Fire enhances the ‘competition-free’ space of an invader shrub: Rosa rubiginosa in northwestern Patagonia

Abstract

Fire can influence reproductive phenology of plants, enhancing the reproductive rate of many species. Disturbances such as fire can promote the proliferation of exotic species in native plant communities. In this study we analyze the effect of fire on reproductive phenology in three native species (a shrub: Berberis buxifolia and two small trees: Maytenus boaria and Schinus patagonicus) and in an exotic shrub (Rosa rubiginosa). Flowering and fruiting phenology was monitored in neighbouring burned and unburned forests. The shrubs flowered and fruited in both sites, but the small trees did so only in the unburned site. There is no overlapping in the flowering and fruiting phenophases between the natives and the exotic species. Therefore, they do not compete in resource offering to pollinators and seed dispersers. Consequently, R. rubiginosa has a "competition-free" space enhanced by fire, fromthe reproductive phenology perspective.