Analyzing risk of regeneration failure in the managed boreal forest of northwestern Quebec

Splawinski, Tadeusz Bartek; Cyr, Dominic; Gauthier, Sylvie; Jetté, Jean-Pierre; Bergeron, Yves

doi:10.1139/cjfr-2018-0278

Cited by 42 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…The role of severe drought in both the occurrence of short-interval reburning 6,7 , and the post-fire outcomes for juvenile trees 23,24,39 suggests that climate change will have multiple direct effects on the structure and composition northwestern boreal forests as repeated wildfires and drought interact, although more research is needed to understand this relationship. The piecemeal occurrence of short-interval reburns in interaction with drought may serve to accelerate widespread climate-driven changes in forest openness and composition, that are projected and ongoing in much of the boreal forest 45,61,62 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interactions with climate, mediated through drought, appear to amplify the effects of shortened fire intervals that cause species composition shifts and increase forest openness, suggesting that modelled rates of compositional change and regeneration failure driven by fire frequency (e.g. 15,62 ), but not drought, may be conservative. If the frequency and extent of short-interval reburning in the northwestern boreal forest increases with future climate change it is likely to accelerate and reinforce climate-driven shifts towards open forests with a reduced conifer dominance as forests’ adaptive resilience to disturbance is overwhelmed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Short-interval wildfire and drought overwhelm boreal forest resilience

Whitman

Parisien

Thompson

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

169

149

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The size and frequency of large wildfires in western North America have increased in recent years, a trend climate change is likely to exacerbate. Due to fuel limitations, recently burned forests resist burning for upwards of 30 years; however, extreme fire-conducive weather enables reburning at shorter fire-free intervals than expected. This research quantifies the outcomes of short-interval reburns in upland and wetland environments of northwestern Canadian boreal forests and identifies an interactive effect of post-fire drought. Despite adaptations to wildfire amongst boreal plants, post-fire forests at paired short- and long-interval sites were significantly different, with short-interval sites having lower stem densities of trees due to reduced conifer recruitment, a higher proportion of broadleaf trees, less residual organic material, and reduced herbaceous vegetation cover. Drought reinforced changes in proportions of tree species and decreases in tree recruitment, reinforcing non-resilient responses to short-interval reburning. Drier and warmer weather will increase the incidence of short-interval reburning and amplify the ecological changes such events cause, as wildfire activity and post-fire drought increase synergistically. These interacting disturbances will accelerate climate-driven changes in boreal forest structure and composition. Our findings identify processes of ongoing and future change in a climate-sensitive biome.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-interval wildfire and drought overwhelm boreal forest resilience

Whitman

Parisien

Thompson

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

169

149

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“…Today, dry sandy areas in Canadian boreal forests mainly host P. banksiana and P. mariana in the canopy and ericaceous or ground lichens in the understory. Pinus abundance is controlled by fires (Johnson 1992 ) but is generally excluded by intervals of stand-replacing fire longer than 200 years, while P. mariana is excluded by intervals shorter than 60 years (Desponts and Payette 1992 ; Le Goff and Sirois 2004 ; Splawinski and others 2019 ). Temporary modification of the canopy from P. banksiana -dominant to Picea dominant during the last 6000 years would thus show a loss of autocorrelation over a period of 500 to 1000 years.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Term Steady-State Dry Boreal Forest in the Face of Disturbance

et al. 2019

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We used bioproxies from paleosoils buried within two aeolian dunes to test hypotheses concerning the origin of dry sandy boreal forests in Canada. These forests are dominated today by Pinus banksiana Lamb. One hypothesis is that too frequent Holocene stand-replacing fires would have transformed the original vegetation through extirpation of susceptible species to fire in water stress habitat. Alternatively, the ecosystem would have not changed since the dunes stabilized enough to support forest establishment. The vegetation composition and richness were determined by identification of charcoal and macroremains and radiocarbon dating for the chronology. Both sites revealed a similar history covering 6400 years. Half of the charcoal layers were less than 2500 years old in both sites, indicating that they had been subjected to the same fire history. Data indicated a stable plant composition and richness, although the percentage of Pinus decreased slightly over 4000 years (decreasing rate 1% per century). The fungus Cenococcum geophilum was consistently present, with a stochastic abundance. The vegetation grew under natural fire conditions and soil dryness since 6000 years. The ecosystem was probably not stressed by late-Holocene fires or climate changes, as the multi-millennial steady state reveals a resistant and resilient ecosystem.

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“…Extreme fires in the past decade have raised concerns that the ecological resilience of (Girard et al 2009(Girard et al , 2011Whitman et al 2018bWhitman et al , 2019. The probability of post-fire tree regeneration failure is expected to increase across forests types in the future with the projected increase in fire activity, warm temperatures, and drought (Whitman et al 2018b;Splawinski et al 2019;Boucher et al 2020).…”

Section: Fire and Forest Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fifty years of wildland fire science in Canada

et al. 2021

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We celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research by reflecting on the considerable progress accomplished in select areas of Canadian wildfire science over the past half century. Specifically, we discuss key developments and contributions in the creation of the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System; the relationships between wildland fire and weather, climate, and climate change; fire ecology; operational decision support; and wildland fire management. We also discuss the evolution of wildland fire management in Banff National Park as a case study. We conclude by discussing some possible directions in future Canadian wildland fire research including the further evaluation of fire severity measurements and effects; the efficacy of fuel management treatments; climate change effects and mitigation; further refinement of models pertaining to fire risk analysis, fire behaviour, and fire weather; and the integration of forest management and ecological restoration with wildfire risk reduction. Throughout the paper we reference many contributions published in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research, which has been at the forefront of international wildland fire science.

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Analyzing risk of regeneration failure in the managed boreal forest of northwestern Quebec

Cited by 42 publications

References 71 publications

Short-interval wildfire and drought overwhelm boreal forest resilience

Short-interval wildfire and drought overwhelm boreal forest resilience

Long-Term Steady-State Dry Boreal Forest in the Face of Disturbance

Fifty years of wildland fire science in Canada

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