Increasing fire frequency and severity will increase habitat loss for a boreal forest indicator species
Abstract Climate change will lead to more frequent and more severe fires in some areas of boreal forests, affecting the distribution and availability of late‐successional forest communities. These forest communities help to protect globally significant carbon reserves beneath permafrost layers and p...
Published in: | Ecological Applications |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eap.2549 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/eap.2549 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/eap.2549 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/eap.2549 |
id |
crwiley:10.1002/eap.2549 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crwiley:10.1002/eap.2549 2024-03-17T08:57:25+00:00 Increasing fire frequency and severity will increase habitat loss for a boreal forest indicator species Palm, Eric C. Suitor, Michael J. Joly, Kyle Herriges, Jim D. Kelly, Allicia P. Hervieux, Dave Russell, Kelsey L. M. Bentzen, Torsten W. Larter, Nicholas C. Hebblewhite, Mark National Aeronautics and Space Administration 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eap.2549 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/eap.2549 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/eap.2549 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/eap.2549 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Ecological Applications volume 32, issue 3 ISSN 1051-0761 1939-5582 Ecology journal-article 2022 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2549 2024-02-22T00:56:23Z Abstract Climate change will lead to more frequent and more severe fires in some areas of boreal forests, affecting the distribution and availability of late‐successional forest communities. These forest communities help to protect globally significant carbon reserves beneath permafrost layers and provide habitat for many animal species, including forest‐dwelling caribou. Many caribou populations are declining, yet the mechanisms by which changing fire regimes could affect caribou declines are poorly understood. We analyzed resource selection of 686 GPS‐collared female caribou from three ecotypes and 15 populations in a ~600,000 km 2 region of northwest Canada and eastern Alaska. These populations span a wide gradient of fire frequency but experience low levels of human‐caused habitat disturbance. We used a mixed‐effects modeling framework to characterize caribou resource selection in response to burns at different seasons and spatiotemporal scales, and to test for functional responses in resource selection to burn availability. We also tested mechanisms driving observed selection patterns using burn severity and lichen cover data. Caribou avoided burns more strongly during winter relative to summer and at larger spatiotemporal scales relative to smaller scales. During the winter, caribou consistently avoided burns at both spatiotemporal scales as burn availability increased, indicating little evidence of a functional response. However, they decreased their avoidance of burns during summer as burn availability increased. Burn availability explained more variation in caribou selection for burns than ecotype. Within burns, caribou strongly avoided severely burned areas in winter, and this avoidance lasted nearly 30 years after a fire. Caribou within burns also selected higher cover of terrestrial lichen (an important caribou food source). We found a negative relationship between burn severity and lichen cover, confirming that caribou avoidance of burns was consistent with lower lichen abundance. Consistent winter ... Article in Journal/Newspaper caribou permafrost Alaska Wiley Online Library Canada Ecological Applications 32 3 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology |
spellingShingle |
Ecology Palm, Eric C. Suitor, Michael J. Joly, Kyle Herriges, Jim D. Kelly, Allicia P. Hervieux, Dave Russell, Kelsey L. M. Bentzen, Torsten W. Larter, Nicholas C. Hebblewhite, Mark Increasing fire frequency and severity will increase habitat loss for a boreal forest indicator species |
topic_facet |
Ecology |
description |
Abstract Climate change will lead to more frequent and more severe fires in some areas of boreal forests, affecting the distribution and availability of late‐successional forest communities. These forest communities help to protect globally significant carbon reserves beneath permafrost layers and provide habitat for many animal species, including forest‐dwelling caribou. Many caribou populations are declining, yet the mechanisms by which changing fire regimes could affect caribou declines are poorly understood. We analyzed resource selection of 686 GPS‐collared female caribou from three ecotypes and 15 populations in a ~600,000 km 2 region of northwest Canada and eastern Alaska. These populations span a wide gradient of fire frequency but experience low levels of human‐caused habitat disturbance. We used a mixed‐effects modeling framework to characterize caribou resource selection in response to burns at different seasons and spatiotemporal scales, and to test for functional responses in resource selection to burn availability. We also tested mechanisms driving observed selection patterns using burn severity and lichen cover data. Caribou avoided burns more strongly during winter relative to summer and at larger spatiotemporal scales relative to smaller scales. During the winter, caribou consistently avoided burns at both spatiotemporal scales as burn availability increased, indicating little evidence of a functional response. However, they decreased their avoidance of burns during summer as burn availability increased. Burn availability explained more variation in caribou selection for burns than ecotype. Within burns, caribou strongly avoided severely burned areas in winter, and this avoidance lasted nearly 30 years after a fire. Caribou within burns also selected higher cover of terrestrial lichen (an important caribou food source). We found a negative relationship between burn severity and lichen cover, confirming that caribou avoidance of burns was consistent with lower lichen abundance. Consistent winter ... |
author2 |
National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Palm, Eric C. Suitor, Michael J. Joly, Kyle Herriges, Jim D. Kelly, Allicia P. Hervieux, Dave Russell, Kelsey L. M. Bentzen, Torsten W. Larter, Nicholas C. Hebblewhite, Mark |
author_facet |
Palm, Eric C. Suitor, Michael J. Joly, Kyle Herriges, Jim D. Kelly, Allicia P. Hervieux, Dave Russell, Kelsey L. M. Bentzen, Torsten W. Larter, Nicholas C. Hebblewhite, Mark |
author_sort |
Palm, Eric C. |
title |
Increasing fire frequency and severity will increase habitat loss for a boreal forest indicator species |
title_short |
Increasing fire frequency and severity will increase habitat loss for a boreal forest indicator species |
title_full |
Increasing fire frequency and severity will increase habitat loss for a boreal forest indicator species |
title_fullStr |
Increasing fire frequency and severity will increase habitat loss for a boreal forest indicator species |
title_full_unstemmed |
Increasing fire frequency and severity will increase habitat loss for a boreal forest indicator species |
title_sort |
increasing fire frequency and severity will increase habitat loss for a boreal forest indicator species |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eap.2549 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/eap.2549 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/eap.2549 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/eap.2549 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
caribou permafrost Alaska |
genre_facet |
caribou permafrost Alaska |
op_source |
Ecological Applications volume 32, issue 3 ISSN 1051-0761 1939-5582 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2549 |
container_title |
Ecological Applications |
container_volume |
32 |
container_issue |
3 |
_version_ |
1793766576324870144 |