Landscape composition influences local pattern of fire size in the eastern Canadian boreal forest: role of weather and landscape mosaic on fire size distribution in mixedwood boreal forest using the Prescribed Fire Analysis System

Hély, Christelle; Fortin, Christian; Anderson, Kerry; Bergeron, Yves

doi:10.1071/wf09112

Cited by 23 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…While other studies have examined various drivers of individual fire size, particularly for large fires (Beverly and Martell 2005, Hély et al 2010, Abatzoglou and Kolden 2011, there has been less research regarding the characteristics of fires based on size. Our results suggest that there are important differences in the seasonal fire activity of large fire years vs. small fire years, but the effects of individual fire size were not pronounced.…”

Section: Qualitative Differences In Annual Area Burned and Individualmentioning

confidence: 99%

Static and dynamic controls on fire activity at moderate spatial and temporal scales in the Alaskan boreal forest

et al. 2016

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. 2016. Static and dynamic controls on fire activity at moderate spatial and temporal scales in the Alaskan boreal forest. Ecosphere 7(11):e01572. 10.1002/ ecs2.1572Abstract. Wildfire, a dominant disturbance in boreal forests, is highly variable in occurrence and behavior at multiple spatiotemporal scales. New data sets provide more detailed spatial and temporal observations of active fires and the post-burn environment in Alaska. In this study, we employ some of these new data to analyze variations in fire activity by developing three explanatory models to examine the occurrence of (1) seasonal periods of elevated fire activity using the number of MODIS active fire detections data set (MCD14DL) within an 11-day moving window, (2) unburned patches within a burned area using the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity fire severity product, and (3) short-to-moderate interval (<60 yr) fires using areas of burned area overlap in the Alaska Large Fire Database. Explanatory variables for these three models included dynamic variables that can change over the course of the fire season, such as weather and burn date, as well as static variables that remain constant over a fire season, such as topography, drainage, vegetation cover, and fire history. We found that seasonal periods of high fire activity are associated with both seasonal timing and aggregated weather conditions, as well as the landscape composition of areas that are burning. Important static inputs to the model of seasonal fire activity indicate that when fire weather conditions are suitable, areas that typically resist fire (e.g., deciduous stands) may become more vulnerable to burning and therefore less effective as fire breaks. The occurrence of short-to-moderate interval fires appears to be primarily driven by weather conditions, as these were the only relevant explanatory variables in the model. The unique importance of weather in explaining short-to-moderate interval fires implies that fire return intervals (FRIs) will be sensitive to projected climate changes in the region. Unburned patches occur most often in younger stands, which may be related to a greater deciduous fraction of vegetation as well as lower fuel loads compared with mature stands. The fraction of unburned patches may therefore increase in response to decreasing FRIs and increased deciduousness in the region, or these may decrease if fire weather conditions become more severe.

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Section: Qualitative Differences In Annual Area Burned and Individualmentioning

confidence: 99%

Static and dynamic controls on fire activity at moderate spatial and temporal scales in the Alaskan boreal forest

et al. 2016

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“…In Canada, for instance, the increasing gradient of fire activity observed from east to west is caused by the spatial variability in the frequency of drought events [15,16]. However, topography [14,17], surficial deposits and drainage [18], or fuel type and availability [19] are bottom-up factors which act from stand to regional scales. Fire regimes also vary in time; for example, the end of the Little Ice Age that occurred around 1850 represents a well-known transition to lower fire cycles in eastern Canada [8,20].…”

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

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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.

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“…Our analysis also suggests that stand fire hazard increases through the successional sequence in canopy tree species replacement [33]. This increase in propensity to burn only results here from differential fuel load accumulation and fuel spatial arrangement (input in FlamMap3) [27,33], but not from changes in surface fuel quality (composition) since it has not been directly considered as input in the FlamMap system. The late successional coniferous forest stands accumulate fuels, leading to increased forest combustibility known as build-up [4,60,61].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…The study area is located in the eastern Canadian boreal mixedwood forest [26], and was previously used to test the effect of landscape composition on fire size distribution [27]. The studied landscape is characterized by balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to simulate fires, whose size distribution would express the natural variability recorded in the boreal mixedwood forest [27], four simulation times in FlamMap3 (63,105,408, and 4835 min) were selected, corresponding to the four quartiles (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) of the fire size distribution (Figure 2) computed from Quebec public archives (1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007) provided by the SOPFEU [54]. Simulation times were calculated using the mean pixel-based ROS computed from preliminary FlamMap3 output run over the entire landscape.…”

Section: Settings For Simulations At the Landscape Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Burning Potential of Fire Refuges in the Boreal Mixedwood Forest

Ouarmim

Paradis

Asselin

et al. 2016

Forests

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Abstract:In boreal ecosystems, wildfire severity (i.e., the extent of fire-related tree mortality) is affected by environmental conditions and fire intensity. A burned area usually includes tree patches that partially or entirely escaped fire. There are two types of post-fire residual patches: (1) patches that only escaped the last fire; and (2) patches with lower fire susceptibility, also called fire refuges, that escaped several consecutive fires, likely due to particular site characteristics. The main objective of this study was to test if particular environmental conditions and stand characteristics could explain the presence of fire refuges in the mixedwood boreal forest. The FlamMap3 fire behavior model running at the landscape scale was used on the present-day Lake Duparquet forest mosaic and on four other experimental scenarios. FlamMap3 was first calibrated using BehavePlus and realistic rates of fire spread obtained from the Canadian Fire Behavior Prediction system. The results, based on thousands of runs, exclude the effects of firebreaks, topography, fuel type, and microtopography to explain the presence of fire refuges, but rather highlight the important role of moisture conditions in the fuel beds. Moist conditions are likely attributed to former small depressions having been filled with organic matter rather than present-day variations in ground surface topography.

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Landscape composition influences local pattern of fire size in the eastern Canadian boreal forest: role of weather and landscape mosaic on fire size distribution in mixedwood boreal forest using the Prescribed Fire Analysis System

Cited by 23 publications

References 29 publications

Static and dynamic controls on fire activity at moderate spatial and temporal scales in the Alaskan boreal forest

Static and dynamic controls on fire activity at moderate spatial and temporal scales in the Alaskan boreal forest

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

Burning Potential of Fire Refuges in the Boreal Mixedwood Forest

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