Influence of wildfire and harvesting on aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate drift patterns in boreal headwater streams

Musetta‐Lambert, Jordan L.; Kreutzweiser, David P.; Sibley, Paul K.

doi:10.1007/s10750-019-3907-x

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Fire legacies, riparian vegetation, and CPOM Although upland vegetation destruction by fire can produce short-term inputs of sediment and solutes to streams, some of the long-term effects of wildfire appear to be mediated through fire effects on riparian vegetation (Arkle et al 2010, Musetta-Lambert et al 2019. Our results indicated that wildfire had greater effects on riparian than on upland vegetation in basins draining to sites that dried in 2016 (dry sites), presumably because of greater fuel loads in riparian than upland zones (as in some This is the author's accepted manuscript without copyediting, formatting, or final corrections.…”

Section: Wildfire Patterns: Long-term Responses Of Stream Ecosystems To Wildfirementioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire and drying legacies and stream invertebrate assemblages

et al. 2021

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Section: Wildfire Patterns: Long-term Responses Of Stream Ecosystems To Wildfirementioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire and drying legacies and stream invertebrate assemblages

et al. 2021

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“…These predictions were based on two lines of evidence. First, in the same study area, Musetta‐Lambert et al, (, ) found that fire‐disturbed riparian forests had denser and more diverse woody‐stem vegetation communities, higher rates of litter export to streams, distinct litter composition inputs comprised of early‐successional species, and distinct and richer aquatic invertebrate communities in fire‐disturbed streams compared to undisturbed riparian areas. Second, fire‐disturbed riparian forests contribute litter species that are highly nutritional and labile (speckled alder and beaked hazel; Taylor et al, ) and thus are expected to breakdown faster.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…While some exploration of site differences was made, we were not able to make overall generalisations about the differences between disturbance regimes due to low replication at the catchment level. We deployed all leaf litter mixtures in all catchments to account statistically for the potential effects of catchment‐level differences in invertebrate communities because Musetta‐Lambert et al, () and Musetta‐Lambert, Kreutzweiser, and Sibley () found greater percent shredders and unique shredder taxa at the fire‐disturbed sites than at reference sites, and these shredder‐related factors could influence leaf litter mixture colonisation and breakdown.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the influence of wildfire on leaf decomposition and macroinvertebrate communities in boreal streams using mixed‐species leaf packs

2020

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1. We investigated how compositional differences in riparian leaf litter derived from burned and undisturbed forests influenced leaf breakdown and macroinvertebrate communities using experimental mixed-species leaf packs in boreal headwater streams. Leaf pack mixtures simulating leaf litter from dominant riparian woody-stem species in burned and undisturbed riparian zones were incubated in two references and two fire-disturbed streams for 5 weeks prior to measuring temperature-corrected breakdown rates and macroinvertebrate community composition, richness, and functional metrics associated with decomposers such as shredder abundance and % shredders.2. Leaf litter breakdown rates were higher and had greater variability in streams bordered by reference riparian forests than in streams where riparian forests had been burned during a wildfire. Streams bordered by fire disturbance showed significant effects of litter mixture on decomposition rates, observed as significantly higher decomposition rates of a fire-simulated leaf mixture compared to all other mixtures.3. Variation among sites was higher than variation among litter mixtures, especially for macroinvertebrate community composition. In general, fire-simulated leaf mixtures had greater shredder abundances and proportions, but lower overall macroinvertebrate abundance; however, the shredder abundance trend was not consistent across all leaf mixtures at each stream. 4. These results show that disturbance-driven riparian forest condition and resulting composition of leaf subsidies to streams can influence aquatic invertebrate community composition and their function as decomposers. Therefore, if one of the primary goals of modern forest management is to emulate natural disturbance patterns, boreal forest managers should adapt silvicultural practices to promote leaf litter input that would arise post-fire, thereby supporting stream invertebrate communities and their function. K E Y W O R D Sforest management, headwater streams, litter breakdown, natural disturbance, riparian condition, shredders

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“…In one study, densities of benthic macroinvertebrates remained higher for 15 to 20 years before returning to levels found in unburned catchments (Scrimgeour et al., 2001 ). In a boreal headwater stream, mayflies and caddisflies increased in drift for more than ten years after fire (Musetta‐Lambert et al., 2019 ).…”

Section: Wildfire Effects On Aquatic Faunamentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience of terrestrial and aquatic fauna to historical and future wildfire regimes in western North America

Jager

Long

Malison

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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Wildfires in many western North American forests are becoming more frequent, larger, and severe, with changed seasonal patterns. In response, coniferous forest ecosystems will transition toward dominance by fire‐adapted hardwoods, shrubs, meadows, and grasslands, which may benefit some faunal communities, but not others. We describe factors that limit and promote faunal resilience to shifting wildfire regimes for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. We highlight the potential value of interspersed nonforest patches to terrestrial wildlife. Similarly, we review watershed thresholds and factors that control the resilience of aquatic ecosystems to wildfire, mediated by thermal changes and chemical, debris, and sediment loadings. We present a 2‐dimensional life history framework to describe temporal and spatial life history traits that species use to resist wildfire effects or to recover after wildfire disturbance at a metapopulation scale. The role of fire refuge is explored for metapopulations of species. In aquatic systems, recovery of assemblages postfire may be faster for smaller fires where unburned tributary basins or instream structures provide refuge from debris and sediment flows. We envision that more‐frequent, lower‐severity fires will favor opportunistic species and that less‐frequent high‐severity fires will favor better competitors. Along the spatial dimension, we hypothesize that fire regimes that are predictable and generate burned patches in close proximity to refuge will favor species that move to refuges and later recolonize, whereas fire regimes that tend to generate less‐severely burned patches may favor species that shelter in place. Looking beyond the trees to forest fauna, we consider mitigation options to enhance resilience and buy time for species facing a no‐analog future.

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Influence of wildfire and harvesting on aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate drift patterns in boreal headwater streams

Cited by 8 publications

References 76 publications

Wildfire and drying legacies and stream invertebrate assemblages

Wildfire and drying legacies and stream invertebrate assemblages

Assessing the influence of wildfire on leaf decomposition and macroinvertebrate communities in boreal streams using mixed‐species leaf packs

Resilience of terrestrial and aquatic fauna to historical and future wildfire regimes in western North America

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