Background: Serotiny refers to delayed seed dissemination within plants. Serotiny, or pyriscence, plays an important role in species’ reaction to fire thus accurately understanding the variation of adaptations falling under the umbrella term of serotiny is crucial to predicting the ecosystems reaction to changing fire regimes. Due to the irregular shape of cones, surface area measurement is problematic. Past studies have relied on visual estimation to determine the openness of cones or to identify when cones become open. Subjective assessments of cone opening potentially could be subject to measurement errors. In this study I demonstrate the effectiveness of 3D modeling using a readily available phone camera to quantify differences in surface area of cones before and after heating treatments. I demonstrate this method by comparing two serotinous conifer species, Monterey cypress (Hesperocyparis macrocarpa) and Bishop pine (Pinus muricata).
Results: Bishop pine had an average surface area increase of 175.7% while Monterey cypress had an average surface area increase of 43.5%. Paired t-tests showed that surface area significantly increased following heating for both species.
Conclusions: Bishop pine showed a much greater surface area change relative to Monterey cypress. 3D imaging with Polycam proved to be a successful method of quantifying cone opening, creating a mesh that could be measured with Blender. Using a readily available phone camera, one can create an accurate 3D model to measure changes in surface area of cones before and after fire. Further experimentation using this method could include comparisons between serotinous species, facultative serotinous species, as well as non-serotinous species. Simple methods for quantifying serotiny, such as demonstrated here, allows for improved understanding and predictions of how species respond to fire and other environmental triggers. This method of quantifying the reactiveness of species’ cone opening to heat requires further investigation but holds promise in further defining the role in which fire plays in seed dispersal due to cone opening.