A wide diversity of epicormic structures is present in Myrtaceae species in the northern Australian savanna biome – implications for adaptation to fire
G. E. Burrows A D , S. K. Hornby B , D. A. Waters A , S. M. Bellairs B , L. D. Prior C and D. M. J. S. Bowman CA Institute for Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University, Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia.
B School of Environmental and Life Sciences, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT 0909, Australia.
C School of Plant Science, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tas. 7001, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: gburrows@csu.edu.au
Australian Journal of Botany 58(6) 493-507 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT10107
Submitted: 6 May 2010 Accepted: 21 July 2010 Published: 8 September 2010
Abstract
Recent research has shown that the eucalypts of southern Australia have an unusual and apparently fire-adapted epicormic structure. By studying a range of myrtaceous species from northern Australia we hoped to determine if this structure was also present in northern eucalypts. We anatomically examined the epicormic structures from 21 myrtaceous species in 11 genera from the north of the Northern Territory, Australia. An extremely wide diversity of epicormic structures was found, ranging from buds absent, buds at or near the bark surface, to bud-forming meristems in the innermost bark. These Myrtaceae species displayed a far greater variation in epicormic structure than recorded in any other family. This is possibly a reflection of the importance of the resprouter strategy, a long fire history in Australia and the ecological diversification of the Myrtaceae. Nonetheless, all the investigated eucalypts (northern and southern) possessed the same specialised, apparently fire-adapted, epicormic structure. This is remarkably consistent given the taxonomic, geographical and morphological diversity of the eucalypts.
Acknowledgements
We thank Chris Weston for cutting some of the sections. We thank CSIRO Atherton Arboretum for providing material of Allosyncarpia ternata and Stockwellia quadrifida. We thank Guy and Dimity Boggs and Ray Petherick Snr for permission to sample on their properties. We thank the Hermon Slade Foundation for financial support and Charles Darwin University for the salary of SKH and some operational funding.
Bell DT
(2001) Ecological response syndromes in the flora of southwestern Western Australia: fire resprouters versus reseeders. Botanical Review 67, 417–440.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Benson D, McDougall L
(1998) Ecology of Sydney plant species. Part 6. Dicotyledon family Myrtaceae. Cunninghamia 5, 808–987.
Benson D, McDougall L
(2000) Ecology of Sydney plant species. Part 7b. Dicotyledon families Proteaceae to Rubiaceae. Cunninghamia 6, 1017–1202.
Bond WJ, Midgley JJ
(2001) Ecology of sprouting in woody plants: the persistence niche. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 16, 45–51.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Bowman DMJS
(2002) The Australian summer monsoon: a biogeographic perspective. Australian Geographical Studies 40, 261–277.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Bowman DMJS, Panton WJ
(1994) Fire and cyclone damage to woody vegetation on the north coast of the Northern Territory, Australia. The Australian Geographer 25, 32–35.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Bowman DMJS,
Brown GK,
Braby MF,
Brown JR,
Cook LG,
Crisp MD,
Ford F,
Haberle S,
Hughes J,
Isagi Y,
Joseph L,
McBride J,
Nelson G, Ladiges PY
(2010) Biogeography of the Australian monsoon tropics. Journal of Biogeography 37, 201–216.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Brooker MIH
(2000) A new classification of the genus Eucalyptus L’Hér. (Myrtaceae). Australian Systematic Botany 13, 79–148.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Burrows GE
(2000) An anatomical study of epicormic bud strand structure in Eucalyptus cladocalyx (Myrtaceae). Australian Journal of Botany 48, 233–245.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Burrows GE
(2002) Epicormic strand structure in Angophora, Eucalyptus and Lophostemon (Myrtaceae) – implications for fire resistance and recovery. New Phytologist 153, 111–131.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Burrows GE
(2008)
Syncarpia and Tristaniopsis (Myrtaceae) possess specialised fire-resistant epicormic structures. Australian Journal of Botany 56, 254–264.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Burrows GE,
Hornby SK,
Waters DA,
Bellairs SM,
Prior LD, Bowman DMJS
(2008) Leaf axil anatomy and bud reserves in 21 Myrtaceae species from northern Australia. International Journal of Plant Sciences 169, 1174–1186.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Choczynska J, Johnson EA
(2009) A soil heat and water transfer model to predict belowground grass rhizome bud death in a grass fire. Journal of Vegetation Science 20, 277–287.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Clarke PJ
(2002) Habitat insularity and fire response traits: evidence from a sclerophyll archipelago. Oecologia 132, 582–591.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Clarke PJ,
Knox KJE,
Wills KE, Campbell M
(2005) Landscape patterns of woody plant response to crown fire: disturbance and productivity influence sprouting ability. Journal of Ecology 93, 544–555.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cook GD, Goyens CMAC
(2008) The impact of wind on trees in Australian tropical savannas: lessons from Cyclone Monica. Austral Ecology 33, 462–470.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cremer KW
(1972) Morphology and development of the primary and accessory buds of Eucalyptus regnans. Australian Journal of Botany 20, 175–195.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Crisp M,
Cook L, Steane D
(2004) Radiation of the Australian flora: what can comparisons of molecular phylogenies across multiple taxa tell us about the evolution of diversity in present-day communities? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 359, 1551–1571.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Crisp MD,
Isagi Y,
Kato Y,
Cook LG, Bowman DMJS
(2010)
Livistona palms in Australia: Ancient relics or opportunistic immigrants? Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 54, 512–523.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
PubMed |
Edwards AC, Russell-Smith J
(2009) Ecological thresholds and the status of fire-sensitive vegetation in western Arnhem Land, northern Australia: implications for management. International Journal of Wildland Fire 18, 127–146.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Fink S
(1980) Anatomische untersuchungen über das vorkommen von spross- und wurzelanlagen im stammbereich von laub- und nadelbäumen. I. Proventive anlagen. Allgemeine Forst- und Jagdzeitung 151, 160–180.
Fink S
(1983) The occurrence of adventitious and preventitious buds within the bark of some temperate and tropical trees. American Journal of Botany 70, 532–542.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Fontaine F,
Kiefer E,
Clément C,
Burrus M, Druelle JL
(1999) Ontogeny of the proventitious epicormic buds in Quercus petraea. II. From 6 to 40 years of the tree’s life. Trees Structure and Function 14, 83–90.
Franklin DC,
Gunton RM,
Schatz J, Lawes MJ
(in press) Resprouting responses of trees in a fire-prone tropical savanna following severe tornado damage. Austral Ecology ,
Gill AM, Tomlinson PB
(1969) Studies on the growth of the red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle L.) 1. Habit and general morphology. Biotropica 1, 1–9.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Gill AM, Tomlinson PB
(1971) Studies on the growth of red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle L.) 3. Phenology of the shoot. Biotropica 3, 109–124.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Kauppi A,
Rinne P, Ferm A
(1987) Initiation, structure and sprouting of dormant basal buds in Betula pubescens. Flora 179, 55–83.
Keeley JE,
Fotheringham CJ, Baer-Keeley M
(2006) Demographic patterns of postfire regeneration in Mediterranean-climate shrublands of California. Ecological Monographs 76, 235–255.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Lacey CJ
(1974) Rhizomes in tropical eucalypts and their role in recovery from fire damage. Australian Journal of Botany 22, 29–38.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Lacey CJ, Johnston RD
(1990) Woody clumps and clumpwoods. Australian Journal of Botany 38, 299–334.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Lacey CJ, Whelan PI
(1976) Observations on the ecological significance of vegetative reproduction in the Katherine-Darwin region of the Northern Territory. Australian Forestry 39, 131–139.
Ladiges PY,
Udovicic F, Nelson G
(2003) Australian biogeographical connections and the phylogeny of large genera in the plant family Myrtaceae. Journal of Biogeography 30, 989–998.
Lamont BB, Markey A
(1995) Biogeography of fire-killed and resprouting Banksia species in south-western Australia. Australian Journal of Botany 43, 283–303.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Lloret F,
Estevan H,
Vayreda J, Terradas J
(2005) Fire regenerative syndromes of forest woody species across fire and climatic gradients. Oecologia 146, 461–468.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Midgley JJ,
Lawes MJ, Chamaillé-Jammes S
(2010) Savanna woody plant dynamics: the role of fire and herbivory, separately and synergistically. Australian Journal of Botany 58, 1–11.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Nicolle D
(2006) A classification and census of regenerative strategies in the eucalypts (Angophora, Corymbia and Eucalyptus-Myrtaceae), with special reference to the obligate seeders. Australian Journal of Botany 54, 391–407.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Ojeda F
(1998) Biogeography of seeder and resprouter Erica species in the Cape Floristic Region – where are the resprouters? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 63, 331–347.
Parra-O. C,
Bayly MJ,
Drinnan A,
Udovicic F, Ladiges P
(2009) Phylogeny, major clades and infrageneric classification of Corymbia (Myrtaceae), based on nuclear ribosomal DNA and morphology. Australian Systematic Botany 22, 384–399.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Rossiter NA,
Setterfield SA,
Douglas MM, Hutley LB
(2003) Testing the grass-fire cycle: alien grass invasion in the tropical savannas of northern Australia. Diversity & Distributions 9, 169–176.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Russell-Smith J, Edwards AC
(2006) Seasonality and fire severity in savanna landscapes of monsoonal northern Australia. International Journal of Wildland Fire 15, 541–550.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Russell-Smith J,
Ryan PG,
Klessa D,
Waight G, Harwood R
(1998) Fire regimes, fire-sensitive vegetation and fire management of the sandstone Arnhem Plateau, monsoonal northern Australia. Journal of Applied Ecology 35, 829–846.
| Crossref |
Sennerby-Forsse L, Zsuffa L
(1995) Bud structure and resprouting in coppiced stools of Salix viminalis L., S. eriocephala Michx., and S. amygdaloides Anders. Trees Structure and Function 9, 224–234.
Steane DA,
Nicolle D,
McKinnon GE,
Vaillancourt RE, Potts BM
(2002) Higher-level relationships among the eucalypts are resolved by ITS-sequence data. Australian Systematic Botany 15, 49–62.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Vesk PA
(2006) Plant size and resprouting ability: trading tolerance and avoidance of damage? Journal of Ecology 94, 1027–1034.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Vesk PA, Westoby M
(2004a) Sprouting ability across diverse disturbances and vegetation types worldwide. Journal of Ecology 92, 310–320.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Vesk PA, Westoby M
(2004b) Funding the bud bank: a review of the costs of buds. Oikos 106, 200–208.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Waters DA,
Burrows GE, Harper JDI
(2010)
Eucalyptus regnans (Myrtaceae): a fire-sensitive eucalypt with a resprouter epicormic structure. American Journal of Botany 97, 545–556.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Werner PA
(2005) Impact of feral water buffalo and fire on growth and survival of mature savanna trees: an experimental field study in Kakadu National Park, northern Australia. Austral Ecology 30, 625–647.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Williams RJ, Douglas M
(1995) Windthrow in a tropical savanna in Kakadu National Park, northern Australia. Journal of Tropical Ecology 11, 547–558.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Williams RJ,
Gill AM, Moore PHR
(1998) Seasonal changes in fire behaviour in a tropical savanna in northern Australia. International Journal of Wildland Fire 8, 227–239.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Williams RJ,
Cook GD,
Gill AM, Moore PHR
(1999) Fire regime, fire intensity and tree survival in a tropical savanna in northern Australia. Australian Journal of Ecology 24, 50–59.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Wilson PG,
O’Brien MM,
Heslewood MM, Quinn CJ
(2005) Relationships within Myrtaceae sensu lato based on a matK phylogeny. Plant Systematics and Evolution 251, 3–19.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Yibarbuk D,
Whitehead PJ,
Russell-Smith J,
Jackson D,
Godjuwa C,
Fisher A,
Cooke P,
Choquenot D, Bowman DMJS
(2001) Fire ecology and Aboriginal land management in central Arnhem Land, northern Australia: a tradition of ecosystem management. Journal of Biogeography 28, 325–343.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
