Impact of fire behavior on postfire forest development in a homogeneous boreal landscape

Arseneault, Dominique

doi:10.1139/x01-065

Cited by 83 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 39 publications

(52 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Jack pine seedlings establish massively and grow rapidly after fire (12,22,40). As a consequence, the first tree ring in a stem cross-section close to the root collar may confirm fires already identified from scars or help identify additional fires, especially after a short fire interval, when small trees are unlikely to survive and develop a scar.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Resistance of the boreal forest to high burn rates

Héon

Arseneault

Parisien

2014

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

Self Cite

139

153

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Large and severe fires may alter seed sources and seedbeds for tree recruitment, which may trigger shifts to novel forest ecosystems (14,22). In addition, shortened fire-free intervals (FI) may shift young, sexually immature tree populations to faster-maturing species (12,(23)(24)(25).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Resistance of the boreal forest to high burn rates

Héon

Arseneault

Parisien

2014

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

Self Cite

139

153

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The northern open forests are mainly constituted of lichen woodlands resulting from numerous factors such as limited post-fire regeneration due to low seed production [25], unfavorable climate, short intervals between successive fires [26][27][28][29], and high severity of large fires [30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire Regime along Latitudinal Gradients of Continuous to Discontinuous Coniferous Boreal Forests in Eastern Canada

Portier

Gauthier

Leduc

et al. 2016

Forests

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Fire is the main disturbance in North American coniferous boreal forests. In Northern Quebec, Canada, where forest management is not allowed, the landscape is gradually constituted of more opened lichen woodlands. Those forests are discontinuous and show a low regeneration potential resulting from the cumulative effects of harsh climatic conditions and very short fire intervals. In a climate change context, and because the forest industry is interested in opening new territories to forest management in the north, it is crucial to better understand how and why fire risk varies from the north to the south at the transition between the discontinuous and continuous boreal forest. We used time-since-fire (TSF) data from fire archives as well as a broad field campaign in Quebec's coniferous boreal forests along four north-south transects in order to reconstruct the fire history of the past 150 to 300 years. We performed survival analyses in each transect in order to (1) determine if climate influences the fire risk along the latitudinal gradient; (2) fractionate the transects into different fire risk zones; and (3) quantify the fire cycle-defined as the time required to burn an area equivalent to the size of the study area-of each zone and compare its estimated value with current fire activity. Results suggest that drought conditions are moderately to highly responsible for the increasing fire risk from south to north in the three westernmost transects. No climate influence was observed in the last one, possibly because of its complex physical environment. Fire cycles are shortening from south to north, and from east to west. Limits between high and low fire risk zones are consistent with the limit between discontinuous and continuous forests, established based on recent fire activity. Compared to the last 40 years, fire cycles of the last 150-300 years are shorter. Our results suggest that as drought episodes are expected to become more frequent in the future, fire activity might increase significantly, possibly leading to greater openings within forests. However, if fire activity increases and yet remains within the range of variability of the last 150-300 years, the limit between open and closed forests should stay relatively stable.

show abstract

“…Many studies have examined tree regeneration after variable severity burns in the boreal forest [5,6], but in terms of overall plant diversity, understory species are most important, especially in the tree species-poor, xeric jack pine (Pinus banksiana) forests of the northern boreal [7]. Understory plant communities also play critical roles in maintaining key ecosystem processes, such as nutrient cycling, habitat for wildlife and overstory succession [8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Burn Severity Dominates Understory Plant Community Response to Fire in Xeric Jack Pine Forests

Pinno

Errington

2016

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Fire is the most common disturbance in northern boreal forests, and large fires are often associated with highly variable burn severities across the burnt area. We studied the understory plant community response to a range of burn severities and pre-fire stand age four growing seasons after the 2011 Richardson Fire in xeric jack pine forests of northern Alberta, Canada. Burn severity had the greatest impact on post-fire plant communities, while pre-fire stand age did not have a significant impact. Total plant species richness and cover decreased with disturbance severity, such that the greatest richness was in low severity burns (average 28 species per 1-m 2 quadrat) and plant cover was lowest in the high severity burns (average 16%). However, the response of individual plant groups differed. Lichens and bryophytes were most common in low severity burns and were effectively eliminated from the regenerating plant community at higher burn severities. In contrast, graminoid cover and richness were positively related to burn severity, while forbs did not respond significantly to burn severity, but were impacted by changes in soil chemistry with increased cover at pH >4.9. Our results indicate the importance of non-vascular plants to the overall plant community in this harsh environment and that the plant community is environmentally limited rather than recruitment or competition limited, as is often the case in more mesic forest types. If fire frequency and severity increase as predicted, we may see a shift in plant communities from stress-tolerant species, such as lichens and ericaceous shrubs, to more colonizing species, such as certain graminoids.

show abstract

Impact of fire behavior on postfire forest development in a homogeneous boreal landscape

Cited by 83 publications

References 39 publications

Resistance of the boreal forest to high burn rates

Resistance of the boreal forest to high burn rates

Fire Regime along Latitudinal Gradients of Continuous to Discontinuous Coniferous Boreal Forests in Eastern Canada

Burn Severity Dominates Understory Plant Community Response to Fire in Xeric Jack Pine Forests

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About