Does inorganic nitrogen limit plant growth 3–5 years after fire in a Wyoming, USA, lodgepole pine forest?

Romme, William H.; Stakes, Gail K.; Turner, Monica G.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2008.10.013

Cited by 20 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(74 reference statements)

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“…Several studies also show that foliar N concentration of lodgepole pine is higher after fire than after bark beetle disturbance. Romme et al (2009) found very high (1.87%) foliar N in 3-5-year old post-fire lodgepole pine seedlings, and Turner et al (2009) found currentyear foliage averaged 1.38% N and composite foliage 1.08% N in 17-year old post-fire lodgepole pine. Contrary to fire, bark beetles typically affect large mature trees with no direct disturbance to the understory or soils.…”

Section: Interpretations and Comparison To Post-fire Lodgepole Pine Fmentioning

confidence: 94%

Nitrogen cycling following mountain pine beetle disturbance in lodgepole pine forests of Greater Yellowstone

Griffin

Turner

Simard

2011

Forest Ecology and Management

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105

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Section: Interpretations and Comparison To Post-fire Lodgepole Pine Fmentioning

confidence: 94%

Nitrogen cycling following mountain pine beetle disturbance in lodgepole pine forests of Greater Yellowstone

Griffin

Turner

Simard

2011

Forest Ecology and Management

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105

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“…Similar to that, higher whitebark pine germination and growth in prescribed burned relative to unburned plots has been attributed to improved phosphorous availability (Perkins, ). In other cases, however, nutrient availability had minor (Lilles, Purdy, Macdonald, & Chang, ) or no effect (Romme, Tinker, Stakes, & Turner, ) on seedling establishment and/or growth. Postfire effects on below‐ground processes could also be mediated via positive effects of charcoal on microbial activity (DeLuca, MacKenzie, Gundale, & Holben, ).…”

Section: Demographic Filters Determine Postfire Vegetation Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anticipating fire‐mediated impacts of climate change using a demographic framework

2018

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Climate change indirectly affects forest ecosystems through changes in the frequency, size, and/or severity of wildfires. In addition to its direct effects prior to fire, climate also influences immediate postfire recruitment, with consequences for future vegetation structure and fire activity. A major uncertainty, therefore, is if, when and where vegetation shifts will occur. With an emphasis on species traits, we use a demographic framework to examine how the interaction of changing climate and fire will affect postfire woody vegetation recruitment and the likelihood of vegetation shifts. Each demographic stage – adult mortality, propagule availability, seed germination, seedling establishment, and seedling survival – serves as a filter through which a species must pass for establishment and recovery to occur. We apply this framework to case studies in western North American forests, including boreal and southwestern U.S. Pinus ponderosa forests, to help understand the mechanisms behind recent postfire vegetation changes. The case studies highlight how changes in climate and fire properties will make it increasingly difficult for some species to pass through each demographic filter in the future. As climate warming continues, we expect increased dominance of species that resprout following fire, maintain canopy or soil seed banks, have long distance seed dispersal, produce drought‐tolerant seedlings, and/or reach reproductive maturity quickly. The persistence of postfire vegetation shifts will depend the on ratio of recovery time to disturbance interval(s). An advantage of the demographic‐filter framework is that it places emphasis on mechanisms, thus improving our ability to anticipate future vegetation shifts. As such, it highlights the clear need for more mechanistic studies of postfire recruitment to disentangle the relative effects of multiple drivers in postfire environments. A http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.13132/suppinfo is available for this article.

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“…Additionally, significant correlations at the individual sampling point level indicated that soil resources (e.g., soil pH and DOH) influenced soil N and that available soil N affected the growth of some regeneration understory vegetation in the post-fire early succession stage. These results suggest that the post-fire initial patterns of soil resources and regeneration vegetation may be responsible for fine-scale heterogeneity in available soil N. These findings also suggest that the spatial distribution of limiting resources (i.e., NH 4 + ) could determine the performance of new individual tree recruits in the post-fire early succession stage [5,66], and therefore may have effects on the spatial distribution of the plant community. Further long-term studies at multiple scales are needed to elucidate the spatial dynamics of vegetation-soil relationships.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…The negative correlation between soil NH 4 + and herb cover indicated that the increased soil NH 4 + after fire could stimulate growth of regeneration vascular plants [38] as shade-intolerant and nutrient-demanding pioneer species. In the field work, we observed that great amounts of herbaceous plants (e.g., willow) dominated the burned area, which may reduce soil NH 4 + through plant uptake and storing this N in plant tissues [66]. Relative to the vascular plants, the number and size of RTS such as aspen or birch seedlings were small.…”

Section: Relationship Between Soil N and Site Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire Alters Spatial Patterns of Available Soil Nitrogen and Understory Environments in a Valley Boreal Larch Forest

Kong

Yang

Liu

et al. 2019

Forests

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Wildfire, a primary natural disturbance in many forests, affects soil nutrient availability and spatial distributions of forest plants. However, post-fire changes in soil nutrients and spatial patterns of understory environments at fine scales are poorly understood. Here, we characterized spatial patterns of soil nitrogen availability and site characteristics at a 3-year-post-fire and an unburned site in a valley boreal larch forest. We also examined the relationship between soil nitrogen availability and site characteristics. The results showed that the burned site had higher NO 3 − and lower NH 4 + than the control. The herb, litter and coarse wood debris cover was greater at the burned site than at the control site with higher soil pH, depth of the organic horizon (DOH) and shrub cover. Relative variability (coefficient of variation) in soil nitrogen and site characteristic variables at the control site was greater than at the burned site except for shrub and regeneration tree seedling cover. Spatial structure (quantified by semi-variograms) was lacking for soil nitrogen and site characteristic variables except for DOH, herb and shrub cover at the control site, but wildfire created a strong spatial structure for all variables. Shorter spatial autocorrelation ranges of soil nitrogen (1.6-3.5 m) and site characteristic variables (2.6-6.0 m) were detected at the burned site, indicating higher heterogeneity. The spatial scale of soil NH 4 + was congruent with those of herb, shrub and regeneration tree seedling cover, indicating local coupling, while that of soil NO 3 − was not. The number of correlations between soil nitrogen and site characteristic variables in the burned site was greater than in the control. These results indicate that fire could not only create higher heterogeneity patches of soil resources, but also strengthen the local coupling between soil resources and understory vegetation, which may impact the establishment and growth of new individual plants.

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Does inorganic nitrogen limit plant growth 3–5 years after fire in a Wyoming, USA, lodgepole pine forest?

Cited by 20 publications

References 55 publications

Nitrogen cycling following mountain pine beetle disturbance in lodgepole pine forests of Greater Yellowstone

Nitrogen cycling following mountain pine beetle disturbance in lodgepole pine forests of Greater Yellowstone

Anticipating fire‐mediated impacts of climate change using a demographic framework

Wildfire Alters Spatial Patterns of Available Soil Nitrogen and Understory Environments in a Valley Boreal Larch Forest

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