Wildfires are projected to increase in severity and frequency in dryland ecosystems due to climate change. To predict how plant communities will respond to these changes in wildfire patterns, it is vital to understand how plants establish following fire; such knowledge is limited in Aotearoa New Zealand. Individual plants regenerate after fire by resprouting or germinating from seeds. We aimed to quantify short‐term community...

Leaf dry matter content (LDMC) is an important determinant of plant flammability. Investigating global patterns of LDMC could provide insights into worldwide plant flammability patterns, informing wildfire management. We characterised global patterns of LDMC across 4074 species from 216 families, revealing that phylogenetic and environmental constraints influence LDMC. LDMC varied across growth forms and taxonomic groups, disp...

Each year, an average of 45 tropical cyclones affect coastal areas and potentially impact forests. The proportion of the most intense cyclones has increased over the past four decades and is predicted to continue to do so. Yet, it remains uncertain how topographical exposure and tree characteristics can mediate the damage caused by increasing wind speed. Here, we compiled empirical data on the damage caused by 11 cyclones occu...

Fire regimes are powerful selective filters. In New Zealand, fire activity was rare before human settlement, and New Zealand’s indigenous woody flora shows little adaptation to frequent fire. One of the few woody indigenous species to show adaptation to frequent fire is Leptospermum scoparium (Myrtaceae), a Plio‐Pleistocene immigrant from Australia. Leptospermum scoparium is a widespread early‐successional shrub to small tree...

Aim Immigrant floras often have distinctive traits, well suited to the host region but absent from the autochthonous flora. An example is serotiny in the New Zealand ( NZ ) small tree, Leptospermum scoparium (Myrtaceae) belonging to a strongly fire‐adapted Australian clade. Serotiny in L. scoparium has been attributed either to strong selection by fire since human settlement, or taken as evidence that pre‐human fire in NZ was...