Overstory tree mortality resulting from reintroducing fire to long-unburned longleaf pine forests: the importance of duff moisture

Varner, J. Morgan; Hiers, J. Kevin; Ottmar, Roger D.; Gordon, Doria R.; Putz, Francis E.; Wade, Dale D.

doi:10.1139/x06-315

Cited by 93 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…When a fire does not show up in a long period of time the vegetation's dynamics advances to very specific conditions (Varner et al, 2007;Briggs et al, 2005), such as: a) a higher density, which defines the poor illumination in the lower parts of the forest; b) a scarce defined structure, where there are different generations of of high species, which can implicate the gradual displacement of certain species.…”

Section: The Role Of Fire In Forest Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structure and Density Analysis of a Semi Desert Ecosystem Disturbed by Fire

Garnica¹

2018

OJF

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In Mexico, forest ecosystems are disturbed by fires and generally these are considered to have negative impacts. However, it is important to consider that fire is an element of these ecosystems, and is important for its functionality. So it should be understood that in many cases the effects of a forest fire are beneficial, which can be determined through studies of population dynamics of these ecosystems. However, most of these studies currently focused only on aspects of species composition, with few cases concerning the analysis of the structure and density. In this study, a comparative analysis of the vegetation showed that conditions prevailing between burned and unburned areas of a site covered by microphyll desert species (shrubs and mesquite). The results suggest that the structure and density conditions of vegetation between burned and unburned areas are not statistically different. This is highlighted because one year after the fire occurred there is no evidence that fire had altered the structure and density of vegetation. Moreover, both in burned and unburned areas, vegetation had a healthy condition. Finally, although this may suggests that the fire was of low intensity, which resulted in a low impact on vegetation, in future studies it is recommended to determine if the same results are observed under different possible fire behavior and intensity.

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Section: The Role Of Fire In Forest Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structure and Density Analysis of a Semi Desert Ecosystem Disturbed by Fire

Garnica¹

2018

OJF

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“…Such approaches use data on fire-induced injury and individual tree traits (e.g., tree diameter, bark thickness) as descriptors to model the probability of post-fire tree mortality. Indicators of fire injury can be derived from direct observations such as crown scorch height or volume, crown consumption, stem char height, bark char depth and forest floor consumption (Ryan and Reinhardt, 1988;McHugh and Kolb, 2003;Rigolot, 2004;Varner et al, 2007), or they can be established indirectly through fire behaviour (Beverly and Martell, 2003;Kobziar et al, 2006;Schwilk et al, 2006). For the latter, flame size or fire intensity can be translated into crown injury through crown scorch height models (e.g., van Wagner, 1973).…”

Section: Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling natural disturbances in forest ecosystems: a review

Seidl

Fernandes

Fonseca

et al. 2011

Ecological Modelling

345

219

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“…Downed woody, shrub, and herbaceous fuels were not measured prior to the wildfire, but the relative contribution of these loads is minor in many long-unburned stands (Varner et al 2007). To account for delayed tree mortality, we censused tree mortality for three years (2005 to 2008).…”

Section: Crown Scorchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We performed a post-hoc segmented (piecewise) regression on the sap flux data (Toms and Lesperance 2003) to test for threshold functions in sap flux and duff consumption. We chose a segmented regression because we were interested in testing if a forest floor consumption mortality threshold reported by Varner et al (2007) would be expressed in the sap flux data. We used post-fire percentage of pre-fire sap flux as the dependent variable to minimize within tree variation in sap flux.…”

Section: Sap Flux Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Loss of these trees can be catastrophic for ecosystem structure, composition, and function in these biologically diverse ecosystems (Kirkman et al 2004. Although this problem has been observed in numerous frequently burned coniferous ecosystems, it is particularly acute in the southeastern United States in longleaf pines (Varner et al , 2007(Varner et al , 2009. Longleaf pine communities were historically one of the most frequently burned ecosystems in the world, with fires recurring annually in some stands tems are dependent on these frequent fires to regenerate overstory pines, suppress competing hardwoods, and maintain the high species richness characteristic (Kirkman et al 2004, Pecot et al 2006.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Untitled

2010

Fire Ecology

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One important legacy of fire exclusion in ecosystems dependent upon frequent fire is the development of organic soil horizons (forest floor) that can be colonized by fine roots. When fire is re-introduced, the forest floor is often consumed by fire and heavy overstory mortality, often delayed by months, results. We hypothesized that the delayed post-fire tree mortality is a manifestation of a cascade of physiological stresses initiated by root damage that can also magnify the impact of other kinds of damage. We investigated the physiological impact of forest floor consumption on longleaf pines (Pinus palustris Mill.) subjected to a wildfire in 2005 in a long-unburned (>50 years) forest by measuring forest floor consumption, whole tree water use, and leaf chlorophyll content. Ten of the 23 study trees died within three years post fire. Post-fire sap flux was unrelated to crown scorch, but was negatively correlated with forest floor consumption. A segmented linear regression revealed declines in sap flux until a threshold of 31 % forest floor consumption, after which further consumption had no additional effect on tree water use. Trees with >30 % forest floor consumption beneath their crowns were more than 20 times as likely to die as those with less consumption. Chlorophyll content in needles that flushed post fire was negatively correlated with crown scorch (R 2 = 0.60, P = 0.009) though all trees with scorch also experienced varying degrees of forest floor consumption. Our results suggest that the consumption of the forest floor with the likely concomitant loss of roots initiated a decline spiral, driven by an inability to supply sufficient water to the crown. Though we did not measure loss of stored carbohydrates in consumed roots directly, we infer that this likely effect, coupled with decreased crown photosynthetic capacity, eventually resulted in substantial overstory tree mortality.

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Overstory tree mortality resulting from reintroducing fire to long-unburned longleaf pine forests: the importance of duff moisture

Cited by 93 publications

References 31 publications

Structure and Density Analysis of a Semi Desert Ecosystem Disturbed by Fire

Structure and Density Analysis of a Semi Desert Ecosystem Disturbed by Fire

Modelling natural disturbances in forest ecosystems: a review

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