Impact of fire behavior on postfire forest development in a homogeneous boreal landscape

Author:

Arseneault Dominique

Abstract

Although behavior of stand-replacing wildfire has significant impacts on initial tree regeneration in the fire-prone boreal landscape, the unknown behavior of most past wildfires has precluded any evaluation of these impacts on the progressive development of late-successional forest ecosystems. In this study, the effects of fire behavior on long-term ecosystem development were evaluated by linking the banding pattern of tree density in a jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) - black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) forest on a flat and homogeneous landform in northern Quebec to a similar, previously documented pattern of unburned strips of tree crowns. Complex wildfire-atmosphere interactions during the spread of a 1941 stand-replacing wildfire created this pattern in stem density, most likely by differentially damaging the canopy-stored seed bank between areas of contrasting fire severity. Sites with initial differences in seedling densities have followed different recovery pathways and developed markedly different forest structures, as well as differences in species abundance. Compared with areas of severe crown fire, the present-day vegetation in areas of low crown fire severity shows a higher density of living pines in the canopy layer, higher spruce and dead pine densities in the subcanopy layer, a lower pine density in the understory layer, and a higher abundance of Cladina rangiferina (L.) and Cladina stellaris Opiz (Brodo) in the lichen mat. This close spatial connection between crown fire severity and the ecological processes driving ecosystem recovery may explain large differences in vegetation among sites in the boreal landscape.

Publisher

Canadian Science Publishing

Subject

Ecology,Forestry,Global and Planetary Change

Cited by 68 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3