Fire‐induced reproduction of Festuca pilgeri in the subalpine zone of Mount Kenya

Plant species in re-dominated habitats are characterizedby a variety of evolutionary adaptations to re (reviewed inGill, 1981; Bond & van Wilgen, 1996). These include thickbark, the ability to coppice, and protected meristems, suchas those in tussock grasses. The reproductive opportunitiescreated by re favour adaptations such as re-inducedreproduction (Gill & Ingwersen, 1976; Le Maitre & Brown,1992; Verboom, Stock & Linder, 2002) and dormancy thatis broken by smoke (Keely, 1993) or intense heat.Fire appears to be common in the sub-alpine shrublandsand grasslands of the tropics (Hedberg, 1964; Beck,Scheibe & Schulze, 1986; Laegaard, 1992; Young, 1996).On East African mountains, as elsewhere in the tropics, thesub-alpine zone is characterized by ericaceous vegetationoristically and physiognomically similar to re-pronechaparral biomes (Young, 1991, 1996; Safford, 2001).The woody species there readily coppice after re(T. Young, pers. obs.; Hemp & Beck, 2001). The ericaceouszone of Mount Kenya burned several times between 1970and 1990 at different sites (Young, 1996; Phil Snyder, BillWoodley & Bongo Woodley, pers. comm.). Each of theseres covered several hundred hectares. As yet we haveno data on return intervals but many of these res aresuspected to be human-caused by honey hunters (PhilSnyder & Bill Woodley, pers. comm.).Festuca pilgeri St-Yves is the dominant grass in the alpinezone of Mount Kenya, forming nearly monospecic standsin some areas (Hedberg, 1964, Young & Peacock 1992). Itforms dense tussocks up to 50 cm in diameter. It occurs inboth reproductive and mostly sterile populations on MountKenya, with the latter predominating at lower elevationsin the subalpine zone (Young & Peacock, 1992).