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Do variations in fire intensity within a stand determine changes in fire intensity and plant demographics in a subsequent fire?

San Diego (CA, USA); chaparral dominated by Adenostoma fasciculatum (resprouter) and Ceanothus greggii (seeder).

In 2003, a wildfire burned a young (16‐yr‐old) stand containing a set of experimental plots burned in 1987 with various levels of fire intensity. In 2004, all the 1987 plots were sampled for Adenostoma survival and the recruitment of both species. Similar measures were carried out in the adjacent old (75‐yr) stand. Fire intensity in 2003 was estimated by a surrogate fire severity measure [minimum diameter of burned branches (branch diameter)].

In the young stand, branch diameter in 2003 was similar to the control plots in 1987, but lower than in the old stand. Fire intensity in 1987 did not significantly affect branch diameter in 2003 …