Net primary productivity following forest fire for Canadian ecoregions

Abstract

Recent modelling results indicate that forest fires and other disturbances determine the magnitude of the Canadian forest carbon balance. The regeneration of post-fire vegetation is key to the recovery of net primary productivity (NPP) following fire. We geographically co-registered pixels classed using the Boreal Ecosystem Productivity Simulator, a process-based model with AVHRR (advanced very-high resolution radiometer) satellite estimates of leaf-area index and land cover type, with polygons from a recent database of large Canadian fires. NPP development with time since fire was derived for the first 15 years following the disturbance in the boreal and taiga ecozones. About 7 × 106 ha were analysed for over 500 fires occurring between 1980 and 1994. NPP increases linearly through this period, at rates that depend on ecoregion. A longer data set for the Boreal Plains ecozone of Alberta shows that NPP levels off at about 20-30 years and remains constant for 60 years. The NPP trajectories can be used as spatial averages to support models of forest carbon balance and succession through the most fire-prone regions of Canada.