Wildfires in the Larch Range within Permafrost, Siberia
Throughout the larch range, warming leads to frequent fires and an increase in burned areas. We test the hypothesis that fires are an essential natural factor that reset larch regeneration and support the existence of larch forests. The study area included Larix sibirica and L. gmelinii ranges withi...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:6fbe03e0350b4e999ca243b9fb8bf654 2023-09-26T15:21:56+02:00 Wildfires in the Larch Range within Permafrost, Siberia Viacheslav I. Kharuk Evgeny G. Shvetsov Ludmila V. Buryak Alexei S. Golyukov Maria L. Dvinskaya Il’ya A. Petrov 2023-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6080301 https://doaj.org/article/6fbe03e0350b4e999ca243b9fb8bf654 EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/8/301 https://doaj.org/toc/2571-6255 doi:10.3390/fire6080301 2571-6255 https://doaj.org/article/6fbe03e0350b4e999ca243b9fb8bf654 Fire, Vol 6, Iss 301, p 301 (2023) wildfires in permafrost larch forest fires extreme fires climate-driven fires firefighting Physics QC1-999 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6080301 2023-08-27T00:35:42Z Throughout the larch range, warming leads to frequent fires and an increase in burned areas. We test the hypothesis that fires are an essential natural factor that reset larch regeneration and support the existence of larch forests. The study area included Larix sibirica and L. gmelinii ranges within the permafrost zone. We used satellite-derived and field data, dendrochronology, and climate variables analysis. We found that warming led to an increase in fire frequency and intensity, mean, and extreme (>10,000 ha) burned areas. The burned area is increasing in the northward direction, while fire frequency is decreasing. The fire rate exponentially increases with decreasing soil moisture and increasing air temperature and air drought. We found a contrasting effect of wildfire on regeneration within continuous permafrost and within the southern lowland boundary of the larch range. In the first case, burnt areas regenerated via abounded larch seedlings (up to 500,000+ per ha), whereas the south burns regenerated mostly via broadleaf species or turned into grass communities. After the fire, vegetation GPP was restored to pre-fire levels within 3–15 years, which may indicate that larch forests continue to serve as carbon stock. At the southern edge of the larch range, an amplified fire rate led to the transformation of larch forests into grass and shrub communities. We suggested that the thawing of continuous permafrost would lead to shrinking larch-dominance in the south. Data obtained indicated that recurrent fires are a prerequisite for larch forests’ successful regeneration and resilience within continuous permafrost. It is therefore not necessary to suppress all fires within the zone of larch dominance. Instead, we must focus fire suppression on areas of high natural, social, and economic importance, permitting fires to burn in vast, larch-dominant permafrost landscapes. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost Siberia Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Fire 6 8 301 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
wildfires in permafrost larch forest fires extreme fires climate-driven fires firefighting Physics QC1-999 |
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wildfires in permafrost larch forest fires extreme fires climate-driven fires firefighting Physics QC1-999 Viacheslav I. Kharuk Evgeny G. Shvetsov Ludmila V. Buryak Alexei S. Golyukov Maria L. Dvinskaya Il’ya A. Petrov Wildfires in the Larch Range within Permafrost, Siberia |
topic_facet |
wildfires in permafrost larch forest fires extreme fires climate-driven fires firefighting Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Throughout the larch range, warming leads to frequent fires and an increase in burned areas. We test the hypothesis that fires are an essential natural factor that reset larch regeneration and support the existence of larch forests. The study area included Larix sibirica and L. gmelinii ranges within the permafrost zone. We used satellite-derived and field data, dendrochronology, and climate variables analysis. We found that warming led to an increase in fire frequency and intensity, mean, and extreme (>10,000 ha) burned areas. The burned area is increasing in the northward direction, while fire frequency is decreasing. The fire rate exponentially increases with decreasing soil moisture and increasing air temperature and air drought. We found a contrasting effect of wildfire on regeneration within continuous permafrost and within the southern lowland boundary of the larch range. In the first case, burnt areas regenerated via abounded larch seedlings (up to 500,000+ per ha), whereas the south burns regenerated mostly via broadleaf species or turned into grass communities. After the fire, vegetation GPP was restored to pre-fire levels within 3–15 years, which may indicate that larch forests continue to serve as carbon stock. At the southern edge of the larch range, an amplified fire rate led to the transformation of larch forests into grass and shrub communities. We suggested that the thawing of continuous permafrost would lead to shrinking larch-dominance in the south. Data obtained indicated that recurrent fires are a prerequisite for larch forests’ successful regeneration and resilience within continuous permafrost. It is therefore not necessary to suppress all fires within the zone of larch dominance. Instead, we must focus fire suppression on areas of high natural, social, and economic importance, permitting fires to burn in vast, larch-dominant permafrost landscapes. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Viacheslav I. Kharuk Evgeny G. Shvetsov Ludmila V. Buryak Alexei S. Golyukov Maria L. Dvinskaya Il’ya A. Petrov |
author_facet |
Viacheslav I. Kharuk Evgeny G. Shvetsov Ludmila V. Buryak Alexei S. Golyukov Maria L. Dvinskaya Il’ya A. Petrov |
author_sort |
Viacheslav I. Kharuk |
title |
Wildfires in the Larch Range within Permafrost, Siberia |
title_short |
Wildfires in the Larch Range within Permafrost, Siberia |
title_full |
Wildfires in the Larch Range within Permafrost, Siberia |
title_fullStr |
Wildfires in the Larch Range within Permafrost, Siberia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Wildfires in the Larch Range within Permafrost, Siberia |
title_sort |
wildfires in the larch range within permafrost, siberia |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6080301 https://doaj.org/article/6fbe03e0350b4e999ca243b9fb8bf654 |
genre |
permafrost Siberia |
genre_facet |
permafrost Siberia |
op_source |
Fire, Vol 6, Iss 301, p 301 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/8/301 https://doaj.org/toc/2571-6255 doi:10.3390/fire6080301 2571-6255 https://doaj.org/article/6fbe03e0350b4e999ca243b9fb8bf654 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6080301 |
container_title |
Fire |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
8 |
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301 |
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1778147379098157056 |