The influence of winter fire on seedling recruitment in a heathy woodland in south-eastern Australia

Fire is an integral part of many Australian landscapes. Fire seasonality is specific for each landscape and burning out of the historic fire season may have long-lasting impacts on vegetation. Climate change is creating hotter and drier conditions in fire-prone landscapes in Australia, and they are becoming more susceptible to catastrophic fires. To combat risk to people and property, land managers conduct prescribed burns, typically in autumn, to reduce fuel loads and decrease the intensity of bushfires. However, the window of opportunity to safely conduct prescribed burns is narrowing, due to climate change. Therefore, conducting aseasonal burns in cooler and wetter months, is one potential option for land managers. We investigated the effects of winter prescribed burns on seedling germination in a heathy woodland in southeast Australia where bushfires have historically burnt in summer. We also examined the patchiness of winter burns to see if that enabled persistence of mature obligate seedling species. Vegetation and seedling surveys were conducted in spring 2022 at sites where prescribed burns were conducted in winter 2021. We found that these winter burns triggered germination for obligate seeding species, but some species were not present as seedlings and many species had a low abundance of seedlings. However, the patchiness of winter burns allowed for the persistence of mature obligate seeding species. Prescribed burns in winter could be used as an effective tool to decrease the amount of fuel in the landscape, however, the presence of some species in this landscape could decline as a result. Further research is required into burning out of season and its effects on germination.