Demographic patterns and productivity of post-fire regeneration in Portuguese Mediterranean Maquis

After a wildfire in September, 1991, post-fire regeneration of Serra da Arrabida maquis was studied and compared to an adjacent 30-yr-old unburned site. Two years after fire, cover and aboveground biomass was half of the amount found in unburned stands. This rapid recovery was mainly due to resprouting species: Q. coccifera was dominant during all stages of regeneration. Herbaceous species were abundant during the first two years after fire but became scarce in the older communities. Obligate seeders showed different patterns of recovery: Cistus species established many seedlings immediately after fire, but were less abundant in older stands; Rosmarinus officinalis attained high dominance in unburned sites but seedling recruitment was delayed, yet continuous during post-fire succession. This difference between two genera with the same obligate seeding strategy suggests that life history responses to environmental factors may affect or shape species distribution during post-fire regeneration.