Fire as a driver of pine invasions in the Southern Hemisphere: a review

Franzese, Jorgelina; Raffaele, Estela

doi:10.1007/s10530-017-1435-z

Cited by 32 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Consistent with Wyse and others (2016), shoots of P. radiata were among the least flammable species that we burned. However, Franzese and Raffaele (2017) found fire to be a key driver of serotinous Pinus invasions (such as P. radiata) in the Southern Hemisphere, and Pinus species are known to promote fire in other ecosystems (Cobar-Carranza and others 2014; Taylor and others 2017). It may be that it is the accumulation of flammable leaf litter and other dead material (Berry and others 2011), rather than the flammability of live shoots, that hold the potential to entrain a positive fire-vegetation feedback.…”

Section: Implications For Plant Invasionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shoot-Level Flammability of Species Mixtures is Driven by the Most Flammable Species: Implications for Vegetation-Fire Feedbacks Favouring Invasive Species

2017

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Invasive species can cause shifts in vegetation composition and fire regimes by initiating positive vegetation-fire feedbacks. To understand the mechanisms underpinning these shifts, we need to determine how invasive species interact with other species when burned in combination and thus how they may influence net flammability in the communities they invade. Previous studies using litter and ground fuels suggest that flammability of a species mixture is nonadditive and is driven largely by the more-flammable species. However, this nonadditivity has not been investigated in the context of plant invasions nor for canopy fuels. Using whole shoots, we measured the flammability of indigenous-invasive species pairs for six New Zealand indigenous and four globally invasive plant species, along with single-species control burns. Our integrated measure of flammability was clearly nonadditive, and the more-flammable species per pairing had the stronger influence on flammability in 83% of combinations. The degree of nonadditivity was significantly positively correlated with the flammability difference between the species in a pairing. The strength of nonadditivity differed among individual flammability components. Ignitability and combustibility were strongly determined by the more-flammable species per pair, yet both species contributed more equally to consumability and sustainability. Our results suggest mechanisms by which invasive species entrain positive vegetation-fire feedbacks that alter ecosystem flammability, enhancing their invasion. Of the species tested, Hakea sericea and Ulex europaeus are those most likely to increase the flammability of New Zealand ecosystems and should be priorities for management.

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Section: Implications For Plant Invasionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shoot-Level Flammability of Species Mixtures is Driven by the Most Flammable Species: Implications for Vegetation-Fire Feedbacks Favouring Invasive Species

2017

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“…This may promote further invasion and/or conversion from steppe to pine forest stands, as extirpation of native species due to death of belowground resprouting structures eliminates competition and favors pine establishment [49]. Moreover, many of the pine species planted and invading in Patagonia have fire-adapted life-history traits (e.g., serotiny) that enhance their colonization of post-fire native areas [50]. In pine-invaded sites or plantations, there are already documented reductions in the abundance and richness of native plant species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pine Plantations and Invasion Alter Fuel Structure and Potential Fire Behavior in a Patagonian Forest-Steppe Ecotone

Paritsis

Landesmann

Kitzberger

et al. 2018

Forests

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Abstract:Planted and invading non-native plant species can alter fire regimes through changes in fuel loads and in the structure and continuity of fuels, potentially modifying the flammability of native plant communities. Such changes are not easily predicted and deserve system-specific studies. In several regions of the southern hemisphere, exotic pines have been extensively planted in native treeless areas for forestry purposes and have subsequently invaded the native environments. However, studies evaluating alterations in flammability caused by pines in Patagonia are scarce. In the forest-steppe ecotone of northwestern Patagonia, we evaluated fine fuels structure and simulated fire behavior in the native shrubby steppe, pine plantations, pine invasions, and mechanically removed invasions to establish the relative ecological vulnerability of these forestry and invasion scenarios to fire. We found that pine plantations and their subsequent invasion in the Patagonian shrubby steppe produced sharp changes in fine fuel amount and its vertical and horizontal continuity. These changes in fuel properties have the potential to affect fire behavior, increasing fire intensity by almost 30 times. Pruning of basal branches in plantations may substantially reduce fire hazard by lowering the probability of fire crowning, and mechanical removal of invasion seems effective in restoring original fuel structure in the native community. The current expansion of pine plantations and subsequent invasions acting synergistically with climate warming and increased human ignitions warrant a highly vulnerable landscape in the near future for northwestern Patagonia if no management actions are undertaken.

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“…latifolia ) are common (Turner et al. , , Franzese and Raffaele ). Young lodgepole pines grow rapidly and reach maximum rates of aboveground net primary production (ANPP) and fine root production between 24 and 60 yr of age (Pearson et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Postfire stem densities often greatly exceed prefire densities if serotinous species such as lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) are common (Turner et al 1997, Franzese and Raffaele 2017. Young lodgepole pines grow rapidly and reach maximum rates of aboveground net primary production (ANPP) and fine root production between 24 and 60 yr of age (Pearson et al 1987, Ryan et al 1997, Olsson et al 1998, Kashian et al 2013, Schoonmaker et al 2016.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feast not famine: Nitrogen pools recover rapidly in 25‐yr‐old postfire lodgepole pine

Turner

Whitby

Romme

2019

Ecology

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The extent of young postfire conifer forests is growing throughout western North America as the frequency and size of high‐severity fires increase, making it important to understand ecosystem structure and function in early seral forests. Understanding nitrogen (N) dynamics during postfire stand development is especially important because northern conifers are often N limited. We resampled lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) stands that regenerated naturally after the 1988 fires in Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, USA) to ask (1) How have N pools and fluxes changed over a decade (15 to 25 yr postfire) of very rapid forest growth? (2) At postfire year 25, how do N pools and fluxes vary with lodgepole pine density and productivity? Lodgepole pine foliage, litter (annual litterfall, forest‐floor litter), and mineral soils were sampled in 14 plots (0.25 ha) that varied in postfire lodgepole pine density (1,500 to 344,000 stems/ha) and aboveground net primary production (ANPP; 1.4 to 16.1 Mg·ha−1·yr−1). Counter to expectation, foliar N concentrations in lodgepole pine current‐year and composite needles (1.33 and 1.11% N, respectively) had not changed over time. Further, all measured ecosystem N pools increased substantially: foliar N increased to 89 kg N/ha (+93%), O‐horizon N increased to 39 kg N/ha (+38%), and mineral soil percent total N (0–15 cm) increased to 0.08% (+33%). Inorganic N availability also increased to 0.69 μg N·[g resin]−1·d−1 (+165%). Thus, soil N did not decline as live biomass N pools increased. Among stands, biomass N pools at postfire year 25 remained strongly influenced by early postfire tree density: foliar and litterfall N concentrations declined with lodgepole pine density and ANPP, but the foliar N pool increased. Lodgepole pine ANPP correlated negatively with annual resin‐sorbed N, and we found no indication of widespread N limitation. The large increases in N pools cannot be explained by atmospheric N deposition or presence of known N fixers. These results suggest an unmeasured N source and are consistent with recent reports of N fixation in young lodgepole pine.

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Fire as a driver of pine invasions in the Southern Hemisphere: a review

Cited by 32 publications

References 43 publications

Shoot-Level Flammability of Species Mixtures is Driven by the Most Flammable Species: Implications for Vegetation-Fire Feedbacks Favouring Invasive Species

Shoot-Level Flammability of Species Mixtures is Driven by the Most Flammable Species: Implications for Vegetation-Fire Feedbacks Favouring Invasive Species

Pine Plantations and Invasion Alter Fuel Structure and Potential Fire Behavior in a Patagonian Forest-Steppe Ecotone

Feast not famine: Nitrogen pools recover rapidly in 25‐yr‐old postfire lodgepole pine

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