Fire recurrence and time since last fire interact to determine the supply of multiple ecosystem services by Mediterranean forests

Wildfires shape the composition and functioning of Mediterranean ecosystems, but we do not know how these ecosystems respond to both the higher fire recurrence and shorter recovery times expected for future climatic scenarios. We sampled 29 plots with different fire recurrences (from 0 to 4 fires over the past decades) and time since the last fire (up to 35 years; hereafter TSLF) in Southeast Spain, to assess the effect of fire recurrence and TSLF on 25 ecosystem attributes, five related ecosystem services (biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration, disturbance regulation, food production, and supporting services), plus the synergies and trade-offs between them. High fire recurrence (number of fires) and TSLF interacted to determine ecosystem services but did not affect the synergies and trade-offs between them. Fire recurrence reduced many ecosystem functions and ecosystem multifunctionality. However, this effect dampened, and even became positive, for biodiversity conservatio...野火是地中海生态系统群落组成与生态功能的关键调控因子，但目前我们尚不清楚，在未来气候情景下预期的更高火干扰复发频次与更短火后恢复周期的双重影响下，这类生态系统将作何响应。本研究于西班牙东南部选取29个样地，各采样点涵盖不同的火干扰复发频次（过去数十年间发生0至4次火干扰）以及距上次火干扰后的恢复时长（最长达35年，以下简称TSLF（time since last fire）），旨在评估火干扰复发频次与TSLF对25项生态系统属性、5项相关生态系统服务（生物多样性保护、碳固存、干扰调控、食物生产及支撑服务），以及这些服务间的协同与权衡关系的影响。研究发现，较高的火干扰复发频次与TSLF存在交互作用，共同决定生态系统服务的表现，但二者并未对生态系统服务间的协同与权衡关系产生影响。火干扰复发频次的增加会削弱多数生态系统功能与生态系统多功能性，但该效应会随火后恢复时长的增加而减弱，甚至对生物多样性保护产生正向作用。