Black spruce and jack pine dynamics simulated under varying fire cycles in the northern boreal forest of Quebec, Canada

Goff, Héloïse Le; Sirois, Luc

doi:10.1139/x04-121

Cited by 59 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…For example, in our study area, jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) greatly increased in abundance after the relatively short FI between the large 1941 and 1989 fires (12,40). Because jack pine has faster juvenile growth than black spruce [Picea mariana (Mill.)…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Jack pine seedlings establish massively and grow rapidly after fire (12,22,40). As a consequence, the first tree ring in a stem cross-section close to the root collar may confirm fires already identified from scars or help identify additional fires, especially after a short fire interval, when small trees are unlikely to survive and develop a scar.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resistance of the boreal forest to high burn rates

Héon

Arseneault

Parisien

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

144

153

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Boreal ecosystems and their large carbon stocks are strongly shaped by extensive wildfires. Coupling climate projections with records of area burned during the last 3 decades across the North American boreal zone suggests that area burned will increase by 30-500% by the end of the 21st century, with a cascading effect on ecosystem dynamics and on the boreal carbon balance. Fire size and the frequency of large-fire years are both expected to increase. However, how fire size and time since previous fire will influence future burn rates is poorly understood, mostly because of incomplete records of past fire overlaps. Here, we reconstruct the length of overlapping fires along a 190-km-long transect during the last 200 y in one of the most fire-prone boreal regions of North America to document how fire size and time since previous fire will influence future fire recurrence. We provide direct field evidence that extreme burn rates can be sustained by a few occasional droughts triggering immense fires. However, we also show that the most fire-prone areas of the North American boreal forest are resistant to high burn rates because of overabundant young forest stands, thereby creating a fuel-mediated negative feedback on fire activity. These findings will help refine projections of fire effect on boreal ecosystems and their large carbon stocks.climate change | fire-free intervals | fuel feedback | probability of burning | tree ring dating

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resistance of the boreal forest to high burn rates

Héon

Arseneault

Parisien

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

144

153

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“…Depending on the setting, old-growth forests could either be 'carbon neutral' or 'sink' levels depending on the random value of m. The 'carbon source' scenario was rejected in accordance with the results of Luyssaert et al (2008) and Goulden et al (2011). Additionally, we assumed that the effect on net ecosystem production of species turnover from jack pine to black spruce forests at age 140 years and over (Lesieur et al 2002, Le Goff andSirois 2004) Part D: Backcasting long-term changes in LandNEP…”

Section: Part C: Derivation Of Historical Changes In the Modifier F Agementioning

confidence: 99%

Increasing potential NEP of eastern boreal North American forests constrained by decreasing wildfire activity

2011

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Abstract. Wildfire activity has been decreasing over the past few centuries across North America's southeastern boreal forest. This change has caused a gradual shift in the age-class distribution toward a stronger representation of old-growth stands (age . 140 years) in unmanaged forest landscapes. Parallel to these changes, there has been an improvement in growth conditions driven by climate warming. Given the negative feedback of forest aging on net ecosystem production (NEP), a reasonable case can be made about an age-effect constraint on a climate change-induced increase in carbon assimilation. Here we combine empirical information (multicentury tree-ring records, time-since-fire map, and forest inventories) along with model simulations to develop a reconstruction of NEP of jack pine forests (Pinus banksiana Lambert) at the transition zone of the Spruce-feather moss and Balsam fir-white birch bioclimatic domains of eastern boreal North America covering the period A.D. 1830 to 1999. From this reconstruction, we test the hypothesis that currently improving carbon assimilation in unmanaged forests due to climate change is being offset by the aging of the forests resulting from the decreasing activity of wildfires. A sensitivity analysis of results to different assumptions about the carbon sink strength of old-growth forests is also made via a probability distribution derived from 10,000 ensemble members. Our simulation results suggest that increasing moisture availability and lengthening of the growing season contributed to a statistically significant upward trend in carbon assimilation of 0.39 g C m À2 yr À1 over 1901-2009. Meanwhile, mean age of jack pine stands has also changed, shifting from 87 years in the 1920s to 131 years in 1999. This forest aging contributed up to a 12% reduction in carbon assimilation from the 1930s to 1990s, an effect that is found to be sufficient to offset NEP increases due to climate change in 75% of our ensemble members. Great caution should therefore be applied when interpreting future carbon assimilation or forest growth projections that do not account for such second-order feedback from disturbances.

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“…As a key process in the dynamics of boreal forests, fire notably influences biome boundaries (Payette et al 1989) and species range Payette 1992, 1993;Asselin et al 2003;Parisien and Sirois 2003). At a finer spatial scale, stand structure and composition are strongly influenced by fire interval (Larsen andMcDonald 1998, Le Goff andSirois 2004) and severity (Heinselman 1981). Conversely, fire activity across the Canadian boreal forest is characterized by important spatial variability, leading to several regional fire regimes.…”

Section: Forest Fires As a Vulnerability Of Forest Management To Climmentioning

confidence: 99%

The adaptive capacity of forest management to changing fire regimes in the boreal forest of Quebec

Goff¹,

Leduc²,

Bergeron³

et al. 2005

The Forestry Chronicle

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Climate influences natural processes at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Consequently, climate change raises many challenges for sustainable forest management; among them, the integration of fire and forest management is increasingly discussed. We propose here an evaluation of the adaptive capacity of forest management under changing forest fire regimes under climate change in the boreal forest of Quebec. Adaptation begins by reinterpreting current practices dealing with climatically driven variability. Among them, fire suppression, and regeneration enhancement can contribute to coping with some impacts of climate change. However, there is an increasing need to develop more integrative and spatially explicit management strategies to decrease the vulnerability of forest management to changing fire risk. Some developing management strategies, such as fuel management or the triad approach (zoning system for conservation, intensive, and extensive forest management), present an interesting potential for integrating the fire risk in management plans. While fuel management and fire suppression are indicated for particularly severe fire regimes, protection against insects, and maintaining a shorter disturbance cycle using forest management represent the preferred adaptation options where the fire cycle is lengthening under climate change.Key words: forest fire, fire risk, climate change, vulnerability, impacts, adaptation strategy, adaptation options, sustainable forest management, fire management RÉSUMÉLe changement climatique pose de nombreux défis pour l'aménagement forestier durable car le climat influence les processus naturels à de multiples échelles spatiales et temporelles. Parmi ces enjeux, l'intégration du risque de feu à l'amé-nagement forestier est de plus en plus discutée. Nous proposons ici une évaluation de la capacité adaptative de l'aménage-ment forestier aux changements de régimes de feu sous l'influence du changement climatique en forêt boréale au Québec. L'adaptation commence par une réinterprétation de certaines pratiques forestières courantes qui traitent déjà de la variabilité climatique. Parmi elles, la suppression des feux et l'amélioration de la régénération peuvent contribuer à atténuer certains impacts du changement climatique. Cependant, il y a une demande grandissante pour des approches plus inté-gratives et spatialement explicites afin de diminuer la vulnérabilité de l'aménagement forestier face aux changements du risque de feu. Certaines stratégies en développement, comme l'aménagement du combustible et l'approche et de la triade (système de zones de conservation, d'aménagement intensif et extensif) présentent un potentiel intéressant pour intégr-er le risque de feu à la planification forestière. Alors que l'aménagement du combustible et la suppression des feux sont indiqués pour les régimes de feu particulièrement sévères, la protection des forêts contre les insectes et le maintient d'un cycle de perturbation plus court par l'aménagement forestier sont des options d'adaptati...

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Black spruce and jack pine dynamics simulated under varying fire cycles in the northern boreal forest of Quebec, Canada

Cited by 59 publications

References 39 publications

Resistance of the boreal forest to high burn rates

Resistance of the boreal forest to high burn rates

Increasing potential NEP of eastern boreal North American forests constrained by decreasing wildfire activity

The adaptive capacity of forest management to changing fire regimes in the boreal forest of Quebec

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