Pre-dispersal seed losses, and the survival of seeds and seedlings of two serotinous Banksia shrubs in burnt and unburnt heath

C. Zammit, M. Westoby

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34 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The obligate-seeder, B. ericifolia, is killed by fire whilst B. oblongifolia resprouts from a lignotuber. Both species are serotinous. From 20-30% of the seed bank of each species was destroyed by insect larvae, but in neither species did losses to seed predation increase over a series of stands last burnt between 5 and 24 yr previously. Overall, a significantly lower percentage of B. ericifolia than of B. oblongifolia seed was eaten (21.6% vs. 28.2%). A higher percentage of B. oblongifolia than B. ericifolia follicles opened and released their seeds without stimulation by fire (11.3% vs. 4.2%), and the percentage of open B. oblongifolia follicles increased linearly with the time since burning. This may be one mechanism by which new B. oblongifolia individuals establish between fires. About the same proportion of seeds from both species survived when placed into unburnt vegetation. However, the proportion surviving in both locations was small (13% vs. 10%). More seeds and seedlings of both species survived in the recently burned site than in all unburnt sites. -from Authors

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)200-214
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of Ecology
Volume76
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 1988
Externally publishedYes

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