Vegetation changes caused by recent fires in the northern boreal forest of eastern Canada
Abstract. From 1980–1989, fires burned 32 440 km 2 of boreal forest, 200 km south of the forest‐tundra border in northern Québec, Canada. An assessment of the impact of fire on tree population densities was carried out by comparing the number of Pinus banksiana and Picea mariana in 83 sites before a...
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crwiley:10.2307/3237263 2024-06-23T07:57:17+00:00 Vegetation changes caused by recent fires in the northern boreal forest of eastern Canada Lavoie, Luc Sirois, Luc 1998 http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3237263 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.2307%2F3237263 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2307/3237263 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Journal of Vegetation Science volume 9, issue 4, page 483-492 ISSN 1100-9233 1654-1103 journal-article 1998 crwiley https://doi.org/10.2307/3237263 2024-06-13T04:22:01Z Abstract. From 1980–1989, fires burned 32 440 km 2 of boreal forest, 200 km south of the forest‐tundra border in northern Québec, Canada. An assessment of the impact of fire on tree population densities was carried out by comparing the number of Pinus banksiana and Picea mariana in 83 sites before and after the sites burned in 1981, 1983, 1988 or 1989. Age structure analysis of post‐fire populations burned in 1972, 1976 and 1983, along with the rapid exhaustion of the seed bank from burned trees, suggest that the majority of seedlings were established within 3 to 10 yr after fire. Consequently, given the absence of nearby living seed bearers, little (if any) further recruitment can be expected in the even‐aged, regenerating populations. According to the tree density comparison (pre‐fire vs post‐fire), a shift from Picea‐ to Pinus ‐dominated communities occurred in most of the sites burned in 1981 or 1983, and in some of the sites burned in 1988 or 1989. The 1988 fire reduced the tree population density by 95% in 10 of the 15 sites; total tree density decreased by at least 75% in 28 out of 40 sites burned in 1989. This suggests that the areas burned in 1988 and 1989 will mainly regenerate as very open forests or lichen‐heath communities that are more commonly found in the forest‐tundra zone, north of the study area. Fire intensity, short fire interval, and unfavorable climate during and after fires are three plausible mechanisms associated with these post‐fire vegetation changes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Tundra Wiley Online Library Canada Journal of Vegetation Science 9 4 483 492 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract. From 1980–1989, fires burned 32 440 km 2 of boreal forest, 200 km south of the forest‐tundra border in northern Québec, Canada. An assessment of the impact of fire on tree population densities was carried out by comparing the number of Pinus banksiana and Picea mariana in 83 sites before and after the sites burned in 1981, 1983, 1988 or 1989. Age structure analysis of post‐fire populations burned in 1972, 1976 and 1983, along with the rapid exhaustion of the seed bank from burned trees, suggest that the majority of seedlings were established within 3 to 10 yr after fire. Consequently, given the absence of nearby living seed bearers, little (if any) further recruitment can be expected in the even‐aged, regenerating populations. According to the tree density comparison (pre‐fire vs post‐fire), a shift from Picea‐ to Pinus ‐dominated communities occurred in most of the sites burned in 1981 or 1983, and in some of the sites burned in 1988 or 1989. The 1988 fire reduced the tree population density by 95% in 10 of the 15 sites; total tree density decreased by at least 75% in 28 out of 40 sites burned in 1989. This suggests that the areas burned in 1988 and 1989 will mainly regenerate as very open forests or lichen‐heath communities that are more commonly found in the forest‐tundra zone, north of the study area. Fire intensity, short fire interval, and unfavorable climate during and after fires are three plausible mechanisms associated with these post‐fire vegetation changes. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lavoie, Luc Sirois, Luc |
spellingShingle |
Lavoie, Luc Sirois, Luc Vegetation changes caused by recent fires in the northern boreal forest of eastern Canada |
author_facet |
Lavoie, Luc Sirois, Luc |
author_sort |
Lavoie, Luc |
title |
Vegetation changes caused by recent fires in the northern boreal forest of eastern Canada |
title_short |
Vegetation changes caused by recent fires in the northern boreal forest of eastern Canada |
title_full |
Vegetation changes caused by recent fires in the northern boreal forest of eastern Canada |
title_fullStr |
Vegetation changes caused by recent fires in the northern boreal forest of eastern Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Vegetation changes caused by recent fires in the northern boreal forest of eastern Canada |
title_sort |
vegetation changes caused by recent fires in the northern boreal forest of eastern canada |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
1998 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3237263 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.2307%2F3237263 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2307/3237263 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
Tundra |
genre_facet |
Tundra |
op_source |
Journal of Vegetation Science volume 9, issue 4, page 483-492 ISSN 1100-9233 1654-1103 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2307/3237263 |
container_title |
Journal of Vegetation Science |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
483 |
op_container_end_page |
492 |
_version_ |
1802650846698143744 |