title: Bark thickness across the angiosperms: more than just fire.
abstract: Global variation in total bark thickness (TBT) is traditionally attributed to fire. However, bark is multifunctional, as reflected by its inner living and outer dead regions, meaning that, in addition to fire protection, other factors probably contribute to TBT variation. To address how fire, climate, and plant size contribute to variation in TBT, inner bark thickness (IBT) and outer bark thickness (OBT), I sampled 640 species spanning all major angiosperm clades and 18 sites with contrasting precipitation, temperature, and fire regime. Stem size was by far the main driver of variation in thickness, with environment being less important. IBT was closely correlated with stem diameter, probably for metabolic reasons, and, controlling for size, was thicker in drier and hotter environments, even fire-free ones, probably reflecting its water and photosynthate storage role. OBT was less closely correlated with size, and was thicker in drier, seasonal sites experiencing frequent fires. IBT and OBT covaried loosely and both contributed to overall TBT variation. Thickness variation was higher within than across sites and was evolutionarily labile. Given high within-site diversity and the multiple selective factors acting on TBT, continued study of the different drivers of variation in bark thickness is crucial to understand bark ecology.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecología de la Biodiversidad, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, CP 04510, México, DF, Mexico.
authors.forename: Julieta A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rosell
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D017753:Ecosystem; D005390:Fires; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D024301:Plant Bark / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D012621:Seasons; D013696:Temperature
keywords: adaptation; allometry; bark thickness; fire ecology; inner bark; outer bark; phloem; water storage