An analysis of coastal temperate old forest residual carbon, structure and understory plant floristics after wildfire

Abstract

I assessed some coastal temperature old-growth forests of southwestern British Columbia to understand their post-wildfire structure, carbon storage and biodiversity values. I used a remotely sensed relativized burn ratio and a composite burn index to compare measures of aboveground carbon, structural complexity and floristic diversity between burned and unburned reference plots years after four large wildfires. The unburned reference plots represented the natural range of variation of old growth values. In burned plots, 21 of 60 retained carbon values and 10 plots retained structural values similar to unburned old growth plots. There was an average of 12% floristic similarity between burned and unburned understory plant communities.