The objective of this study is to know the response to fire of the
main members of the group of serpentine plants, which habit the Spanish Mediterranean ultramafic mountain, to help in
their management. For this purpose, monitoring plots were established on a burned ultramafic outcrop, which was
affected by fire in August 2012.They were located in the Mediterranean south of the Iberian Peninsula, Andalusia region.
The dominant vegetation of this serpentine ecosystem had been studied previously to fire; it was a shrubland composed
of endemic serpentinophytes (small shrubs and perennial herbs) included in Digitali laciniatae-Halimietum atriplicifolii
plant association (Cisto-Lavanduletea class) in an opened pine forest. The post-fire response of the plants was studied in
the stablished burned plots by field works through permanent 200 x 10 m transect methods, consisting on checking
whether they were resprouters, seeders, both of them or if they showed no survival response. Additional information
about fire related functional traits is provided for the studied taxa from other studies. Of the total of plants studied (23
taxa), 74% acted as resprouters, 30% as seeders, some of which also had the capacity to resprout (13%), and only 9% of
the plants did not show any survival strategy. The presence of a resprouting burl was not high (17%), although
serpentine small shrubs such as Bupleurum acutifolium and the generalist Teucrium haenseleri had this kind of organ.
The herbaceous taxa Sanguisorba verrucosa, Galium boissieranum and Linum carratracense were seen to be resprouters
and seeders. The serpentine obligated Ni-accumulator, Alyssum serpyllifolium subsp. malacitanum, did not show any
survival strategy in the face of fire and therefore their populations need monitoring after fires.
