Savannas after afforestation: assessment of herbaceous community responses to wildfire versus native tree planting

Afforestation and fire exclusion are pervasive threats to tropical savannas. In Brazil, laws limiting prescribed burning hinder the study of fire in the restoration of Cerrado plant communities. We took advantage of a 2017 wildfire to evaluate the potential for tree cutting and fire to promote the passive restoration of savanna herbaceous plant communities after destruction by exotic tree plantations. We sampled a burned pine plantation (Burned Plantation); a former plantation that was harvested and burned (Harvested & Burned); an unburned former plantation that was harvested, planted with native trees, and treated with herbicide to control invasive grasses (Native Tree Planting); and two old-growth savannas which served as reference communities. Our results confirm that herbaceous plant communities on post-afforestation sites are very different from old-growth savannas. Among post-afforestation sites, Harvested & Burned herbaceous communities were modestly more similar in compo...