The effect of heat and smoke on the emergence of exotic and native seedlings in a Mediterranean fire-free matorral of central Chile Efecto del calor y el humo sobre la emergencia de plántulas exóticas y nativas en un matorral mediterráneo libre de fuego en Chile central

We studied the effect of heat shock and wood-fueled smoke on the emergence of native and exotic plant species in soil samples obtained in an evergreen matorral of central Chile that has been free of fire for decades. It is located on the eastern foothills of the Andes Range in San Carlos de Apoquindo. Immediately after collection samples were dried and stored under laboratory conditions. For each two transect, ten samples were randomly chosen, and one of the following treatments was applied: (1) heat-shock treatment, (2) plant-produced smoke treatment, (3) combined heat-and-smoke treatment, and (4) control, corresponding to samples not subjected to treatment. Twenty-seven species, representing 13 families, emerged from the soil samples. The most abundant families were Asteraceae and Poaceae. All of the emerged species were herbaceous, and 18 species were exotic. Respect to general hypothesis, there is no evidence for the proposition that fire-free matorral has lower proportion of exotic and native species with fire-related cues than matorral with fires. Among the exotic and native, the mean number of species that emerged from soil samples did not change significantly with respect to the control for any of the treatments applied. Nevertheless, important species-specific responses were observed. Smoke and heat-smoke combination significantly increased the emergence of the exotic species Anthriscus caucalis. While smoke-related cues significantly increased the emergence of the exotic species Avena barbata, the emergence of the exotic Aphanes arvensis and the native Bromus berteroanus decreases. For several species our results showed inconsistent responses to fire-related cues compared to those reported in the literature. We suggest that these differences might be related with the fire-history in the populations, an important issue poorly acknowledge in the literature. Nosotros estudiamos el efecto del golpe de calor y del humo de la combustión de material le oso sobre la emergencia de especies de plantas nativas y exóticas en muestras de suelo obtenidas en un matorral siempreverde de Chile central que ha estado libre de fuego por décadas, ubicado en el piedemonte occidental de la Cordillera de los Andes en San Carlos de Apoquindo. Las muestras fueron secadas y almacenadas en condiciones de laboratorio, inmediatamente después de las colectas. En cada uno de los dos transectos, diez muestras fueron aleatoriamente elegidas para la aplicación de los siguientes tratamientos: (1) golpe de calor, (2) humo producido por material vegetal, (3) calor y humo combinado,