Testing key tenets of pyro‐ecophysiology: Indicators of drought response in relation to shoot flammability

作者：Niger Sultana, Cate Macinnis‐Ng, Sarah J. Richardson, Md Azharul Alam, Xinglei Cui, Sarah V. Wyse, Daniel C. Laughlin, Katherine Seward, George L. W. Perry, Timothy J. Curran · 发表于：American Journal of Botany · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1002/ajb2.70091 · 被引用次数：3 · 研究领域：Fire effects on ecosystems、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Tree Root and Stability Studies

Abstract Premise Relationships between flammability and drought tolerance influence vegetation dynamics during fires. A goal of the emerging subdiscipline of pyro‐ecophysiology is to identify ecophysiological traits that determine live fuel flammability, but empirical studies of these relationships are rare. Furthermore, drought tolerance has been suggested as a surrogate for low flammability when choosing species to plant near houses in fire‐prone areas, but this hypothesis has not been tested. Methods We examined links between flammability and drought tolerance for 39 woody species, compiling existing data on shoot flammability and six drought‐related variables: minimum leaf water potential ( Ψ min ; N = 15 species), leaf turgor loss point ( π tlp ; N = 20), root zone water deficits ( N = 19), days to plant death ( N = 14), xylem embolism resistance (P 50 ; N = 20), and wood density (WD; N = 20). Results Drought‐tolerant species did not have low shoot flammability, except for a negative relationship between ignition percentage and WD, and then only for conifers. In contrast, there were significant negative relationships between four of five shoot flammability variables and either or both Ψ min and π tlp , showing that the most drought‐tolerant species were also the most flammable. Ψ min and π tlp were positively associated with leaf water status, producing higher correlations with shoot flammability than other drought‐response indicators. Conclusions Pyro‐ecophysiological t...