How does fire exclusion affect the belowground biomass of tropical open ecosystems?

Dataset associated with the manuscript "How does fire exclusion affect the belowground biomass of tropical open ecosystems?" (Teixeira et al., 2025) published at Journal of Vegetation Science journal. It includes 1 dataset and one associate metadata. 

data: It includes data related to the study site description (temperature, precipitation, location coordinates, altitude, phytoshysiognomy, treatment) and aboveground and belowground ( roots and bud-bearing belowground organs) biomass.AbstractAims: Belowground biomass, including roots and belowground bud-bearing organs, is crucial in tropical open ecosystems, particularly during post-fire regeneration. However, we still do not understand how variation in fire regime modulates the allocation of biomass in these belowground parts. In two distinct fire regimes, we investigated aboveground and belowground biomass, as well as the distribution of biomass and the composition of bud-bearing belowground organs in open tropical ecosystems. Location: Five tropical open ecosystems in Brazil (from Nothern to southeast Brazil).Methods: We assed above- and belowground plant biomass across 100 plots (ten plots at each of the two treatments conditions i.e frequently burnt and fire excluded, and at each of the five plots).  We sorted out biomass as live aboveground, belowground bud-bearing organs, coarse (> 2 mm), and fine roots (< 2 mm). Bud-bearing belowground organs were classified into morphological categories (e.g., xylopodia, woody rhizome, fleshy rhizome) Results: Fire-excluded areas had a lower root-to-shoot ratio and lower total belowground to aboveground biomass allocation than areas frequently burnt. The total belowground biomass, as well as fine and coarse root biomass and belowground bud-bearing organ biomass remained unchanged with fire exclusion. The composition of belowground bud-bearing organs changed towards organs with lateral spread as woody and fleshy rhizomes when fire was excluded.  Conclusions: More than ten years of fire exclusion did not affect the total belowground biomass but changed the composition of bud-bearing belowground organs in tropical open ecosystems.