Dataset: A three-dimensional approach to general plant fire syndromes

1. Plant fire syndromes are usually defined as combinations of fire
response traits, the most common being resprouting (R) and seeding (S).
Plant flammability (F), on the other hand, refers to a plant’s effects on
communities and ecosystems. Despite its important ecological and
evolutionary implications, F has rarely been considered to define plant
fire syndromes and, if so, usually separated from response syndromes. 2.
We propose a three-dimensional model that combines R, S and F,
encapsulating both plant response to fire regimes and the capacity to
promote them. Each axis is divided into three possible standardized
categories, reflecting low, medium and high values of each variable, with
a total of 27 possible combinations of R, S and F. 3. We hypothesized that
different fire histories should be reflected in the position of species
within the three-dimensional space and that this should help assess the
importance of fire as an evolutionary force in determining R-S-F
syndromes. 4. To illustrate our approach we compiled information on the
fire syndromes of 24 dominant species of different growth forms from the
Chaco seasonally-dry forest of central Argentina, and we compared them to
33 species from different Mediterranean-type climate ecosystems (MTCEs) of
the world. 5. Chaco and MTCEs species differed in the range (seven
syndromes vs. thirteen syndromes, respectively) and proportion of extreme
syndromes (i.e. species with extreme values of R, S and/or F) representing
29% of species in the Chaco vs. 45% in the MTCEs. 6. Additionally, we
explored the patterns of R, S and F of 4032 species from seven regions
with contrasting fire histories, and found significantly higher
frequencies of extreme values (predominantly high) of all three variables
in MTCEs compared to the other regions, where intermediate and low values
predominated, broadly supporting our general hypothesis. 7. The proposed
three-dimensional approach should help standardize comparisons of fire
syndromes across taxa, growth forms and regions with different fire
histories. This will contribute to the understanding of the role of fire
in the evolution of plant traits and assist vegetation modelling in the
face of changes in fire regimes.