Ecological Archives E090-094-D1.
Authors
Data Files
Abstract
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S. Paula
CEAM
Charles R. Darwin 14, Parc Tecnològic
46980 Paterna, Valencia, SpainM. Arianoutsou
Department of Ecology and Systematics
University of Athens
15784 Athens, GreeceD. Kazanis
Department of Ecology and Systematics
University of Athens
15784 Athens, GreeceÇ. Tavsanoglu
Division of Ecology
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science
Hacettepe University, 06800 Beytepe, Ankara, TurkeyF. Lloret
Departament de Biologia Animal
Vegetal i Ecologia
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, SpainC. Buhk
Geobotany, Campus 2
University of Trier
54296 Trier, GermanyF. Ojeda
Departamento de Biología
CASEM, Universidad de Cádiz
11510 Puerto Real, Cádiz, SpainB. Luna
Departamento de Ecología
Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
45340 Toledo, SpainJ. M. Moreno
Departamento de Ecología
Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
45340 Toledo, SpainA. Rodrigo
CREAF and Departament de Biologia Animal
Vegetal i Ecologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, SpainJ. M. Espelta
CREAF and Departament de Biologia Animal
Vegetal i Ecologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, SpainS. Palacio
Macaulay Institute
AB15 8QH Aberdeen, UKB. Fernández-Santos
Departamento de Biología Animal, Ecología, Parasitología, Edafología
Universidad de Salamanca
37007 Salamanca, SpainP. M. Fernandes
Centro de Investigação e de Tecnologias Agro-Ambientais e Biológicas
Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro
08193 Vila Real, PortugalJ. G. Pausas (*)
CEAM
Charles R. Darwin 14, Parc Tecnològic
46980 Paterna, Valencia, Spain
E-mail: [email protected](*) Current and corresponding address:
Juli G. Pausas
CIDE, CSIC
Apartado Oficial
46470 Albal, Valencia, Spain
E-mail: [email protected]
URL: www.uv.es/jgpausas/
BROT_2008.11.txt -- ASCII text, records delimited by new lines, columns delimited by tabs, 11 columns and 8263 records (not including header row). No compression scheme was used.
Plant trait information is essential for understanding plant evolution, vegetation dynamics, and vegetation responses to disturbance and management. Furthermore, in Mediterranean ecosystems, changes in fire regime may be more relevant than direct changes in climatic conditions, making the knowledge of fire-related traits especially relevant. Thus the purpose of this data set was to compile the most updated and comprehensive information on fire-related traits for vascular plant species of the Mediterranean Basin; that is, traits related to plant persistence and regeneration after fire. Data were collected from an extensive literature review and from field and experimental observations. The data source is documented for each value. Since life history traits may vary spatially or with environmental conditions, we did not aggregate them by species; i.e., traits and species are repeated in different records if they were observed by different researchers. Life history traits included in the data set are: life form, resprouting ability (after fire, after clipping, or after other disturbances that remove all the aboveground biomass), resprouting bud source, heat-stimulated germination, other germination cues, seed bank location and longevity, post-fire seedling emergence and survival, maturity age of resprouts and saplings, and seed mass. Several traits are unknown for many species; consequently, the data set reflects the state of the knowledge on the topic. However, since the ability to resprout is a trait of paramount relevance in fire-prone environments, it was considered a core trait in the data set, and thus species whose resprouting capacity was unknown were not included. Life form is also provided for all taxa. The structure of the database allows different levels of information (and accuracy) for each entry, and thus some traits may include different types of data (quantitative, semi-quantitative, or categorical) from different sources.
The data set is structured in 8263 records and 11 columns, obtained from 301 published and unpublished sources of information. It includes 952 taxa determined at specific or infraspecific level, which comprise 859 species, 384 genera, and 79 families. Although this is the most comprehensive data sets of fire-relevant plant traits for Mediterranean species, there is still a considerable need for observations and experiments, especially in little-studied Mediterranean areas, such as northern Africa.
Key words: database; fire ecology; fire-stimulated germination; fire traits; functional traits; Mediterranean Basin; Mediterranean ecosystems; post-fire response; resprouters; resprouting ability; seeders; traitbase.
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