Pine serotiny
Some days ago I asked this question on Twitter.
What is the difference between the top and bottom pine cones in this photo? This is a question I often ask to my new students in the first field trip; in this case, Beniardà fire, 2020 [link]
These cones are from Pinus halepensis and were collected after a wildfire in Beniardà (Alicante, E Spain; burned in Aug 2020).
Many of you reply correctly; here is the full answer:
Top cones: before the fire, they were open on on the tree, i.e., without seeds. Fire burn them, and so they are all black
Bottom cones (see also the picture below): before the fire they were closed (serotinous cones), and fire opened them facilitating seed dispersal. Note that they are unburned inside. These cones contribute to the postfire regeneration of the pine.
References
- Lamont BB, Pausas JG, He T, Witkowski, ETF, Hanley ME. 2020. Fire as a selective agent for both serotiny and nonserotiny over space and time. Critical Reviews Plant Sci 39:140-172. [doi | pdf | suppl.]
- Pausas JG. 2015. Evolutionary fire ecology: lessons learned from pines. Trends Plant Sci 20: 318-324. [doi | sciencedirect | cell | pdf]
- Castellanos MC, González-Martínez S. & Pausas JG. 2015. Field heritability of a plant adaptation to fire in heterogeneous landscapes. Mol Ecol 24: 5633-5642. [doi | pdf | suppl.]
- Hernández-Serrano A, Verdú M, González-Martínez SC, Pausas JG. 2013. Fire structures pine serotiny at different scales. Am J Bot 100: 2349-2356. [doi | amjbot | pdf | supp.]
- Hernández-Serrano A, Verdú M, Santos-Del-Blanco L, Climent J, González-Martínez SC & Pausas JG. 2014. Heritability and quantitative genetic divergence of serotiny, a fire-persistence plant trait. Ann Bot 114: 571-577. [doi | pdf | suppl.]
More on serotiny: Serotiny: a review | Pinus brutia | Heritability of serotiny | Heritability of serotiny (2) | Evolutionary fire ecology in plants | Serotiny |