More than one way to kill a spruce forest: The role of fire and climate in the late‐glacial termination of spruce woodlands across the southern Great Lakes

Jensen, A.M.; Fastovich, David; Watson, Ben I.; Gill, Jacquelyn L.; Jackson, Stephen T.; Russell, James M.; Bevington, Joseph; Hayes, Katherine; Lininger, Katherine B.; Rubbelke, Claire; Schellinger, G. C.; Williams, John W.

doi:10.1111/1365-2745.13517

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 104 publications

(183 reference statements)

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“…Succession from broadleaf to conifer species has been more common in boreal forests of eastern North America, where mean fire return intervals are longer (>150 y) ( 28 ); however, because climate change decreases fire return intervals across boreal North America ( 41 ), opportunities for relay succession are also likely to diminish in eastern forests. Indeed, cumulative effects of warming and increased wildfire resulted in the near-complete replacement of spruce forests with pine and broadleaf taxa between 19,000 and 8,000 y ago in the southern Great Lakes region of North America ( 42 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because early patterns of recruitment and competitive outcomes determine canopy composition for subsequent decades ( 9 , 15 ), successional return to black spruce canopy dominance requires long fire-free intervals (>100 y) likely to become increasingly rare across North America ( 41 ). Both paleoecological studies of fire–vegetation dynamics ( 42 , 48 , 49 ) and contemporary remote sensing and modeling studies ( 38 , 39 ) in boreal North America suggest that such reversals of dominance will become less frequent in the future. Further declines in the resilience of black spruce following fire are likely if continued climate warming results in soil drying due to permafrost thaw ( 50 ) or increased climatic moisture deficits and more frequent and severe burning ( 6 , 51 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Increasing fire and the decline of fire adapted black spruce in the boreal forest

Baltzer

Day

Walker

et al. 2021

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

124

129

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Intensifying wildfire activity and climate change can drive rapid forest compositional shifts. In boreal North America, black spruce shapes forest flammability and depends on fire for regeneration. This relationship has helped black spruce maintain its dominance through much of the Holocene. However, with climate change and more frequent and severe fires, shifts away from black spruce dominance to broadleaf or pine species are emerging, with implications for ecosystem functions including carbon sequestration, water and energy fluxes, and wildlife habitat. Here, we predict that such reductions in black spruce after fire may already be widespread given current trends in climate and fire. To test this, we synthesize data from 1,538 field sites across boreal North America to evaluate compositional changes in tree species following 58 recent fires (1989 to 2014). While black spruce was resilient following most fires (62%), loss of resilience was common, and spruce regeneration failed completely in 18% of 1,140 black spruce sites. In contrast, postfire regeneration never failed in forests dominated by jack pine, which also possesses an aerial seed bank, or broad-leaved trees. More complete combustion of the soil organic layer, which often occurs in better-drained landscape positions and in dryer duff, promoted compositional changes throughout boreal North America. Forests in western North America, however, were more vulnerable to change due to greater long-term climate moisture deficits. While we find considerable remaining resilience in black spruce forests, predicted increases in climate moisture deficits and fire activity will erode this resilience, pushing the system toward a tipping point that has not been crossed in several thousand years.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increasing fire and the decline of fire adapted black spruce in the boreal forest

Baltzer

Day

Walker

et al. 2021

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

124

129

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“…More broadly, insights from a diverse array of palaeorecords (e.g., Clifford & Booth, 2015;Feurdean et al, 2020;Jensen et al, 2021;Kelly et al, 2013;Lynch et al, 2007) (Hawthorne et al, 2018;Marlon et al, 2013;Power et al, 2008). Although examinations of these temporal fire feedbacks are of crucial importance to understanding large-scale feedbacks between climate, vegetation and fire, there has been proportionally less focus on using the palaeorecord to unravel the impact of other disturbance regimes.…”

Section: Pal Aeoecolog Ic Al Per S Pec Tive S On Dis Turban Cementioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging palaeoecological frameworks for elucidating plant dynamics in response to fire and other disturbance

Napier

Chipman

2021

Global Ecol. Biogeogr.

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Motivation: Rapid climate change is altering plant communities around the globe fundamentally. Despite progress in understanding how plants respond to these climate shifts, accumulating evidence suggests that disturbance could not only modify expected plant responses but, in some cases, have larger impacts on compositional shifts than climate change. Climate-driven disturbances are becoming increasingly common in many biomes and are key drivers of vegetation dynamics at both species and community levels. Palaeoecological records provide valuable observational windows for elucidating the long-term impacts of these disturbances on plant dynamics; however, sparse resolution and difficulty in disentangling drivers of change limit our ability to understand the impact of disturbance on plant communities. In this targeted review, we highlight emerging opportunities in palaeoecology to advance our understanding about how disturbance, especially fire, impacts the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of terrestrial plant communities. Location:Global examples, with many from North America. Conclusions:We propose a set of palaeoecological and integrative approaches that could greatly enhance our understanding of how disturbance regimes influence global plant dynamics. Specifically, we identify four future study areas: (1) focus on palaeoecological disturbance proxies beyond fire and leverage multi proxy research to examine the influence of interacting disturbances on plant community dynamics;(2) use advances in disturbance and vegetation reconstructions, including ancient sedimentary DNA, to provide the spatial, temporal and taxonomic resolution needed to resolve the relationship between changing disturbance regimes and corresponding shifts in plant community composition; (3) integrate palaeoecological, archaeological and Indigenous knowledge to disentangle the complex interplay between climate, human land use, fire and vegetation structure; and (4) apply "functional palaeoecology" and the synergy between palaeoecology and genetics to understand how fire disturbance has served as a long-standing selective agent on plants. These frameworks could increase the resolution of disturbance-driven plant dynamics, potentially providing valuable information for future management.

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“…The combination of drying of the landscape and fire activity is therefore expected to lead to more widespread shifts in vegetation. On paleoecological timescales, warming and associated increases in fire activity 2000–7000 years ago led to replacement of spruce with jack pine or broadleaf trees in eastern Canada (Remy and others 2017 ; Jensen and others 2021 ). During these widespread changing conditions in the past, spruce was most abundant following fire in areas with moist soils (Jensen and others 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On paleoecological timescales, warming and associated increases in fire activity 2000–7000 years ago led to replacement of spruce with jack pine or broadleaf trees in eastern Canada (Remy and others 2017 ; Jensen and others 2021 ). During these widespread changing conditions in the past, spruce was most abundant following fire in areas with moist soils (Jensen and others 2021 ). Thus, climate warming may cause gradual transitions in vegetation but fire pushes sites to alternative stable states by rapidly eroding material legacies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Material Legacies and Environmental Constraints Underlie Fire Resilience of a Dominant Boreal Forest Type

et al. 2022

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Resilience of plant communities to disturbance is supported by multiple mechanisms, including ecological legacies affecting propagule availability, species’ environmental tolerances, and biotic interactions. Understanding the relative importance of these mechanisms for plant community resilience supports predictions of where and how resilience will be altered with disturbance. We tested mechanisms underlying resilience of forests dominated by black spruce (Picea mariana) to fire disturbance across a heterogeneous forest landscape in the Northwest Territories, Canada. We combined surveys of naturally regenerating seedlings at 219 burned plots with experimental manipulations of ecological legacies via seed addition of four tree species and vertebrate exclosures to limit granivory and herbivory at 30 plots varying in moisture and fire severity. Black spruce recovery was greatest where it dominated pre-fire, at wet sites with deep residual soil organic layers, and fire conditions of low soil or canopy combustion and longer return intervals. Experimental addition of seed indicated all species were seed-limited, emphasizing the importance of propagule legacies. Black spruce and birch (Betula papyrifera) recruitment were enhanced with vertebrate exclusion. Our combination of observational and experimental studies demonstrates black spruce is vulnerable to effects of increased fire activity that erode ecological legacies. Moreover, black spruce relies on wet areas with deep soil organic layers where other species are less competitive. However, other species can colonize these areas if enough seed is available or soil moisture is altered by climate change. Testing mechanisms underlying species’ resilience to disturbance aids predictions of where vegetation will transform with effects of climate change.

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More than one way to kill a spruce forest: The role of fire and climate in the late‐glacial termination of spruce woodlands across the southern Great Lakes

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 5 publications

References 104 publications

Increasing fire and the decline of fire adapted black spruce in the boreal forest

Increasing fire and the decline of fire adapted black spruce in the boreal forest

Emerging palaeoecological frameworks for elucidating plant dynamics in response to fire and other disturbance

Material Legacies and Environmental Constraints Underlie Fire Resilience of a Dominant Boreal Forest Type

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