Effect of fire regimes on the demographic parameters of the perennial tussock grasses of a humid savanna": Article accepted for publication in Journal of Vegetation Sciences

To reduce tree encroachment and conserve savanna biodiversity, fire is often used. Choosing a fire regime to maintain savannas should take into account its impact on the diversity of living beings. However, the studies of fire impact on plants have mostly focused on woody plants and very little on herbaceous plants, especially perennial grasses which constitute almost all of the fire fuel and food for herbivores. It can be hypothesized that different fire regimes with different characteristics have different effects on perennial grasses even though they are recognized for their good adaptation to fire. These data are used to study the population of perennial grasses under the influence of three fire regimes. These fire regimes are the early fire applied in November, the mid-season fire applied in January and the late fire applied in March as well as the absence of fire. These fire treatments have been experimented since November 2013 on twelve 100m × 50m plots (three plots for each fire treatments) in shrub savanna in Lamto (Ivory Coast). On each of these plots, a 5m × 5m plot were delineated for this study. All individuals were identified, marked and measured (circumference at the base) and followed after fire. The measured demographic parameters such as mortality, fragmentation (the division of a tussock into several smaller ones), retrogression (the decrease in tussock size), growth, and fecundity by the number of seeds and the number of new individuals were measured and analyzed according to fire treatments, species, and circumference. These data show that all demographic parameters vary according to fire treatments, species and circumference. The late fire regime has a more detrimental effect on demographic parameters when the mid-season fire has a positive effect and should be chosen as the best fire regime for the savanna conservation. These files include a scientific article data accepted for publication in Journal of Vegetation Sciences. Three of our files contain datasets used only for the statistical tests giving the results of the article: Data_Frag_Recr_Retr, Data_Mortality and Data_New_tussocks. The file “Data_Frag_Recr_Retr” contains all the data on the fragmentation, recruitment and retrogression of tussocks of each species on each fire treatment plot. The “Data_Mortality” file groups the mortality data and “Data_New_tussocks” contains new individuals. The “Data_Fig5_&_test_Seed_number” and “Data_Fig6_&_test_Fecundity” files contain both data for test respectively on seed number and new individuals and the corresponding figures. All other files contain the data used to make the figures of the article. The number of the corresponding figure is mentioned in the file name. For example, the file “Data_Fig1a_1b_Mortality” contains the data used to construct parts “a” and “b” of Figure 1 of the article.

为缓解树木入侵、保护稀树草原生物多样性，火烧常被用作生态管理手段。在选择维持稀树草原的火烧制度（fire regime）时，需充分考量其对生物多样性的影响。然而，现有关于火烧对植物影响的研究多聚焦于木本植物，针对草本植物的相关研究较为匮乏，尤其对几乎构成所有火燃料与草食动物食物来源的多年生草本植物的研究极少。尽管多年生草本被认为对火烧具有良好适应性，但可推测：特征各异的火烧制度，即便此类类群对火烧具有良好适应性，仍会对其产生差异化影响。本数据集用于探究三种火烧制度下多年生草本的种群动态。三种火烧制度分别为：11月实施的早季火烧、1月实施的季中火烧、3月实施的晚季火烧，以及无火烧对照处理。该火烧控制实验自2013年11月起，在科特迪瓦兰托（Lamto）的灌丛稀树草原中开展，共设置12块100m×50m的样地（每种火烧处理对应3块重复样地）。本研究在每块样地内划定5m×5m的子样地，对所有草本个体进行物种鉴定、标记并测量基部周长，且在火烧后持续开展跟踪监测。本研究记录的种群统计参数包括：死亡率、丛状分裂（即单个草丛分裂为多个更小草丛的过程）、退宿（草丛尺寸减小）、生长状况，以及以种子数量和新个体数量表征的繁殖能力。随后依据火烧处理、物种及基部周长，对上述参数进行统计分析。数据分析结果显示，所有种群统计参数均会随火烧处理、物种及基部周长发生显著变化。其中，晚季火烧制度对种群参数的负面影响更为显著，而季中火烧则表现出积极的调控效果，因此季中火烧可作为稀树草原保护的最优火烧制度。本数据集包含一篇已被《Journal of Vegetation Sciences》（《植被科学杂志》）接收发表的学术论文相关数据。其中3个文件为用于论文统计检验的核心数据集，分别为Data_Frag_Recr_Retr、Data_Mortality与Data_New_tussocks：Data_Frag_Recr_Retr包含各火烧处理样地内各物种草丛的分裂、定植与退宿相关数据；Data_Mortality汇总了死亡率统计数据；Data_New_tussocks则包含新个体相关监测数据。另有Data_Fig5_&_test_Seed_number与Data_Fig6_&_test_Fecundity两个文件，分别对应种子数量与繁殖能力的统计检验数据及配套插图。其余所有文件均为用于绘制论文插图的数据集，文件名中直接标注了对应插图编号，例如文件"Data_Fig1a_1b_Mortality"包含用于构建论文图1的a、b两部分的数据集。