Scale-dependent determinants of heterogeneity in fire frequency in a coniferous boreal forest of eastern Canada

Cyr, Dominic; Gauthier, Sylvie; Bergeron, Yves

doi:10.1007/s10980-007-9109-3

Cited by 97 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Simulation modeling provided the means, through input manipulation, to isolate the effect of bottom-up environmental factors on spatial fire likelihood in four fire-prone landscapes of North America. Because fireÀenvironment relationships can be idiosyncratic to a particular landscape and are known to vary at different spatial and temporal frames of study (Cyr et al 2007), we provided a standard baseline for comparison among these study areas. The standard baseline using simulated burn probabilities allowed us to quantify the influence of ignitions, fuel configuration, and topography.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial bottom‐up controls on fire likelihood vary across western North America

2012

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Abstract. The unique nature of landscapes has challenged our ability to make generalizations about the effects of bottom-up controls on fire regimes. For four geographically distinct fire-prone landscapes in western North America, we used a consistent simulation approach to quantify the influence of three key bottom-up factors, ignitions, fuels, and topography, on spatial patterns of fire likelihood. We first developed working hypotheses predicting the influence of each factor based on its spatial structure (i.e., autocorrelation) in each of the four study areas. We then used a simulation model parameterized with extensive fire environment data to create high-resolution maps of fire likelihood, or burn probability (BP). To infer the influence of each bottom-up factor within and among study areas, these BP maps were compared to parallel sets of maps in which one of the three bottom-up factors was randomized. Results showed that ignition pattern had a relatively minor influence on the BP across all four study areas, whereas the influence of fuels was large. The influence of topography was the most equivocal among study areas; it had an insignificant influence in one study area and was the dominant control in another. We also found that the relationship between the influence of these factors and their spatial structure appeared nonlinear, which may have important implications for management activities aimed at attenuating the effect of fuels or ignitions on wildfire risk. This comparative study using landscapes with different biophysical and fire regime characteristics demonstrates the importance of employing consistent methodology to pinpoint the influence of bottom-up controls.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial bottom‐up controls on fire likelihood vary across western North America

2012

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“…Strahler order [58] is used to classify rivers and their catchment areas according to their importance (see Appendix A Figure A1). Moreover, contrary to administrative borders or the circular buffers generally used (e.g., [30,40]), they rely on real physiographic features [59].…”

Section: Environment Delineation and Scalingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…TSF is censored when the year of the last fire is unknown so the only information we have is a minimum time elapsed without fire. We used the Cox proportional hazard model (Equation (1)), a semi-parametric survival analysis, to model the influence of physical environment on fire frequency [30,31,64]. Statistical analyses were computed in the software R (version 2.15.1, The R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria), package survival [65].…”

Section: Survival Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting Local Drivers of Fire Cycle Heterogeneity in Boreal Forests: A Scale Issue

Bélisle

Leduc

Gauthier

et al. 2016

Forests

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Abstract:Severe crown fires are determining disturbances for the composition and structure of boreal forests in North America. Fire cycle (FC) associations with continental climate gradients are well known, but smaller scale controls remain poorly documented. Using a time since fire map (time scale of 300 years), the study aims to assess the relative contributions of local and regional controls on FC and to describe the relationship between FC heterogeneity and vegetation patterns. The study area, located in boreal eastern North America, was partitioned into watersheds according to five scales going from local (3 km 2 ) to landscape (2800 km 2 ) scales. Using survival analysis, we observed that dry surficial deposits and hydrography density better predict FC when measured at the local scale, while terrain complexity and slope position perform better when measured at the middle and landscape scales. The most parsimonious model was selected according to the Akaike information criterion to predict FC throughout the study area. We detected two FC zones, one short (159 years) and one long (303 years), with specific age structures and tree compositions. We argue that the local heterogeneity of the fire regime contributes to ecosystem diversity and must be considered in ecosystem management.

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“…300-350 yr (Sirén 1955, Wallenius et al 2005). The fire cycles in the North Shore region, as well as in the Picea abies-dominated sites in Northern Europe can be several centuries long (Wallenius et al 2005, Cyr et al 2007). …”

Section: Main Tree Species and Disturbance Regimesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, in continental areas, such as in the central parts of North America, stand-replacing fires occur frequently (Payette 1992). In contrast, in more humid maritime climates such as those found in Northern Europe and eastern Canada, large areas of the boreal forest experience mixed-severity fires with cycles that can be several centuries long (Syrjänen et al 1994, Gromtsev 2002, Wallenius et al 2005, Cyr et al 2007). …”

Section: Introduction Disturbance Dynamics In Boreal Forestsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tree mortality and deadwood dynamics in late-successional boreal forests

Aakala¹

2010

Diss. For.

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Here I aimed at quantifying the main components of deadwood dynamics, i.e. tree mortality, deadwood pools, and their decomposition, in late-successional boreal forests. I focused on standing dead trees in three stand types dominated by Picea mariana and Abies balsamea in eastern Canada, and on standing and down dead trees in Picea abiesdominated stands in three areas in Northern Europe.Dead and living trees were measured on five sample plots of 1.6-ha size in each study area and stand type. Stem disks from dead trees were sampled to determine wood density and year of death, using dendrochronological methods. The results were applied to reconstruct past tree mortality and to model deadwood decay class dynamics.Site productivity, stand developmental stage, and the occurrence of episodic tree mortality influenced deadwood volume and quality. In all study areas tree mortality was continuous, leading to continuity in deadwood decay stage distribution. Episodic tree mortality due to either autogenic or allogenic causes influenced deadwood volume and quality in all but one study area. However, regardless of productivity and disturbance history deadwood was abundant, accounting for 20-53% of total wood volume in European study areas, and 15-27% of total standing volume in eastern Canada. Deadwood was a persistent structural component, since its expected residence time in early-and midstages of decay was 18 yr even in the area with the most rapid decomposition.The results indicated that in the absence of episodic tree mortality, stands may eventually develop to a steady state, in which deadwood volume fluctuates around an equilibrium state. However, in many forests deadwood is naturally variable, due to recurrent moderateseverity disturbances. This variability, the continuous tree mortality, and variation in rates of wood decomposition determine the dynamics and availability of deadwood as a habitat and carbon storage medium in boreal coniferous forest ecosystems.

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Scale-dependent determinants of heterogeneity in fire frequency in a coniferous boreal forest of eastern Canada

Cited by 97 publications

References 54 publications

Spatial bottom‐up controls on fire likelihood vary across western North America

Spatial bottom‐up controls on fire likelihood vary across western North America

Detecting Local Drivers of Fire Cycle Heterogeneity in Boreal Forests: A Scale Issue

Tree mortality and deadwood dynamics in late-successional boreal forests

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