Stand characteristics and downed woody debris accumulations associated with a mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) outbreak in Colorado

Klutsch, Jennifer G.; Negrón, José F.; Costello, Sheryl L.; Rhoades, Charles C.; West, Daniel R.; Popp, John B.; Caissie, Rick

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2009.04.034

Cited by 185 publications

(175 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…1 and 10) and to the findings of other studies Jenkins 2007a, Jenkins et al 2008), but consistent with Klutsch et al (2009), we did not observe a short-term increase in dead surface fine fuels or fuel bed depth in the gray-stage stands (3-5 years post-outbreak). Dead surface fuel loads were highly variable among stands of the same TSB class and throughout the chronosequence, even though all stands were similar in age and pre-outbreak conditions, and sustained a comparable disturbance severity.…”

Section: Bark Beetles and Fire As Linked Disturbancessupporting

confidence: 93%

Do mountain pine beetle outbreaks change the probability of active crown fire in lodgepole pine forests?

Simard

Romme

Griffin

et al. 2011

Ecological Monographs

254

328

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Abstract. Disturbance interactions have received growing interest in ecological research in the last decade. Fire and bark beetle outbreaks have recently increased in severity and extent across western North America, raising concerns about their possible interactions. Although it is often presumed that bark beetle outbreaks increase probability of active crown fire by producing high loads of surface and canopy dead fuels, empirical data are scarce and results are ambivalent. We combined field measurements and modeling to address the following question: How do fuel characteristics, microclimate, and potential fire behavior change with time since a severe mountain pine beetle outbreak in Pinus contorta forests of Greater Yellowstone (Wyoming, USA)? We measured surface and canopy fuels, and soil surface temperature in a time-since-beetle-outbreak chronosequence (n ¼ 35 sites) from undisturbed to 36 years post-outbreak, including stands in red-and gray-needle stages (respectively, 1-2 and 3-5 years post-outbreak). Field data were used to parameterize the fire behavior model NEXUS and predict potential fire behavior at each site.Dead surface fuel loads of all size categories did not differ among undisturbed, red, and gray-stage stands. Compared to undisturbed sites, red and gray-stage sites had on average 53% lower canopy bulk density, 42% lower canopy fuel load, and 29% lower canopy moisture content, but had similar canopy base heights (3.1 m). In subsequent decades, coarse wood loads doubled and canopy base height declined to 0 m. Modeling results suggested that undisturbed, red, and gray-stage stands were unlikely to exhibit transition of surface fires to tree crowns (torching), and that the likelihood of sustaining an active crown fire (crowning) decreased from undisturbed to gray-stage stands. Simulated fire behavior was little affected by beetle disturbance when wind speed was either below 40 km/h or above 60 km/h, but at intermediate wind speeds, probability of crowning in red-and gray-stage stands was lower than in undisturbed stands, and old post-outbreak stands were predicted to have passive crown fires. Results were consistent across a range of fuel moisture scenarios. Our results suggest that mountain pine beetle outbreaks in Greater Yellowstone may reduce the probability of active crown fire in the short term by thinning lodgepole pine canopies.

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Section: Bark Beetles and Fire As Linked Disturbancessupporting

confidence: 93%

Do mountain pine beetle outbreaks change the probability of active crown fire in lodgepole pine forests?

Simard

Romme

Griffin

et al. 2011

Ecological Monographs

254

328

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although outbreaks of mountain pine beetle do alter fuel structure (Page and Jenkins 2007;Klutsch et al 2009;Simard et al 2011), the actual effects of these changes in fuels on subsequent fire risk (i.e., the chance that a fire might start based on all causative agents such as fuel hazard, ignition source, and weather) are complex, contradictory, and appear counterintuitive. For instance, lodgepole stands in which > 50 % of susceptible trees were killed by beetles in the 5 to 15 years preceding the 1988 Yellowstone fires had a higher incidence of crown fire than stands in which mortality was not as high (Turner et al 1999).…”

Section: Fire and Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreaks In Lodgepole Pine Fomentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire and spruce beetle outbreak: Simulation of interacting disturbances in the central Rocky Mountains

DeRose

Long

2009

Écoscience

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“…Our findings suggest that while one year after simulated MPB treatment changes in the understory have not yet occurred, we expect changes to occur in the future. This is supported by Klutsch et al (2009) who compared MPB-infested and uninfested lodgepole pine stands both 0-3 years and 4-7 years postinfestation in Colorado and also found no difference in percent cover among understory vegetation groups in the short term. Given that attacked trees do not lose most of their foliage until between the second and third year postattack, perhaps changes in the forest understory plant community will not occur until the needles have dropped and in turn have altered other ecosystem properties and processes, such as nutrient cycling.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…Lewis and Thompson (2011) found that for pine trees killed by MPB in central BC, most dead trees did not start to fall until eight years after they died. Interestingly, a study in Colorado found there were no differences in fine or coarse DWM loads between unattacked stands and stands with current or recent (up to 7 years prior) MPB attack (Klutsch et al 2009). compared surface fuel loads for multiple size categories for unattacked, red, and grey stages of MPB attack and also found no differences among them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Short‐term resistance of ecosystem properties and processes to simulated mountain pine beetle attack in a novel region

McIntosh

Macdonald

2013

Ecosphere

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Abstract. Natural forest disturbance regimes are changing, as evidenced by expansion of the mountain pine beetle (MPB) north and east from British Columbia into pine forests east of the Canadian Rockies. Thus, research that examines potential impacts of shifting disturbance regimes on ecosystem properties and processes in these forests is needed. We examined short-term effects (up to one year after treatment) of three treatments that emulated MPB attack and associated forest management disturbance (i.e., moderate and high intensity simulated MPB attack, salvage harvest) on above-and below-ground properties and processes of mature lodgepole pine forests in MPB's recently expanded range east of the Rockies. While the salvage logging treatment showed dramatic effects on the understory plant community and downed woody material with several less dramatic below-ground responses, there were no effects of the moderate MPB attack, and only limited below-ground responses to the high intensity attack. The salvage logged stands showed decreases in species richness and understory plant cover, increases in small downed wood, litter cover, forest floor pH, and plant available Ca, Mg, and P, and differences in multiple microbial properties compared with the other treatments. The high intensity simulated MPB attack showed increased respiration rates of several carbon substrates compared with the salvage treatment. There was considerable variation among years for many below-ground variables (e.g., multiple soil nutrients, microbial respiration rates and phospholipid fatty acids), and these were unrelated to treatments. For the majority of belowground response variables, differences among study years rather than differences due to the MPB treatments suggest that inter-annual variability exerts a stronger influence than does disturbance effects of MPB red attack. The lack of potential response to MPB attack in the short-term suggests these forests are resistant to change early after attack, and/or have high ecological inertia. In contrast, salvage logging had immediate and dramatic effects. We don't yet know how these pine forests will develop under this modified disturbance regime of partial canopy disturbance, but it appears likely that salvage logging will push these stands in a potentially very different direction than the modified natural disturbance regime due to MPB will.

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Stand characteristics and downed woody debris accumulations associated with a mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) outbreak in Colorado

Cited by 185 publications

References 57 publications

Do mountain pine beetle outbreaks change the probability of active crown fire in lodgepole pine forests?

Do mountain pine beetle outbreaks change the probability of active crown fire in lodgepole pine forests?

Wildfire and spruce beetle outbreak: Simulation of interacting disturbances in the central Rocky Mountains

Short‐term resistance of ecosystem properties and processes to simulated mountain pine beetle attack in a novel region

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