20.500.12556/DiRROS-28485 Enhanced autosuccession after wildfire in a transitional sub-Mediterranean forest ecosystem: evidence from the Kras Plateau (Slovenia) Wildfires are becoming an increasingly prevalent phenomenon in sub-Mediterranean regions, including areas where the vegetation is not historically adapted to fire. However, post-fire successional dynamics in these regions remain poorly documented. Vegetation was monitored annually for three years (2023–2025) following a major wildfire on the Kras Plateau (SW Slovenia) in 2022. Monitoring was conducted in 50 permanent plots assigned to five fire-severity classes, including unburned control plots (class 0) and four burned classes (classes 1, 2a, 2b, and 3). We analyzed species composition, vegetation structure, ecological indicator values, species origin and habitat preference, and plant functional traits using ordination and trait-based approaches. Post-fire succession followed an initial floristic composition model and an enhanced autosuccessional pathway across all fire-severity classes. The early dominance of ephemeral and ruderal species declined rapidly, while the abundance of perennial grasses, shrubs, and resprouting woody species increased. Functional traits shifted along the C–R axis of Grime’s CSR strategy framework: from ruderal towards competitive and stress-tolerant, and successional trajectories consistently converged towards zonal thermophilous deciduous forest communities. High amounts of precipitation facilitated rapid structural recovery, with shrubland developing within three years. Sub-Mediterranean forest vegetation on the Kras Plateau exhibits high resilience to wildfire, despite limited historical adaptation to fire. Enhanced autosuccession, combined with favorable post-fire moisture conditions, enables rapid recovery and reduces the likelihood of long-term degradation or the establishment of persistent post-fire shrublands. autosuccession forest Kras Plateau recovery sub-Mediterranean trait vegetation wildfire true false true Angleški jezik Ni določen © 2026 Čarni, Breg Valjavec, Čahojová and Jakob Neznano 2026-03-21 17:24:43 2026-03-21 17:24:44 2026-06-13 18:03:47 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 Nasl. z nasl. zaslona; Opis vira z dne 7. 3. 2026; 15 str. Vol. 17 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 2026-03-04 614.841.42:630 1664-462X 10.3389/fpls.2026.1772621 270842115 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1772621/full 1 7952a229-2542-11f1-aa40-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=42222 fpls-17-1772621-1.pdf fpls-17-1772621-1.pdf 1 98E07856F0BC81BE98E03E377DAF2F89 842d33257fe5c420f53a76df5c19f4ec789159cb550587f9835749e1084852fb 1370d048-2544-11f1-aa40-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=42223 table_1(1).xlsx table_1(1).xlsx Supplementary Material 1 A6CAB6A6687C84E124A6590D926B6352 149b0d6db07d98576fd575095841891aef45cc66487484eb60ec1aa104927a4e f4943465-2544-11f1-aa40-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=42224 Znanstvenoraziskovalni center Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti 0 0 0