Vegetal regeneration post-fire in the western pre-pyrenees

Abstract

In this paper, structure and floristic response of representative Western Pre-Pyrenees communities that have been burned in the mid-eighties are analyzed. Different comparisons are made between postfire vegetal formations and unburned control plots, considering both the area occupied by stratum and the cover of the most representative species in each community. As most of the recent studies in the Mediterranean area do, final results show the great resilience of the analyzed communities, which agrees with most of the recent studies in the Mediterranean area. Significant fisionomic-floristic variations have been detected only in the case of formations that replace Pinus sylvestris communities. However, communities appearing in burned areas present an important increase in the brushland cover (a clear dominance of Genista scorpius) and a greater presence of competitive herbaceous species.