whorl of the same year. Note the #serotinous (closed) #cones in the left pic.

Post: https://jgpausas.blogs.uv.es/2022/12/24/fire-selects-precocity-in-pines/
Article: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/oik.09373

#PlantEcology #PlantScience #fireecology #trees #pinaceae #ecology @wildfirescience

Fire increases precocity in pines

Fires are a natural disturbance in many ecosystems. Consequently, plant species have acquired traits that allow them to resist and regenerate in an environment with recurrent fires [1].[...]

j.g. pausas' blog
Show threadSimon HeyesJan 21, 2023
@jgpausas @wildfirescience Node counts have been traditionally used to age Banksia too but I am dubious about its accuracy. In wet years I've seen multiple growth spurts (2-3 nodes) in the same year. Same with species growing in more productive sites like arborescent Banksia marginata and B. integrifolia.
Show threadjuli g pausas

@SimonDHeyes @wildfirescience

That is right, we had this problem too (see picture). Because this #pine is a #seeder, it generates even-aged #postfire populations. And we calibrated ourselves using these even-aged young populations with known postfire age. So we are now quite confidence of our age estimations.

Jan 21, 2023 at 12:43pmWeb