GERMINATION OF MEDITERRANEAN CISTUS SPP A ND PINUS SPP AND THEIR REOCCUPATION OF DISTURBED SITES

After a disturbance such as fire (very frequent in the Mediterranean b asin), Cistus spp. and Pinus spp,,are obligatory seeder species, For a long time they have been considered as << social pyrophytes >> (see K uhnholtz-Lordat's definition, 1938), i.e. obligatorily associated with fires. By comparing (from personal data and/or from bibliographic sou rces) experimental studies dealing more particularly with the effects of high temperatures on germination processes and field researches, it becomes evident that these species are not exclusively dependent on f ire but are plants occupying open disturbed sites, generally with a sc arce vegetative cover, and particularly without the presence of aggres sive competitors.