Experimental Assessment of Postfire Resilience of Pallasian Pine Seeds

Abstract

Experimental assessment of the fire-induced effect on reproductive structures of Pinus pallasiana is conducted using the material from the natural stands in Crimean Mountains. Vital functions of the seeds are found to be partly preserved in cones exposed to fire. Probability of the seeds’ survival following the heat shock strengthened with the cones’ length, as well as the relationship between the seeds resilience level and weight as compared with control samples is shown. Fire is shown to act as a factor of selection by seed weight and cones size in natural P. pallasiana stands. Therefore, clear-cutting of burned intact stands eliminates the biocenotic component involved into a system of natural mechanisms of post-fire recovery of forest communities. The clear-cutting changes the pathway of natural selection based on resilience to fire, as well as impairs and delays the recovery of indigenous stands in burned natural populations of P. pallasiana.