A fire-sensitive tree species has managed to survive in one of Earth's most fire-prone locales because the trees form closed canopies that support a fire-resistant plant community.
The conifer Callitris intratropica can be found in patches of woodland across the savannah of northern Australia. Clay Trauernicht and his colleagues at the University of Tasmania in Australia conducted controlled burns and compared the response of C. intratropica conifer groves with either open or closed canopies. Closed-canopy groves (pictured) supported a distinct plant community with lower fuel availability and produced more seedlings and saplings. Compared with the surrounding eucalyptus-dominated savannah, closed-canopy conifer groves were less likely to burn, and experienced milder fires.
J. Ecol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2012.01970.x (2012)
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Savannah trees resist fires. Nature 484, 418 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/484418a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/484418a
