Growth analysis highlights the fire-resistance of a ruderal species in the Atlantic Forest

Abstract

Fire-resistant species may have an essential ecological role in the natural regeneration process of degraded landscapes. Moquiniastrum polymorphum is a ruderal and fire-resistant species that occupies fire-disturbed areas in Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Evaluating a species’ growth sensitivity to fire and climate can help understand its complex successional process. In the present study, we used dendrochronology to describe the radial growth trajectories of M. polymorphum in a fire-disturbed area in the Atlantic Forest (Poço das Anta Biological Reserve), detect post-fire effects on the species’ growth, and investigate climate-growth relationships. We described the long-term growth trend of the species, it increased in the first years and was constant in the following years. The chronology was positively correlated with precipitation and negatively correlated with temperature at the end of the rainy season. Our results reveal that M. polymorphum did not reduce its growth after fire events. When observing through an epoch perspective, fire can even be positive to the species growth. These growth results indicated species fire resistance, which likely provides a resilient tree cover after forest fires and allows disturbed Atlantic Forest environments to break grass-fire cycles. This resistance may have a direct relationship with the opportunistic characteristic of the species in fire-prone areas in the Atlantic Forest. However, we highlight the critical role this species plays in the natural regeneration of burned sites in the Atlantic Forest.