Dataset Information

Short-interval wildfire and drought overwhelm boreal forest resilience.

ABSTRACT: The size and frequency of large wildfires in western North America have increased in recent years, a trend climate change is likely to exacerbate. Due to fuel limitations, recently burned forests resist burning for upwards of 30 years; however, extreme fire-conducive weather enables reburning at shorter fire-free intervals than expected. This research quantifies the outcomes of short-interval reburns in upland and wetland environments of northwestern Canadian boreal forests and identifies an interactive effect of post-fire drought. Despite adaptations to wildfire amongst boreal plants, post-fire forests at paired short- and long-interval sites were significantly different, with short-interval sites having lower stem densities of trees due to reduced conifer recruitment, a higher proportion of broadleaf trees, less residual organic material, and reduced herbaceous vegetation cover. Drought reinforced changes in proportions of tree species and decreases in tree recruitment, reinforcing non-resilient responses to short-interval reburning. Drier and warmer weather will increase the incidence of short-interval reburning and amplify the ecological changes such events cause, as wildfire activity and post-fire drought increase synergistically. These interacting disturbances will accelerate climate-driven changes in boreal forest structure and composition. Our findings identify processes of ongoing and future change in a climate-sensitive biome.

SUBMITTER: Whitman E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6906309 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Short-interval wildfire and drought overwhelm boreal forest resilience.

Whitman Ellen E Parisien Marc-André MA Thompson Dan K DK Flannigan Mike D MD

Scientific reports 20191211 1

The size and frequency of large wildfires in western North America have increased in recent years, a trend climate change is likely to exacerbate. Due to fuel limitations, recently burned forests resist burning for upwards of 30 years; however, extreme fire-conducive weather enables reburning at shorter fire-free intervals than expected. This research quantifies the outcomes of short-interval reburns in upland and wetland environments of northwestern Canadian boreal forests and identifies an int ...[more]

PMID: 31827128

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Project description:The impact of disturbances on boreal forest plant communities is not fully understood, particularly when different disturbances are combined, and regime shifts to alternate stable states are possible after disturbance. A long-term monitored semi-natural forest site subject to intense combined storm and bark beetle damage beginning in 2005 provided an opportunity to investigate the postdisturbance development of the vegetation community. Previous studies suggest that a shift from Picea abies to Fagus sylvatica domination was possible.We analyzed pre- and postdisturbance vegetation data to investigate to what extent vascular plant species abundances, diversity, traits, and community composition have changed. We were particularly interested in differences between remaining apparently unaffected areas (potential refugia) and disturbed areas, and in signs of consistent change over time in community composition in response to disturbance that could indicate an impending regime shift.We found that the vegetation community present in the refuge areas has remained substantially intact through the period of disturbance. Nonrefuge areas diverged from the refuges in community composition and showed increased taxonomic and functional diversity. Despite this, and an increase in deciduous tree species (particularly F. sylvatica), P. abies has shown strong postdisturbance regeneration. The refuges may be important in the apparent ongoing recovery of the disturbed areas to a P. abies-dominated state similar to that found predisturbance. This fast recovery is interpreted as evidence of a system resilient to a potential shift to a deciduous-dominated state. Synthesis: Our results show that even powerful combined disturbances in a system with multiple stable states can be insufficient to initiate a regime shift. Resilience of the P. abies-dominated forest community is increased by the survival of refuge areas functioning as a form of ecological memory of the previous ecosystem state. The results also demonstrate the value of data generated by long-term monitoring programs.

Dataset Information

Short-interval wildfire and drought overwhelm boreal forest resilience.

Publications

Short-interval wildfire and drought overwhelm boreal forest resilience.

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