High and dry: Post-fire tree seedling establishment in subalpine forests decreases with post-fire drought and large stand-replacing burn patches

Global Ecology and Biogeography

Volumn 25, Issue 6, 2016, Pages 655-669

  Harvey, Brian J ^a   Donato, Daniel C ^b   Turner, Monica G ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON   (United States)

^b Washington State Department of Natural Resources   (United States)

Author keywords

Climate change; Conifer seedlings; Forest resilience; Glacier National Park; Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem; Pinaceae; Rocky Mountains; Succession; Wildfire

Indexed keywords

CLIMATE CHANGE; CONIFEROUS TREE; DROUGHT; FOREST FIRE; SEEDLING ESTABLISHMENT; SUBALPINE ENVIRONMENT; SUCCESSION; TREELINE; WILDFIRE;

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK [MONTANA]; GREATER YELLOWSTONE ECOSYSTEM; MONTANA; ROCKY MOUNTAINS; UNITED STATES;

ABIES LASIOCARPA; CONIFEROPHYTA; LARIX OCCIDENTALIS; PICEA ENGELMANNII; PINACEAE; PINUS ALBICAULIS; PINUS CONTORTA; POPULUS TREMULOIDES; PSEUDOTSUGA MENZIESII;

EID: 84962618628     PISSN: 1466822X     EISSN: 14668238     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/geb.12443     Document Type: Article

References (62)

1. Agee, J.K. (1993) Fire ecology of Pacific Northwest forests. Island Press, Washington, DC.
2. Arno, S.F. (1980) Forest fire history in the Northern Rockies. Journal of Forestry, 78, 460-465.
3. Baker, W.L. (2009) Fire ecology in Rocky Mountain landscapes, 1st edn. Island Press, Washington, DC
4. Barrett, S. (1994) Fire regimes on andesitic mountain terrain in northeastern Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 4, 65-76.
5. Barrett, S.W., Arno, S.F. and Key, C.H. (1991) Fire regimes of western larch-lodgepole pine forests in Glacier National Park, Montana. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 21, 1711-1720.
6. Beers, T.W., Dress, P.E. and Wensel, L.C. (1966) Notes and observations: aspect transformation in site productivity research. Journal of Forestry, 64, 691-692.
7. Bell, D.M., Bradford, J.B. and Lauenroth, W.K. (2014a) Early indicators of change: divergent climate envelopes between tree life stages imply range shifts in the western United States. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 23, 168-180.
8. Bell, D.M., Bradford, J.B. and Lauenroth, W.K. (2014b) Mountain landscapes offer few opportunities for high-elevation tree species migration. Global Change Biology, 20, 1441-1451.
9. Buma, B., Brown, C.D., Donato, D.C., Fontaine, J.B. and Johnstone, J.F. (2013) The impacts of changing disturbance regimes on serotinous plant populations and communities. BioScience, 63, 866-876.
10. Burns, R.M. and Honkala, B.H. (1990) Silvics of North America. Agriculture handbook 654. Vol 1 (conifers), US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Washington, DC.
11. Coop, J.D., Massatti, R.T. and Schoettle, A.W. (2010) Subalpine vegetation pattern three decades after stand-replacing fire: effects of landscape context and topography on plant community composition, tree regeneration, and diversity. Journal of Vegetation Science, 21, 472-487.
12. Dobrowski, S.Z., Swanson, A.K., Abatzoglou, J.T., Holden, Z.A., Safford, H.D., Schwartz, M.K. and Gavin, D.G. (2015) Forest structure and species traits mediate projected recruitment declines in western US tree species: tree recruitment patterns in the western US. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 24, 917-927.
13. Donato, D.C., Fontaine, J.B., Campbell, J.L., Robinson, W.D., Kauffman, J.B. and Law, B.E. (2009) Conifer regeneration in stand-replacement portions of a large mixed-severity wildfire in the Klamath Siskiyou Mountains. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 39, 823-838.
14. Donato, D.C., Campbell, J.L. and Franklin, J.F. (2012) Multiple successional pathways and precocity in forest development: can some forests be born complex? Journal of Vegetation Science, 23, 576-584.
15. Freund, J.A., Franklin, J.F., Larson, A.J. and Lutz, J.A. (2014) Multi-decadal establishment for single-cohort Douglas fir forests. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 44, 1068-1078.
16. Gauthier, S., Bernier, P., Kuuluvainen, T., Shvidenko, A.Z. and Schepaschenko, D.G. (2015) Boreal forest health and global change. Science, 349, 819-822.
17. Greene, D.F. and Johnson, E.A. (1996) Wind dispersal of seeds from a forest into a clearing. Ecology, 77, 595-609.
18. Greene, D.F., Zasada, J.C., Sirois, L., Kneeshaw, D., Morin, H., Charron, I. and Simard, M.-J. (1999) A review of the regeneration dynamics of North American boreal forest tree species. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 29, 824-839.
19. de Groot, W.J., Flannigan, M.D. and Cantin, A.S. (2013) Climate change impacts on future boreal fire regimes. Forest Ecology and Management, 294, 35-44.
20. Harvey, B.J. (2015) Causes and consequences of spatial patterns of fire severity in Northern Rocky Mountain forests: the role of disturbance interactions and changing climate. PhD Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
21. Harvey, B.J., Donato, D.C., Romme, W.H. and Turner, M.G. (2014) Fire severity and tree regeneration following bark beetle outbreaks: the role of outbreak stage and burning conditions. Ecological Applications, 24, 1608-1625.
22. Johnstone, J.F., Chapin, F.S., III, Foote, J., Kemmett, S., Price, K. and Viereck, L. (2004) Decadal observations of tree regeneration following fire in boreal forests. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 34, 267-273.
23. Johnstone, J.F., Chapin, F.S., Hollingsworth, T.N., Mack, M.C., Romanovsky, V. and Turetsky, M. (2010a) Fire, climate change, and forest resilience in interior Alaska. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 40, 1302-1312.
24. Johnstone, J.F., McIntire, E.J.B., Pedersen, E.J., King, G. and Pisaric, M.J.F. (2010b) A sensitive slope: estimating landscape patterns of forest resilience in a changing climate. Ecosphere, 1, art. 14.
25. Kashian, D.M., Turner, M.G., Romme, W.H. and Lorimer, C.G. (2005) Variability and convergence in stand structural development on a fire-dominated subalpine landscape. Ecology, 86, 643-654.
26. Kashian, D.M., Romme, W.H., Tinker, D.B., Turner, M.G. and Ryan, M.G. (2006) Carbon storage on landscapes with stand-replacing fires. BioScience, 56, 598-606.
27. Kemp, K.B., Higuera, P.E. and Morgan, P. (2016) Fire legacies impact conifer regeneration across environmental gradients in the US Northern Rockies. Landscape Ecology, 31, 619-636.
28. Kipfmueller, K.F. and Baker, W.L. (2000) A fire history of a subalpine forest in south-eastern Wyoming, USA. Journal of Biogeography, 27, 71-85.
29. Kipfmueller, K.F. and Kupfer, J.A. (2005) Complexity of successional pathways in subalpine forests of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness area. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 95, 495-510.
30. Kulakowski, D., Matthews, C., Jarvis, D. and Veblen, T.T. (2013) Compounded disturbances in sub-alpine forests in western Colorado favour future dominance by quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides). Journal of Vegetation Science, 24, 168-176.
31. Larson, A.J. and Franklin, J.F. (2005) Patterns of conifer tree regeneration following an autumn wildfire event in the western Oregon Cascade Range, USA. Forest Ecology and Management, 218, 25-36.
32. McKenzie, D.A. and Tinker, D.B. (2012) Fire-induced shifts in overstory tree species composition and associated understory plant composition in Glacier National Park, Montana. Plant Ecology, 213, 207-224.
33. Millar, C.I. and Stephenson, N.L. (2015) Temperate forest health in an era of emerging megadisturbance. Science, 349, 823-826.
34. Miller, J.D. and Thode, A.E. (2007) Quantifying burn severity in a heterogeneous landscape with a relative version of the delta normalized burn ratio (dNBR). Remote Sensing of Environment, 109, 66-80.
35. Minore, D. (1979) Comparative autecological characteristics of northwestern tree species - a literature review. US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland, OR.
36. Morgan, P., Heyerdahl, E.K. and Gibson, C.E. (2008) Multi-season climate synchronized forest fires throughout the 20th century, Northern Rockies, USA. Ecology, 89, 717-728.
37. Morgan, P., Heyerdahl, E.K., Miller, C., Wilson, A.M. and Gibson, C.E. (2014) Northern Rockies pyrogeography: an example of fire atlas utility. Fire Ecology, 10, 14-30.
38. 2 from generalized linear mixed-effects models. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 4, 133-142.
39. Piñol, J. and Sala, A. (2000) Ecological implications of xylem cavitation for several Pinaceae in the Pacific Northern USA. Functional Ecology, 14, 538-545.
40. R Development Core Team (2012) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.
41. Romme, W.H. and Despain, D.G. (1989) Historical perspective on the Yellowstone fires of 1988. BioScience, 39, 695-699.
42. Romme, W., Boyce, M., Gresswell, R., Merrill, E., Minshall, G., Whitlock, C. and Turner, M. (2011) Twenty years after the 1988 Yellowstone fires: lessons about disturbance and ecosystems. Ecosystems, 14, 1196-1215.
43. Schoennagel, T., Turner, M.G. and Romme, W.H. (2003) The influence of fire interval and serotiny on postfire lodgepole pine density in Yellowstone National Park. Ecology, 84, 2967-2978.
44. Schoennagel, T., Veblen, T.T. and Romme, W.H. (2004) The interaction of fire, fuels, and climate across Rocky Mountain forests. BioScience, 54, 661.
45. Tinker, D.B., Romme, W.H., Hargrove, W.W., Gardner, R.H. and Turner, M.G. (1994) Landscape-scale heterogeneity in lodgepole pine serotiny. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 24, 897-903.
46. Tomback, D.F., Anderies, A.J., Carsey, K.S., Powell, M.L. and Mellmann-Brown, S. (2001) Delayed seed germination in whitebark pine and regeneration patterns following the Yellowstone fires. Ecology, 82, 2587-2600.
47. Trumbore, S., Brando, P. and Hartmann, H. (2015) Forest health and global change. Science, 349, 814-818.
48. Turner, M.G. and Romme, W.H. (1994) Landscape dynamics in crown fire ecosystems. Landscape Ecology, 9, 59-77.
49. Turner, M.G., Hargrove, W.W., Gardner, R.H. and Romme, W.H. (1994) Effects of fire on landscape heterogeneity in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Journal of Vegetation Science, 5, 731-742.
50. Turner, M.G., Romme, W.H., Gardner, R.H. and Hargrove, W.W. (1997) Effects of fire size and pattern on early succession in Yellowstone National Park. Ecological Monographs, 67, 411-433.
51. Turner, M.G., Gardner, R.H. and Romme, W.H. (1999) Prefire heterogeneity, fire severity, and early postfire plant reestablishment in subalpine forests of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 9, 21-36.
52. Turner, M.G., Romme, W.H., Reed, R.A. and Tuskan, G.A. (2003) Post-fire aspen seedling recruitment across the Yellowstone (USA) landscape. Landscape Ecology, 18, 127-140.
53. Turner, M.G., Tinker, D.B., Romme, W.H., Kashian, D.M. and Litton, C.M. (2004) Landscape patterns of sapling density, leaf area, and aboveground net primary production in postfire lodgepole pine forests, Yellowstone National Park (USA). Ecosystems, 7, 751-775.
54. Turner, M.G., Turner, D.M., Romme, W.H. and Tinker, D.B. (2007) Cone production in young post-fire Pinus contorta stands in Greater Yellowstone (USA). Forest Ecology and Management, 242, 119-126.
55. Urza, A.K. and Sibold, J.S. (2013) Nondestructive aging of postfire seedlings for four conifer species in northwestern Montana. Western Journal of Applied Forestry, 28, 22-29.
56. Venables, W.N. and Ripley, B.D. (2002) Modern applied statistics with S. Springer, New York.
57. Walker, B., Hollin, C.S., Carpenter, S.R. and Kinzig, A. (2004) Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society, 9, 5.
58. Wan, H.Y., Olson, A.C., Muncey, K.D. and St. Clair, S.B. (2014) Legacy effects of fire size and severity on forest regeneration, recruitment, and wildlife activity in aspen forests. Forest Ecology and Management, 329, 59-68.
59. Westerling, A.L., Hidalgo, H.G., Cayan, D.R. and Swetnam, T.W. (2006) Warming and earlier spring increase western US forest wildfire activity. Science, 313, 940.
60. Westerling, A.L., Turner, M.G., Smithwick, E.A.H., Romme, W.H. and Ryan, M.G. (2011) Continued warming could transform Greater Yellowstone fire regimes by mid-21st century. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 108, 13165-13170.
61. Whitlock, C., Shafer, S.L. and Marlon, J. (2003) The role of climate and vegetation change in shaping past and future fire regimes in the northwestern US and the implications for ecosystem management. Forest Ecology and Management, 178, 5-21.
62. Williams, A.P., Allen, C.D., Macalady, A.K., Griffin, D., Woodhouse, C.A., Meko, D.M., Swetnam, T.W., Rauscher, S.A., Seager, R., Grissino-Mayer, H.D., Dean, J.S., Cook, E.R., Gangodagamage, C., Cai, M. and McDowell, N.G. (2012) Temperature as a potent driver of regional forest drought stress and tree mortality. Nature Climate Change, 3, 292-297.