Fire frequency filters species by bark traits in a savanna-forest mosaic

摘要

Aims: Savanna and forest biomes co-occur across many subtropical landscapes in Africa, and can be differentiated by their fire regime: fires are more frequent in savannas compared to forests. Bark thickness is a key trait of savanna trees, promoting their survival in this context. The rate of bark production should therefore be critical for determining how quickly a developing sapling would be protected or bark could regenerate between two fires. Despite this, the rate of bark production has seldom been measured in studies of fire-tolerant vs fire-intolerant species.