Format: ORAL

Julia Gegunde 1, Mara Clara Castellanos2, Juli G. Pausas1

1 Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación (CIDE-CSIS), Valencia, Spain 2 University of Sussex, United Kingdom

Fire-stimulated flowering is a widely recognized strategy in fire-prone ecosystems, such as Mediterranean ecosystems. Species with this strategy flower more profusely in postfire conditions than in absence of fire. We hypothesize that higher flowering density and less competition for pollinators could improve pollination success of plants that flower quickly after fire. We studied geophytes in Southern Spain and compared flowering in recently-burned areas with flowering in adjacent unburned areas. We performed pollinator censuses, estimated pollen grain deposition on the stigmas and counted fruit and seed production. We found that pollination rates and pollinator composition changed in burned areas compared to unburned areas. Individuals in burned areas showed higher pollen deposition on their stigmas and fruit and seed production was also higher in burned areas.