Byron B. Lamont

Curtin University · School of Molecular and Life Sciences

• The mapping of functional traits onto chronograms is an emerging approach for the identification of how agents of natural selection have shaped the evolution of organisms. Recent research has reported fire-dependent traits appearing among flowering plants from 60 million yr ago (Ma). Although there are many records of fossil charcoal in the Creta...

The family Proteaceae dominates the nutrient-poor, Mediterranean-climate floristic regions of southwestern Australia (SWA) and the Cape of South Africa. It is well-recognised that mediterranean Proteaceae have comparatively large seeds that are enriched with phosphorus (P), stored mainly as salts of phytic acid in protein globoids. Seed P can contr...

Data on 386 species with fire-stimulated flowering (fsf) in Australasia and South Africa/Madagascar were collated to show that they occur under a wide range of fire regimes, with 71% confined to the mediterranean-climate regions. About 40% only flower up to 2years after fire (obligate), while the rest continue at a low rate until the next fire (fac...

Aim Numerous functions have been proposed to describe the species–area relationship but despite almost a century of curve‐fitting there is little agreement on which is best. We aimed to rationalize the list of proposed functions and to discuss appropriate methodology for fitting and comparing the alternatives. Location Data from the British Isles w...

The water-storage properties of leaves from 8 co-occurring arid species, ranging from 4 to 36 in turgid weight/dry weight ratio, were studied. Total water content at saturation varied from 75 to 97%, with 65–93% of this utilizable when bound water (B) was subtracted, and 72–93% when water content at a critical level of optimal fluorescence (Fc) was...

Background The relationship between the environmental (ED) or habitat (HD) diversity of a landscape and its species richness (S) is of global interest. The standard linear relationship tested is that total S rises with an increase in variability of environmental properties. Findings We recognize three basic S − ED patterns: convex, unimodal, and c...

Pine wilt disease (PWD) is a devastating plant disease caused by the pinewood nematode (PWN, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) that is transmitted by several beetle species in the genus, Monochamus. Once present, the disease is difficult to control. Prevention rather than control is regarded as an effective strategy for PWD management. Central to this pr...

Background and Aims: Recent erosion of a riverbank in southwestern Australia exposed previously unrecorded root clusters produced by the grasstree, Kingia australis (Dasypogonaceae). Our aim was to provide descriptions of these structures compared with currently known specialized roots. Methods: Excavation of root clusters, quantification of their...

A B S T R A C T Ecological theory shows that, as resource availability increases, the number of related species (S) rises from zero at first, reaches a peak (optimum), and then falls to zero again to form a unimodal (hump-shaped) curve. Although rarely demonstrated, I show support for the unimodal, S-environment model exists among studies of soil n...

Species in the family Proteaceae are almost invariably tetramerous with the stamen adnate to a tepal. Andromonoecious inflorescences bearing many male flowers composed of a single (spathuloid) stamen and a female flower with a pubescent stigma, as in Endobeuthos paleosum, are unknown. We suggest that the specimen is a bisexual flower with scores of...

Ecological theory shows that, as resource availability increases, the number of related species (S) rises from zero at first, reaches a peak (optimum), and then falls to zero again to form a unimodal (hump-shaped) curve. Although rarely tested, I show support for the unimodal, S-environment model exists among studies of soil nutrients and pH, subst...

for the first time, omnivorous birds are shown to relish the opportunity to consume aphids on ornamental plants, and need serious consideration as natural agents of biological control.

Global analyses are an ambitious endeavour to find universal rules, but it needs to be appreciated that such rules may fail at identifying mechanisms that create broad-scale patterns if likely causal variables are not included in the first place, and when they are defined by multiple factors. Most critically, such a broad-scale approach may even hi...

Supplemntary information to Pausas, JG, Lamont, BB, Keeley JE and Bond WJ (2024) The need for mechanistic explanations in (seed) ecology. New Phytologist doi.org/10.1111/nph.19751

Our analyses of data in Luna et al. (Fire Ecology 19:52, 2023) do not support the proposal that dormancy release of the hard seeds in 12 species of Cistaceae is a "two-step process" involving high summer temperatures followed by fire-type heat. The reverse is true: subjection to a month of daily alternating temperatures of 50/20 °C (sum-mer heat) i...

I examined 100 publications in the humanities to see how the terms derived from the natural sciences, ecology, environment and ecosystem, were used. Many showed little understanding of the traditional meaning of ecology (study of interactions of organisms with their environment plus the knowledge so gained) although environment (overall conditions...

a light-hearted approach to cutting back on inflationary language in everyday and scientific discourse in an effort to : Mean what you say and say what you mean.

this is the link to a summary of Lamont et al. (2024) on the migratory history of the Protraceae in the mass media outlet, The Conversation

Maps referred to in Lamont, He, Milne and Cowling 2024

Tables supporting Lamont t al. 2024 Migratory hitory of Proteaceae

this map of Gondwana at 100 million years ago shows that pathway of theProteaceae from its origin in NW Africa SE to the Cape in Africa and SW to South merica, Antractica and finally Australia, entering via 2 connections either side of the Great Australian Bight that was opening upat the time:one via N Antarctica to SW Australia and the other via S...

In fire-prone environments throughout the world, resprouters regenerate vegetatively after fire, whereas non(re)sprouters are killed by fire and rely entirely on stored seeds for regeneration. This dichotomy in post-fire regeneration strategies is considered a key mechanism for controlling the reproductive characteristics, demography, and populatio...

this is the supplmentary material to Lamont, BB, Miller, BP, Enright, NJ and Yan, ZG (2022). Isolation and self-regulation processes promote plant species diversity in simulated postfire microsites. Acta Oecologica 114, 103795. Doi: 10.1016/j.actao.2021.103795 it contains climatic details for Perth and eneabba, theory related to the method of ana...

Zylstra et al. (2023) reported that wet sclerophyll forest left unburnt for 75 years experiences a marked decrease in flammability, implying the need for a radical rethink about fire management. I review this paper in the context of current prescribed burning practices and statements from the Noongar peoples on their approaches to burning. I presen...

Both C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways and smoke-released seed dormancy occur among grasses. C4 species evolved from C3 species as seasonality and fire frequency increased and might therefore imply that their smoke sensitivity increased. I searched the worldwide literature for reports on germination responses among grasses, whose photosynthetic pat...

The relationship of environmental (ED) or habitat (HD) diversity of a landscape with its species richness (S) is of much interest. Based on underlying species-area (S-A) curves, we show that the standard linear relationship lacks theoretical support. The S-ED relationship is the product of numerous S-A curves per habitat and number of distinct habi...

Background and aims: The prevailing view from the areocladogenesis of molecular phylogenies is that the iconic South African Cape Proteaceae (subfamily Proteoideae) arrived from Australia across the Indian Ocean in the Upper Cretaceous (100‒65 million years ago, Ma). Since fossil pollen indicates that the family probably arose in North-West Africa...

Background: The relative growth rate (RGR) has a long history of use in biology. In its logged form, RGR = ln[(M + ΔM)/M], where M is size of the organism at the commencement of the study, and ΔM is new growth over time interval Δt. It heralds the general problem of comparing non-independent (confounded) variables, e.g., (X + Y) vs X. Thus, RGR dep...

Figure S1. Flow diagram with details on environmental constraints operating at various steps in the three dormancy-release pathways. Figure S2. Comparison of typical structure and mechanism of dormancy release of hard diaspores versus serotinous seeds. Figure S3. Monthly means for variables related to breaking inherent and imposed dormancy of speci...

We have recently reviewed concepts related to seed dormancy and the mechanism of dormancy release (see references 1, 2, 3 below). Here we summarize the main definitions considered. Seed dormancy: delayed germination even when conditions are favorable. It is a state of metabolic inactivity in the seed that prevents the embryo from growing and thus t...

Many internal (inherent) and environmental (imposed) factors control seed dormancy and germination that we divide into three basic dormancy‐release pathways: Maternal structures and embryo physiology control inherent dormancy that is broken by various types of scarification and physiological changes, followed by imposed‐dormancy release when the pr...

1. Many internal (inherent) and environmental (imposed) factors control seed dor-mancy and germination that we divide into three basic dormancy-release pathways: Maternal structures and embryo physiology control inherent dormancy that is broken by various types of scarification and physiological changes, followed by imposed-dormancy release when th...

The centres of diversification of the iconic family Proteaceae are in South Africa and southern Australia. Since the ancestors of the family can be traced to NW Africa our task was to explain how all subfamilies (Proteoideae, Grevilleoideae, Persoonioideae) managed to reach Australia and we propose the pathway: (Africa(N South America(S South Ameri...

Eight species in the Namib Desert, South Africa were assessed for their leaf area ( A ), thickness ( z ), saturated ( Q ) and dry mass, relative volume of air ( F ), water and dry mass, intrinsic water-use efficiency (based on δ C), and N, P and cation (Na+K) contents. As water-storage capacity is a function of Q and z , this means Q / A (= Q • z )...

Figure S1. Areocladogram for a) Cistaceae-Pakaraimaea and b) dipterocarpoid Dipterocarpaceae. Table S1. Historical phylogenetic treatments of Dipterocarpaceae sl. Table S2. Taxa in the Dipterocarpaceae-Sarcolaenaceae-Cistaceae superclade analysed in this study. Table S3. Attributes of nine taxa in the Dipterocarpaceae-Cistaceae-Bixaceae superclade...

There is disparity between the estimated time of origin of the ‘superclade’ Dipterocarpaceae sensu lato, that includes Sarcolaenaceae, Cistaceae, Pakaraimaea, Bixaceae, Cochlospermaceae and Sphaerosepalaceae, as determined by recent molecular phylogenies (100−85 million years ago, Ma) and its strongly tropical, South American-African-Madagascan-SE...

Thousands of plants produce both extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) on their leaves and nutrient-rich appendages on their diaspores (elaiosomes). Although their individual ecology is well-known, any possible functional link between these structures has almost always been ignored. Here, we recognized their co-presence in the shrub, Adenanthos cygnorum (Pr...

Although they account for many thousands of the world’s flowering plants, little is known about the physical/chemical properties of leaf succulents. Eight species in the Namib Desert, South Africa were assessed for leaf area ( A ) and thickness ( z ), saturated ( Q ) and dry mass, relative volume of air ( F a ), intrinsic water-us efficiency (δ ¹³...

A new fossil discovery (Shi et al., 2022) changes our understanding of the biogeographic history of the cosmopolitan family, Rhamnaceae. 100-million-year-old flowering shoots of the African genus Phylica (Rhamnaceae) imply a 250-million-year ago origin for the family in fire-prone, Gondwanan vegetation that enabled overland dispersal to all contine...

Climate is by no means the only driver of seed dormancy, nor is bet-hedging the only mechanism that shapes dormancy. Correlative studies based on climate datasets are unlikely to capture the diversity of adaptive strategies plants acquired to maximize their fitness; disturbances and species interactions also need to beconsidered. Despite the ubiqui...

Thousands of plant species produce both extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) on their leaves and nutrient-rich appendages on their diaspores (elaiosomes). Although their individual ecology is well-known, any possible functional link between them has been ignored. Here, we recognized their co-presence in the shrub, Adenanthos cygnorum (Proteaceae), and stud...

A new fossil discovery reported by Shi et al. changes our understanding of the biogeographic history of the cosmopolitan family, Rhamnaceae. Flowering shoots of the African genus Phylica (Rhamnaceae) dated at 100 million years ago (Ma) imply a 250 Ma origin of the family in fire-prone Gondwanan vegetation that enabled overland dispersal to all cont...

Fire regimes control the population dynamics of fireprone plant species. Here, I re-analyse the data acquired in a study of the conservation requirements of a rare, fire-killed grevillea. I conclude that specific knowledge is required on the rate at which seeds accumulate in the soil, and the effect of fire frequency on population dynamics for a co...

The interaction effects between climate and fire regime in controlling the type of vegetation and species composition is well established among the Earth’s biomes. Climate and the associated fire regime are never stable for long, and annual temperatures, atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen levels and burn probability have varied radically over th...

Fire stimulates the germination of most seeds in fire-prone vegetation. Fruits of Leucadendron (Proteaceae) are winged achenes or nutlets that correlate with their requirements for smoke and/or heat in promoting germination. We describe five possible smoke-heat dormancy-release/germination syndromes among plants, of which Leucadendron displays thre...

Explains how i became the world expert on the genus Hakea as a result of studying all aspects of its biology since 1969. The article in particular highlights my interest in hakea leaf structure that led to my creation of large paintings of cross-section of hakea leaves and my realization that leaf structure basically comprised two components: thick...

Setting the molecular clock to newly described 100-million-year-old flowering shoots of Phylica in Burmese amber enabled us to recalibrate the phylogenetic history of Rhamnaceae. We traced its origin to ~260 million years ago (Ma) that can explain its migration within and beyond Gondwana since that time, and implies an origin for flowering plants t...

Mechanisms responsible for the high species richness of disturbance-prone floras remain speculative. After fire, speciose shrublands in Australia possess mosaics of microsites that vary widely in seedling density and species richness and provide an ideal context in which to test a) the self-regulation hypothesis that species survive and grow better...

These are the figures associated with the Supplementary Information

51 page supplementary to Pausas and Lamont 2022 Fire-related seed dormancy release - a global synthesis

Seed dormancy varies greatly between species, clades, communities, and regions. We propose that fireprone ecosystems create ideal conditions for the selection of seed dormancy as fire provides a mechanism for dormancy release and postfire conditions are optimal for germination. Thus, fire‐released seed dormancy should vary in type and abundance und...

In a unique study, Luna (Luna, Sci Rep 10:1-10, 2020) examined the viability and germination of 12 hard-seeded Cistaceae in the Mediterranean Basin by alternating a prolonged summer-type temperature (50/20°C at 12 h cycles) treatment with a fire-type heat pulse. A re-analysis of their data shows that the summer treatment applied before the heat pul...

Seed viability is routinely measured on seeds that fail to germinate at the end of an experiment. Together with the number of germinants, this is used to estimate viability of the seeds at start of the experiment (i.e., initial viability) and provides the comparative basis on which germination success is determined. The literature and recent data o...

In a unique study, Luna (Luna, Sci Rep 10:1–10, 2020) examined the viability and germination of 12 hard-seeded Cistaceae in the Mediterranean Basin by alternating a prolonged summer-type temperature (50/20 °C at 12 h cycles) treatment with a fire-type heat pulse. A re-analysis of their data shows that the summer treatment applied before the heat pu...

Fire stimulates germination of most seeds in fire-prone vegetation. Fruits of Leucadendron (Proteaceae) are winged achenes or nutlets that correlate with their requirements for smoke and/or heat in promoting germination. We describe five possible smoke–heat dormancy-release/germination syndromes among plants, of which Leucadendron displays three (n...

Tannins and essential oils are well recognised as antiherbivore compounds. We investigated the relative effectiveness of the polyphenol, tannin, and the essential oils, 1,8-cineole and pine oil, as feeding deterrents against western grey kangaroos. Both groups of secondary metabolites are naturally abundant in many Australian plants. These three me...

Seed viability is routinely measured on seeds that fail to germinate at the end of an experiment. Together with the number of germinants, this is used to estimate viability of the seeds at start of the experiment (i.e., initial viability) and provides the comparative basis on which germination success is determined. Perusal of the literature shows...

Seed viability is routinely measured on seeds that fail to germinate at the end of an experiment. Together with the number of germinants, this is used to estimate viability of the seeds at start of the experiment (i.e., initial viability) and provides the comparative basis on which germination success is determined. Perusal of the literature shows...

Seed viability is routinely measured on seeds that fail to germinate at the end of an experiment. Together with the number of germinants, this is used to estimate viability of the seeds at start of the experiment (i.e., initial viability) and provides the comparative basis on which germination success is determined. Perusal of the literature shows...

Data supporting: Lamont, BB, Miller, BP, Enright, NJ and Yan, ZG (online 2021). Isolation and self-regulation processes promote plant species diversity in simulated postfire microsites. Acta Oecologica doi: 10.1016/j.actao.2021.103795

We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of values of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 448 traits across 28,640 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxon descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of per...

We note the continuing widespread use of regressions of mathematically dependent (derived or confounded) variables [e.g. comparisons of standardized ratios: X/Y versus Z/Y, or the part versus the whole: X versus (X + Y)] in all disciplines of biology and ecology. These may lead to ‘spurious' correlations as even random numbers would produce similar...

Seed viability is routinely measured on seeds that fail to germinate at the end of an experiment. Together with the number of germinants, this is used to estimate viability of the seeds at start of the experiment (i.e., initial viability) and provides the comparative basis on which germination success is determined. We used this standard procedure...

A mechanistic understanding of fire-driven seedling recruitment is essential for effective conservation management of fire-prone vegetation, such as South African fynbos, especially with rare and threatened taxa. The genus Leucadendron (Proteaceae) is an ideal candidate for comparative germination studies, comprising 85 species with a mixture of co...

In a unique study, Luna (2020) examined the viability and germination of 12 hard-seeded Cistaceae in the Mediterranean Basin by alternating a prolonged summer-type-temperature (50/20°C at 12 h cycles) treatment with a fire-type heat pulse. A re-analysis of their data shows that the summer treatment applied before the heat pulse was superfluous as s...

Background and aims Fine-scale spatial patterns of the seedlings of co-occurring species reveal the relative success of reproduction and dispersal and may help interpret coexistence patterns of adult plants. To understand whether postfire community dynamics are controlled by mathematical, biological or environmental factors, we documented seedling-...

We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of measurements of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 375 traits across 29230 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxa descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of...

Most of the Earth's vegetated surface is fireprone but the relevance of fire in understanding how nature works is not always recognized. We aim to show that, by adding the fire dimension to observations on biological phenomena, interpretations can be improved ; how fire-related research can be used to answer 'fundamental' questions in ecology; and...

Fig. 3. Procedures for testing the generality of theories and models developed initially for A) non-fireprone systems (to determine if they also apply to fireprone systems) and B) fireprone systems (to determine if they also apply to non-fireprone systems). It is most likely that systems that experience recurrent disturbance will conform with scena...

Supplemenatry data to Lamont and Witkowski (2020) Plant functional types determine how close postfire seedlings are from their parents in a species-rich shrubland. Annals of Botany doi: 10.1093/aob/mcaa180

We assembled a time-based phylogeny for Hakea, reconstructed its ancestral traits for six attributes and determined their evolutionary trajectories in response to the advent or increasing presence of fire, seasonality, aridity, nectar-feeding birds and (in)vertebrate herbivores/granivores. The ancestral Hakea arose 18 million years ago (Ma) and was...

As ecological patterns are scale dependent, making decisions about sampling design critical. In the context of community assembly, many metrics have been developed to quantify species segregation and aggregation, of which the checkerboard metric (C-score) and the V-ratio are widely used. Using data that describe the spatial pattern of four species-...

Serotiny is the prolonged storage of seeds in closed cones or fruits held within the crown of woody plants. It is widespread throughout fireprone vegetation with a predominantly winter rainfall, especially in Mediterrnanean-type ecosystems (MTEs). Nonstorage is a feature of fireprone vegetation with summer-dominant rainfall or nonfireprone vegetati...

On‐plant storage of seeds (serotiny) is a feature of many fire‐prone dominant trees and shrubs in North America, Mediterranean Basin, South Africa and Australia. Understanding how it has responded to the prevailing fire regime and recruitment/growing conditions, and its genetic basis and adaptive significance, depends on the use of an accurate inde...

Data supporting Fire as a selective agent for both serotiny and nonserotiny over space and time

bushfire