Olive trees resprouting

The typical image on a cultivated olive tree (Olea europaea) is a short squat tree with a thick gnarled trunk. Below are some olive trees with a slightly different shape, after being burned twice in different wildfires (1994 and 7/2015) in Montán (Castelló, eastern Spain). Before 1994 these trees were single-stemmed with the typical thick trunk; they were planted long ago for olive production. The 1994 fire killed the main stem and the tree produced many resprout from the base, around the trunk (it became multi-stemmed). In 2015 in burned again killing those 21 year-old resprouts and producing many new ones (the green ones in the pictures, 7 month-old resprouts). The 2015 fire also consumed the main stem that had died in the 1994 fire, including the base of the stem, and thus it produced a hole in the middle of the tree (second picture). This is quite common.

Photos: Olive trees (Olea europaea) resprouting after two fires (1994, 7/2015; JG Pausas 2/2016).

More on resprouting: Lignotubers | Resprouting at the global scale | Evolutionary ecology of resprouting and seeding | Physiological differences between resprouters and seeders | To resprout or not to resprout | Differences between resprouters and non-resprouters | Fire, drought, resprouting: leaf and root traits |