A comparison of Canadian and Russian boreal forest fire regimes

Groot, William J. de; Cantin, Alan S.; Flannigan, Mike D.; Soja, A. J.; Gowman, Lynn M.; Newbery, Alison

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2012.07.033

Cited by 236 publications

(189 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Geographic differences may also exist across the boreal biome. For example, the larch-dominated Eurasian boreal forest is characterized by different forest composition and fire behavior than the North American boreal forest (46) and probably exhibits different types of fuel feedback.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resistance of the boreal forest to high burn rates

Héon

Arseneault

Parisien

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

134

153

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Boreal ecosystems and their large carbon stocks are strongly shaped by extensive wildfires. Coupling climate projections with records of area burned during the last 3 decades across the North American boreal zone suggests that area burned will increase by 30-500% by the end of the 21st century, with a cascading effect on ecosystem dynamics and on the boreal carbon balance. Fire size and the frequency of large-fire years are both expected to increase. However, how fire size and time since previous fire will influence future burn rates is poorly understood, mostly because of incomplete records of past fire overlaps. Here, we reconstruct the length of overlapping fires along a 190-km-long transect during the last 200 y in one of the most fire-prone boreal regions of North America to document how fire size and time since previous fire will influence future fire recurrence. We provide direct field evidence that extreme burn rates can be sustained by a few occasional droughts triggering immense fires. However, we also show that the most fire-prone areas of the North American boreal forest are resistant to high burn rates because of overabundant young forest stands, thereby creating a fuel-mediated negative feedback on fire activity. These findings will help refine projections of fire effect on boreal ecosystems and their large carbon stocks.climate change | fire-free intervals | fuel feedback | probability of burning | tree ring dating

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resistance of the boreal forest to high burn rates

Héon

Arseneault

Parisien

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

134

153

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“…Spring albedo increases considerably after fire in snow-covered areas, leading to regional cooling 5,6 . Whereas most fires in boreal North America are known to be high-intensity crown fires, most in Eurasia are reported to be surface fires [7][8][9][10][11][12] . Surface fires are expected to have very different impacts as they typically do not kill healthy mature trees and may combust less organic matter 2,8,11,13 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Surface fires are expected to have very different impacts as they typically do not kill healthy mature trees and may combust less organic matter 2,8,11,13 . Regional fire dynamics may relate to the distribution of speciesspecific fire traits 2,12,14 . Only a small number of spruce (Picea), pine (Pinus) and larch (Larix) species dominate the boreal zone 2,13,15 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Embracers are generally killed by fires and regenerate immediately from (semi-)serotinous cones that release seeds when burned 13,17 . In contrast, fire resisters suppress crown fires through self-pruning and, in the case of larch, high leaf moisture 12,18,19 . Fire resisters often have thick bark, which protects their cambium and increases their chances of surviving fire 19,20 .…”

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confidence: 99%

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Influence of tree species on continental differences in boreal fires and climate feedbacks

et al. 2015

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“…Our approach differs from other studies [20,27,28,87,88], as fuel loads were approximated by fuel type and did not consider that the temporal changes [20,27] or amount of carbon emitted were a function of the burned area [28,88] or of the landscape's total tree loads [87]. We estimated that mean carbon emission by fire ranged from 2 to 53 t·ha −1 , depending on the forest type and age category.…”

Section: Simulation Of Carbon Emission By Firementioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Fuel Load Dynamics on Carbon Emission by Wildfires in the Clay Belt Boreal Landscape

Terrier

Paquette

Gauthier

et al. 2016

Forests

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Old-growth forests play a decisive role in preserving biodiversity and ecological functions. In an environment frequently disturbed by fire, the importance of old-growth forests as both a carbon stock as well as a source of emissions when burnt is not fully understood. Here, we report on carbon accumulation with time since the last fire (TSF) in the dominant forest types of the Clay Belt region in eastern North America. To do so, we performed a fuel inventory (tree biomass, herbs and shrubs, dead woody debris, and duff loads) along four chronosequences. Carbon emissions by fire through successional stages were simulated using the Canadian Fire Effects Model. Our results show that fuel accumulates with TSF, especially in coniferous forests. Potential carbon emissions were on average 11.9 t·ha −1 and 29.5 t·ha −1 for old-growth and young forests, respectively. In conclusion, maintaining old-growth forests in the Clay Belt landscape not only ensures a sustainable management of the boreal forest, but it also optimizes the carbon storage.

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A comparison of Canadian and Russian boreal forest fire regimes

Cited by 236 publications

References 22 publications

Resistance of the boreal forest to high burn rates

Resistance of the boreal forest to high burn rates

Influence of tree species on continental differences in boreal fires and climate feedbacks

Influence of Fuel Load Dynamics on Carbon Emission by Wildfires in the Clay Belt Boreal Landscape

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