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(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Fig. 6.7 Recently burned matorral near Bariloche, Argentina: (a) dominated by resprouting
Nothofagus antarctica (b) with well-developed lignotuber and (c) postfire annuals not
evident in nearby unburned matorral, (d) including a species of Phacelia (erect with white
flowers), one of the dominant postfire annual genera in California chaparral. (Photos by
Jon Keeley.)
Disjunct patches of matorral shrublands occur under a MTC on the eastern side
of the Andes around Bariloche, Argentina, at around 41 S latitude and provide
some insight into the role of lightning. Some of these patches are dominated by
shrubs with well-developed lignotubers ( Fig. 6.7a , b ) and resprout after fire. More
importantly though, these communities have a number of annual forbs that
appear to be restricted to postfire sites ( Fig. 6.7c , d ), not unlike the ephemeral
postfire herbaceous flora in California chaparral (see Chapter 5 ); including
many of the same families: Hydrophyllaceae, Boraginaceae, Scrophulariaceae,
and Portulacaceae. This postfire flora is in striking contrast to the lack of such a
fire response in central Chile. It may be tied to the fact that the Andes are much
lower in this region and thus it is subjected to predictable natural lightning-ignited
fires, and that these shrublands are particularly prone to regular high-intensity
crown fires (Mermoz et al. 2005 ). Thus, these shrublands have had a far longer fire
regime than the anthropogenic fire regime of central Chile.
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