Diversity and Distributions (1999) 5, 15–26 MEDITERRANEAN-TYPE ECOSYSTEMS Recovery of Banksia and Hakea communities after fire in mediterranean Australia—the role of species identity and functional attributes BYRON B. LAMONT 1 , PHILIP K. GROOM 1,2 , MICHAEL B. RICHARDS 1 and E. T. F. WITKOWSKI 1,3 1 School of Environmental Biology, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth WA 6845, Australia, e-mail: rlamontb@alpha2.curtin.edu.au, 2 Centre for Ecosystem Management, School of Natural Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Australia and 3 Botany Department, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Abstract. Up to thirteen demographic, four resprouting Hakea spp.) was the best predictor of the recovery pattern. This was through its association with morphological and four ecophysiological attributes seed availability and level of germination and, to a were assessed in each of three studies of postfire lesser extent, drought survival (all higher for recruitment patterns in mediterranean southwestern nonsprouters). Leaf type, as an indicator of drought Australia. Three to seven of the most prominent, tolerance, had inconsistent predictive power between congeneric shrub species in each of five communities studies. The least summer stressed species, in terms of were monitored following a total of six fires, and survival and water relations, tended to have the largest numbers of individuals prefire were compared with seedlings derived from the largest seeds, but there were those over two to four winters postfire. The proportion notable exceptions. Within each life form category, of individuals in each species only sometimes reflected species behaviour varied widely, making most the proportion at an earlier time. At least one species predictions of postfire community dynamics based on differed from the rest for twenty-six of a total of twenty- relative prefire numbers little more than conjectural. seven demographic steps assessed. Initial seedlings/ However, in only one of the three studies were the parent, which was largely a function of seeds available, trends sufficiently clear to show that postfire densities and, to a lesser extent, level of germination, were would never mirror those prefire. the most important attributes in accounting for the recruitment patterns. There was a trend for the faster Key words. Banksia, community dynamics, Hakea, growing, drought avoiding species to increase at the fire ecology, functional groups, leaf type, seedling expense of the others. In the most comprehensive recruitment, population dynamics, seed and seedling size, summer drought, water relations. study, life form (four nonsprouting Hakea spp. v. four INTRODUCTION prefire. Much depends on how the species respond to fire. Some perennials are killed (the nonsprouters), the extent perhaps depending on fire intensity and Mediterranean-type ecosystems in southwestern patchiness. These usually produce many seeds which Australia are fire-prone, and we were interested in the should ensure that the species continues to be well processes of community recovery after fire. Various represented in the new stand, but might fail completely outcomes are possible: the number of recruited if postfire conditions prove unsuitable for recruitment. individuals of each species may be in proportion to Seed availability itself may depend on stand density their numbers prior to the fire, or they may be in (Bond, Maze & Desmet, 1995) and time since the last proportion to the number of available seeds or initial fire (Enright, Lamont & Marsula, 1996). Other species seedlings. Alternatively, species composition and/or usually resprout from protected buds, reproducing relative abundance of each species in the new community may bear only limited resemblance to that vegetatively in response to the fire (Lamont, 1989) or 15  1999 Blackwell Science Ltd