Changing fire regimes and old-growth forest succession along a topographic gradient in the Great Smoky Mountains

Flatley, William T.; Lafon, Charles W.; Grissino-Mayer, Henri D.; LaForest, Lisa B.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2015.04.024

Cited by 32 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Our results reflect data reported from temperate forests of Eastern North America, where several species of oaks and pines established and maintained their populations under frequent fire disturbance over centuries (e.g., Hoss, Lafon, Grissino-Mayer, Aldrich, & DeWeese, 2008.;Flatley et al, 2015; recently summarized by Lafon et al, 2017), profiting from open stand conditions shaped by surface fires (Nowacki & Abrams, 2008), while fire-sensitive tree species which were likely to be regenerating as well could not survive due to the short fire intervals (Lafon et al, 2017 and references therein). This pattern, with fire acting as a filter in shaping species composition (McEwan et al, 2014), has been proven to be a landscape-scale process, acting throughout a gradient of habitat types: from xeric to mesic sites (Flatley et al, 2015).…”

Section: Oak and Pine Dominance Up To The Mid-19th Centurysupporting

confidence: 89%

“…The regeneration of these species is an indicator for low light conditions in the stand (Ellenberg, 1996). When compared to the two previous periods of tree succession, evidenced by our study, the mesophication era brought higher diversity among tree taxa-a phenomenon well documented across temperate North America (Flatley et al, 2015;Nowacki & Abrams, 2008). The complete recession of fire events in this period is concurrent with the regeneration of fire-sensitive species; the last abrupt regeneration pulse of spruce tracked well the last fire event, in 1920.…”

Section: The Mesophication Era: Establishment Of the Shade-tolerantsupporting

confidence: 63%

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Mesophication in temperate Europe: A dendrochronological reconstruction of tree succession and fires in a mixed deciduous stand in Białowieża Forest

Spînu

Niklasson

Zin

2020

Ecology and Evolution

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1. The shift from shade-intolerant species to shade-tolerant mesophytic species in deciduous and mixed forests of the temperate zone is well described in studies from North America. This process has been termed mesophication and it has been linked to changes in fire regime. Fire suppression results in the cessation of establishment of heliophytic, fire-dependent tree species such as oak (Quercus) and pine (Pinus). Due to the scarcity of old-growth forests in Europe, data on long-term compositional changes in mixed forests are very limited, as is the number of studies exploring whether fire played a role in shaping the dynamics.2. The aim of this study was to reconstruct tree succession in a 43-ha natural mixed deciduous forest stand in Białowieża Forest (BF), Poland using dendrochronological methods. In addition, the presence of aboveground fire legacies (charred and fire-scarred deadwood) enabled the fire history reconstruction. 3. Dendrochronological data revealed tree establishment (Quercus) back to the end of the 1500s and fires back to 1659. Under a regime of frequent fires until the end of the 18th century, only oak and pine regenerated, sporadically. A shift in the fire regime in the first half of the 19th century triggered oak and pine cohort regeneration, then gradually spruce (Picea) encroached. Under an increasingly dense canopy and less flammable conditions, regeneration of shade-tolerant Carpinus, Tilia,and Acer began simultaneously with the cessation of oak and pine recruitment. Synthesis. The study reports the first evidence of mesophication in temperateEurope and proves that fire was involved in shaping the long-term dynamics of mixed deciduous forest ecosystems. Our data suggest that fire exclusion promoted a gradual recruitment of fire-sensitive, shade-tolerant species that inhibited the regeneration of oak and pine in BF. K E Y W O R D Sage structure, disturbance regime, fire suppression, forest history, oak trees, pine trees

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Section: Oak and Pine Dominance Up To The Mid-19th Centurysupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: The Mesophication Era: Establishment Of the Shade-tolerantsupporting

confidence: 63%

Mesophication in temperate Europe: A dendrochronological reconstruction of tree succession and fires in a mixed deciduous stand in Białowieża Forest

Spînu

Niklasson

Zin

2020

Ecology and Evolution

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“…This enhanced mesophication resulting from the loss of Fraxinus has allowed shade-tolerant species, including those restricted to understory canopy positions, like Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal and Lindera benzoin L., to increase in the shrub and sapling layer at faster rates than shade-intolerant species ( Figure 5). As mesophication has been noted throughout much of the eastern North American forest complex [28,[53][54][55], we would expect to see similar patterns throughout the region where F. pennsylvanica and F. americana are the primary Fraxinus species represented in the canopy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Forest Regeneration Following Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairemaire) Enhances Mesophication in Eastern Hardwood Forests

Dolan

Kilgore

2018

Forests

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Emerald ash borer (EAB, Agrilus planipennis Fairemaire) is a phloem-feeding beetle that was introduced into North America in the late 20th century and is causing widespread mortality of native ash (Fraxinus) species. The loss of an entire genus from the forest flora is a substantial disturbance, but effects vary because of differences in Fraxinus dominance and remaining vegetation. At three sites near the center of the North American EAB range, we investigated the impacts of Fraxinus mortality on recruitment of woody and non-native vegetation in 14 permanent plots from 2012 to 2017. We used the change in relative Fraxinus basal area to determine the impact of EAB on density of woody species and non-native vegetation less than 2.5 cm diameter at breast height (dbh). Changes in canopy cover were not correlated with loss of Fraxinus from the overstory, and only the density of shade-tolerant shrubs and saplings increased with Fraxinus mortality. Both native and non-native shrub species increased in density at sites where they were present before EAB, but no new invasions were detected following Fraxinus mortality. These shifts in understory vegetation indicate that Fraxinus mortality enhances the rate of succession to shade-tolerant species.

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“…Black, Ruffner, & Abrams, 2006;Delcourt & Delcourt, 1997;Guyette, Muzika, & Dey, 2002;Springer et al, 2010). The absence of fire following depopulation might have led to increases in forest recruitment across site types; however, studies of modern fire cessation have shown mesic species tend to recruit under these conditions, not fire-adapted species such as oaks (Flatley, Lafon, Grissino-Mayer, & LaForest, 2015;Nowacki & Abrams, 2008). A high-resolution sediment charcoal record from a montane lake near our study area (Trout Pond; Figure 1) indicates fire occurred regularly over the last 1,000 years (Lynch & Clark, 2002 as cited in Lafon et al, 2017).…”

Section: Recruitment In Historic Log Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do historic log buildings provide evidence of reforestation following depopulation of Indigenous Peoples?

Graauw

Hessl

2020

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim To test the previously published hypothesis that there was widespread reforestation following the depopulation of Indigenous Peoples in the 16th and 17th centuries. Location The central Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America. Taxon Quercus alba, Liriondendron tulipifera Methods To test for reforestation following depopulation, we used tree‐ring evidence of tree recruitment, early radial growth and growth releases from 18 historic log buildings (n = 361 logs) and eight old‐growth forest sites (n = 197 trees). We used inner‐ring dates to determine if a synchronous recruitment event(s) was present at historic sites but absent from old‐growth sites following depopulation. We used cluster analysis to determine if historic logs established in a clearing (fast early growth) or under a canopy (slow early growth). Similarly, we calculated disturbance rates (growth releases per 100 years) to determine if historic logs grew in a clearing (low disturbance) or under a canopy (high disturbance). Results Historic log and old‐growth forest sites both document a period of elevated recruitment beginning in the 1670s. This event was observed in previous studies and across site types, suggesting that either climate variability or the absence of low‐intensity land use (e.g. fire) may have also contributed to forest establishment. Most historic sites (61%–83%) had fast early growth, indicating growth of trees in high‐light conditions. The rate of disturbance was lower at historic sites with fast early growth (5.3 events/century, 95% Cl [3.6, 7.0]) than at old‐growth sites with slow early growth (23.5 events/century, 95% Cl [17.5, 29.5]), consistent with the idea that most historic logs were harvested from fast‐growing, second‐growth forests that established after depopulation. Main Conclusions Our results support the hypothesis of reforestation in upland forests of the central Appalachian Mountains following depopulation and suggest that upland forests, at the time of European immigration, were at least in part, a legacy of indigenous land use practices. However, the timing of a regional drought event, depopulation and subsequent recruitment of trees, all within the period of ~1650–1690 CE, warrants further research into interactions between indigenous land use and climate during a pivotal period in North American history.

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Changing fire regimes and old-growth forest succession along a topographic gradient in the Great Smoky Mountains

Cited by 32 publications

References 43 publications

Mesophication in temperate Europe: A dendrochronological reconstruction of tree succession and fires in a mixed deciduous stand in Białowieża Forest

Mesophication in temperate Europe: A dendrochronological reconstruction of tree succession and fires in a mixed deciduous stand in Białowieża Forest

Forest Regeneration Following Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairemaire) Enhances Mesophication in Eastern Hardwood Forests

Do historic log buildings provide evidence of reforestation following depopulation of Indigenous Peoples?

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