Fire history of the central boreal forest in eastern North America reveals stability since the mid-Holocene
Past and present fire frequencies are key factors to evaluate fire-mediated changes in climate, but this metric is difficult to evaluate realistically in paleoecological and climatic reconstructions. Here, we applied charcoal analysis of forest soils to test from direct evidence the stability and re...
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crsagepubl:10.1177/0959683615591361 2024-06-23T07:57:18+00:00 Fire history of the central boreal forest in eastern North America reveals stability since the mid-Holocene Frégeau, Mathieu Payette, Serge Grondin, Pierre 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683615591361 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683615591361 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0959683615591361 en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license The Holocene volume 25, issue 12, page 1912-1922 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 journal-article 2015 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683615591361 2024-06-11T04:30:26Z Past and present fire frequencies are key factors to evaluate fire-mediated changes in climate, but this metric is difficult to evaluate realistically in paleoecological and climatic reconstructions. Here, we applied charcoal analysis of forest soils to test from direct evidence the stability and resilience of the eastern North-American boreal forest at the Holocene timescale. Current knowledge indicates that the boreal forest is not so stable and resilient in several parts of its range, particularly at its northern and southern edges where it is converted to tundra and woodland communities, respectively. However, it is not known to what degree the structure and composition of the boreal forest situated at the central core of its range (FCR), far from the climate-sensitive edges, have been modified during the Holocene. To address the long-term status of the boreal forest vis-a-vis the Holocene climate, we have used a large dataset composed of 14 C-dated and botanically identified charcoal. Long-term fire frequencies in several sites of the FCR were calculated to assess the stability of the main forest ecosystems. The mean fire interval over the last 5000 years of the two principal ecosystems composed of black spruce–jack pine forests and black spruce–balsam fir forests was ~200 and >300 years, respectively. Fires occurred repetitively during this period without fire gaps longer than 400 years (ecosystem 1) and 600 years (ecosystem 2), an indication that the fire regime of the FCR remained stable since the mid-Holocene. Unchanged forest ecosystems during this period also suggest the maintenance of both fire-prone and less fire-prone tree species in their respective sites and the ability of the boreal biome to maintain its structure and function in a repetitive fire-disturbance regime. Article in Journal/Newspaper Tundra SAGE Publications The Holocene 25 12 1912 1922 |
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English |
description |
Past and present fire frequencies are key factors to evaluate fire-mediated changes in climate, but this metric is difficult to evaluate realistically in paleoecological and climatic reconstructions. Here, we applied charcoal analysis of forest soils to test from direct evidence the stability and resilience of the eastern North-American boreal forest at the Holocene timescale. Current knowledge indicates that the boreal forest is not so stable and resilient in several parts of its range, particularly at its northern and southern edges where it is converted to tundra and woodland communities, respectively. However, it is not known to what degree the structure and composition of the boreal forest situated at the central core of its range (FCR), far from the climate-sensitive edges, have been modified during the Holocene. To address the long-term status of the boreal forest vis-a-vis the Holocene climate, we have used a large dataset composed of 14 C-dated and botanically identified charcoal. Long-term fire frequencies in several sites of the FCR were calculated to assess the stability of the main forest ecosystems. The mean fire interval over the last 5000 years of the two principal ecosystems composed of black spruce–jack pine forests and black spruce–balsam fir forests was ~200 and >300 years, respectively. Fires occurred repetitively during this period without fire gaps longer than 400 years (ecosystem 1) and 600 years (ecosystem 2), an indication that the fire regime of the FCR remained stable since the mid-Holocene. Unchanged forest ecosystems during this period also suggest the maintenance of both fire-prone and less fire-prone tree species in their respective sites and the ability of the boreal biome to maintain its structure and function in a repetitive fire-disturbance regime. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Frégeau, Mathieu Payette, Serge Grondin, Pierre |
spellingShingle |
Frégeau, Mathieu Payette, Serge Grondin, Pierre Fire history of the central boreal forest in eastern North America reveals stability since the mid-Holocene |
author_facet |
Frégeau, Mathieu Payette, Serge Grondin, Pierre |
author_sort |
Frégeau, Mathieu |
title |
Fire history of the central boreal forest in eastern North America reveals stability since the mid-Holocene |
title_short |
Fire history of the central boreal forest in eastern North America reveals stability since the mid-Holocene |
title_full |
Fire history of the central boreal forest in eastern North America reveals stability since the mid-Holocene |
title_fullStr |
Fire history of the central boreal forest in eastern North America reveals stability since the mid-Holocene |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fire history of the central boreal forest in eastern North America reveals stability since the mid-Holocene |
title_sort |
fire history of the central boreal forest in eastern north america reveals stability since the mid-holocene |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683615591361 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683615591361 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0959683615591361 |
genre |
Tundra |
genre_facet |
Tundra |
op_source |
The Holocene volume 25, issue 12, page 1912-1922 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683615591361 |
container_title |
The Holocene |
container_volume |
25 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
1912 |
op_container_end_page |
1922 |
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1802650881382940672 |