Extreme fire severity interacts with seed traits to moderate post-fire species assemblages

Premise: Climate change is pushing fire regimes to new extremes, with unprecedented large-scale severe fires observed globally. Persistent soil-stored seed banks are a key mechanism for plant species recovery after fires, but extreme fire severity may generate soil temperatures beyond thresholds seeds are adapted to. Seeds are protected from lethal temperatures through soil burial, with temperatures decreasing with increasing depth. However, smaller seeds, due to their lower mass and corresponding energy stores, are restricted to emerging from shallower depths compared to larger-seeded counterparts. We examined recruitment patterns across a landscape-scale gradient of fire severity, to determine whether seed mass and dormancy class mediate shifts in community assemblages.
Methods: We surveyed 25 sites in wet sclerophyll forests in south-eastern Australia impacted by the 2019-2020 Black Summer Fires, burnt at either moderate, high, or extreme severity. We calculated abundance and density..., , , # Fire severity, interacting with seed traits drives post-fire recruitment following Black Summer Fires

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9ghx3ffqq](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9ghx3ffqq)

R script and raw data were used to analyse the dynamics between seed mass, burn severity, and seed dormancy in plant species found in south-eastern Australia.

## File List and Descriptions:

**alldata_AJB_3.0.csv** - contains raw data used for analysis.

* Community = ecological community, UB is Upland Basalt, and STIF is Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark forest.
* Site Number = site number for sites surveyed
* BurnSeverity = burn severity
* ScientificName = scientific name of study species
* SeedSize = seed size in mg
* DormancyType = dormancy type, physically dormant (PY), and physiologically dormant (PD)
* Recruits = number of seedlings observed

Missing data: N/A

**density_data_AJB_2.0.csv** - contains raw data used for analysis.

* Community = ecological community, UB is Upland Basalt, and STIF is Syd...,