Spatial distribution patterns of Rhus coriaria seedlings after fire in a Mediterranean pine forest

Rhus coriaria is reported, for the first time, as a post-fire facultative seeder. Two different patterns of seedling distribution were detected during the first 18 months after a wild fire in a natural pine forest on Mt Carmel Israel: 1) a significant negative correlation was found between the density of Rhus seedlings and distance from the nearest seed source. This pattern fits the expected seed shadow generated by frugivorous birds, which are the dispersal agents; 2) Rhus seedling density was higher under large burned pine trees than under small ones and only few seedlings were found outside the canopy of the burned trees. From the seedlings which survived up to the beginning of the first summer after the fire, 57% were also surviving after it. -from Authors