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Archive for April, 2017

Pinus brutia

April 19th, 2017 No comments

Pinus halepensis is a strongly serotinous pine [1,2] occurring mainly in the western part of the Mediterranean Basin (especially in Spain; see map below). The most phylogenetically closely related species to P. halepensis is Pinus brutia that occurs in the eastern Mediterranean Basin (mainly in Turkey). P. brutia is called ‘red pine’ in Turkish (Kızıl çam) because sometimes the upper part of the trunk is reddish (as in P. sylvestris); the leaves are pale green as in P. halepensis. In relation to their fire response strategy [3], the main differences between the two species are that P. brutia is taller, the bark is thicker and the serotiny level is lower. Our observations suggest that P. brutia have relatively few serotinous cones, and most of then are less than 4 years old; P. halepensis have a higher proportion of serotinous cones, with many of them over 5 year old (and some more than 20 year old) [1].

Distribution maps of P. halepensis and P. brutia (from Wikipedia)

 
Pinus brutia forest, serotinous cones (2 serotinous and one non-serotinous (open)), and an example of a bark of more than 5 cm thick (the gaude was too short!). Photos from SW Turkey (by JG Pausas). For an example of serotinous cones in P. halepensis, see here.

 

References
[1] Hernandez-Serrano A., Verdú M., González-Martínez S.C., Pausas J.G. 2013. Fire structures pine serotiny at different scales. Am. J. Bot. 100: 2349-2356. [doi | pdf | supp.]

[2] Castellanos, M.C., González-Martínez, S. & Pausas, J.G. 2015. Field heritability of a plant adaptation to fire in heterogeneous landscapes. Mol. Ecol. 24, 5633-5642. [doi | pdf | suppl. | blog]

[3] Pausas, J.G. 2015. Evolutionary fire ecology: lessons learned from pines. Trends Pl. Sci. 20: 318-324. [doi | pdf | blog]

Eastern Mediterranean tour, 2017

April 18th, 2017 No comments

It is a pleasure to visit the different ecosystems of Lebanon and Turkey, and to meet old students and colleagues.

Cedar (Cedrus libani) forest, Al Shouf Biosphere Reserve, Lebanon

Anatolian steppe (bushes are Astragalus), central Turkey

Pinus brutia forest, SW Turkey

Postfire flowering: Gladiolus illyricus

April 4th, 2017 2 comments

On the 4th of Sep 2016, a wildfire burnt 800 ha in Xàbia, north of Alacant (Marina Alta, eastern Spain). About 7 months later (March 2017), Gladiolus illyricus shows a spectacular blooming:

 

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IMG_1363_Gladiolus-illyricus_sm
Gladiolus illyricus. Photos by: Toni Bolufer (top), Juli G Pausas (bottom)

For more examples of postfire flowering, see: jgpausas.blogs.uv.es/tag/postfire-flowering/