Ecology of sprouting in woody plants: the persistence niche

Many woody plants can resprout and many ecosystems are dominated by resprouters. They persist in situ through disturbance events such as fire, flooding or wind storms. However, the importance of ‘persistence’ in plant demography has been neglected in favour of ‘recruitment’. Thus much research on plant regeneration, conservation and evolution has focused on the importance of safe sites, seed and seedling banks, dispersal and germination with the implied importance of de novo replacement rather than persistence. Recent research shows a growing appreciation for the role of sprouting as a form of persistence in a diversity of ecosystems and tradeoffs between the two regeneration modes.