Vegetation changes through time on islands of Lake Duparquet, Abitibi, Canada

Larocque, Isabelle; Bergeron, Yves; Campbell, Ian; Bradshaw, R. H. W.

doi:10.1139/x99-204

Cited by 20 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Whereas jack pine begins storing seeds younger than black spruce (about 5-10 vs. 30-40 years; Burns & Honkala 1990), earlier stem mortality results in a pineto-spruce density ratio of canopy-stored seeds that progressively decreases during succession (Pinard 1999). Accordingly, it has been observed that short fire intervals tend to increase relative pine abundance compared with pre-fire conditions, whereas longer intervals tend to increase spruce abundance (Lavoie & Sirois 1998;Larocque et al 2000). Jack pine has thicker cone scales, and reduced seed mortality during severe crown fire (Beaufait 1960;Zasada et al 1979;Arseneault 2001) may also contribute to trends in species abundance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The millennial dynamics of a boreal forest stand from buried trees

Arseneault

Sirois

2004

Journal of Ecology

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Summary 1We reconstructed the dynamics of a black spruce ( Picea mariana ) and jack pine ( Pinus banksiana ) forest stand in northern Québec using a continuous, 5200-year-long sequence of stem remains buried in adjacent peatland. Simulations of recruitment of such remains provided guidelines for inferring past ecosystem structure and composition at the stand scale. 2 Compared with the late Holocene (4650-0 cal. year  (CYBP)), the mid Holocene (5200-4650 CYBP) period was characterized by faster tree growth, larger stems and higher stem density, indicating higher forest productivity in association with a milder climate. 3 The presence of stem remains of both species from 17 out of 20 contiguous 250-year time intervals suggests that the spruce-pine stand exhibited high compositional stability, with both species regenerating after fire from canopy-stored seed banks. 4 Relative species abundance closely followed the duration of past fire intervals deduced from the number of tree rings in buried conifers. Time periods of long (4650-3950, 3400-1850 and 250-0 CYBP) and short fire intervals (4950-4650, 3950-3400 and 1850-250 CYBP) were associated, respectively, with decreasing and increasing pine abundance, probably reflecting faster juvenile growth, lower shade tolerance, earlier sexual maturity and shorter longevity in jack pine compared with black spruce. 5 We conclude that both climate change and climate-induced fire disturbance have been driving long-term ecosystem dynamics. Our field evidence supports the idea that interactions between disturbances and the life-history traits of species modulate the impact of climate change at the scale of forest stands. At the same time, disturbances may result in long-term stability of disturbance-adapted ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The millennial dynamics of a boreal forest stand from buried trees

Arseneault

Sirois

2004

Journal of Ecology

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“…Payette et al 2000;Lesieur et al 2002;Lecomte et al in press). This co-occurrence can be strongly linked to site specific historical fire regimes (Larocque et al 2000;Johnstone & Chapin in press). Short fire intervals tend to favour tree species that reach sexual maturity quickly -e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of fire severity and initial tree composition on understorey vegetation dynamics in a boreal landscape inferred from chronosequence and paleoecological data

Lecomte

Simard

Bergeron

et al. 2005

J Vegetation Science

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Question and Location: How does soil burn severity and early post‐fire tree composition affect long‐term understorey vegetation dynamics in the coniferous forests of eastern Canada? Method: Vegetation dynamics were assessed using paleoecological methods and a chronosequence analysis of extant stands. The relation between environmental factors and succession was evaluated using ordination techniques on the chronosequence data. Understorey succession was studied by regression analysis on the chronosequence data and through within‐site Markovian transition probabilities between successive 1‐cm layers of plant macroremains from soil organic matter profiles. Results: Initial tree composition (Picea mariana and Pinus banksiana) had little effect on understorey composition. Soil burn severity (measured as the thickness of the residual forest floor humus) significantly affected temporal changes in understorey species. Following fires of high severity, stands underwent a gradual paludification with a net increase in Sphagnum and ericaceous shrubs (Ledum groenlandicum), and a decrease in feathermosses. Paludification was accelerated after low severity fires, which led to the dominance of Sphagnum less than 200 years after fire, and of L. groenlandicum shortly after fire. In situ paleo‐ecological work confirmed results obtained with the chronosequence analysis. Conclusions: One vegetation gradient related to time after disturbance is insufficient to account for the full complexity of long‐term changes in understorey composition following fire. Current forestry practices that protect the forest floor humus may induce a premature paludification.

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“…forest ecosystems (Gower et al ., 1997; Bisbee et al ., 2001), but few C budgets available for other successional stages. A few chronosequence studies of boreal forests have focused on vegetation or nutrient changes (Black & Bliss, 1978; Pastor et al ., 1987; Viereck et al ., 1993; Lavoie & Sirois, 1998; Larocque et al ., 2000), but few C budgets during postfire succession exist (Kasischke et al ., 1995; Wirth et al ., 2002). Forest age distribution has a profound effect on C budgets, and has to be taken into account when extrapolating stand‐level C budgets to landscape or regional scales (Schimel, 1995; Chen et al ., 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon distribution of a well‐ and poorly‐drained black spruce fire chronosequence

Wang

Bond‐Lamberty

Gower

2003

Global Change Biology

125

115

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The objective of this study was to quantify carbon (C) distribution for boreal black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) stands comprising a fire chronosequence in northern Manitoba, Canada. The experimental design included seven well‐drained (dry) and seven poorly‐drained (wet) stands that burned between 1998 and 1850. Vegetation C pools (above‐ground + below‐ground) steadily increased from 1.3 to 83.3 t C ha−1 for the dry chronosequence, and from 0.6 to 37.4 t C ha−1 for the wet chronosequence. The detritus C pools (woody debris + forest floor) varied from 10.3 to 96.0 t C ha−1 and from 12.6 to 77.4 t C ha−1 for the dry and wet chronosequence, respectively. Overstorey biomass, mean annual biomass increment (MAI), woody debris mass, and litterfall were significantly greater (α = 0.05) for the dry stands than for the wet stands, but the bryophyte, understorey, and forest floor C pools were significantly less for the dry than for the wet stands. The root mass ratio decreased with stand age until 37 years after fire, was fairly constant thereafter, and was not significantly affected by soil drainage. The C pools of the overstorey and bryophyte tended to increase with stand age. Foliage biomass, litterfall, and MAI (for the dry stands) peaked at 71 years after fire and declined in the oldest stands. The results from this study illustrate that the effects of disturbance and edaphic conditions must be accounted for in boreal forest C inventories and C models. The appropriateness of using chronosequences to examine effects of wildfire on ecosystem C distribution is discussed.

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Vegetation changes through time on islands of Lake Duparquet, Abitibi, Canada

Cited by 20 publications

References 23 publications

The millennial dynamics of a boreal forest stand from buried trees

The millennial dynamics of a boreal forest stand from buried trees

Effects of fire severity and initial tree composition on understorey vegetation dynamics in a boreal landscape inferred from chronosequence and paleoecological data

Carbon distribution of a well‐ and poorly‐drained black spruce fire chronosequence

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