Pinus montezumae regeneration dynamics after a forest fire and a prescribed burn

Abstract

Background: Empirically, it has been observed that fire favors the regeneration in many pine forests. However, few studies have demonstrated this experimentally. Questions and/or Hypotheses: ¿Does the fire favor the studied species regeneration? ¿how does it change the regeneration density along the first years? Studied species/data description/Mathematical model: Pinus montezumae Lamb. Seedling density, litter thickness. Pearson correlation, Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon tests. Study site and dates: Ejido Santo Tomás, Singuilucan, Hidalgo state, Mexico. From 2011 to 2013. Methods: Fifty-six-1 m2 plots per treatment were sampled 9, 21 and 27 months after a prescribed fire (QP) and 30, 42 and 48 months after a forest fire (IF) as well as unburned controls. Results: There was a negative Pearson correlation (r = -0.648, P ≤ 0.01), showing that as it decreases the thickness of the litter, the density of regeneration increases. When comparing couples of treatments per year along the three evaluations, almost all showed significant differences (P < 0.05). In the first evaluation, the regeneration density was 492,625 (IF), 402,875 (QP) and 12,375 ha-1 (T). In the third evaluation was found 160,000 (IF), 84,643 (QP) and 0 ha-1 (T). Conclusions: The fire favored the regeneration of P. montezumae.