Disturbance History and Serotiny of Pinus contorta in Western Montana

Muir, Patricia S.; Lotan, James E.

doi:10.2307/1938028

Cited by 81 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Muir and Lotan (47) found that the frequency of serotiny in lodgepole pine was most strongly related to the type of disturbance that initiated a stand, with fire-initiated stands being much more serotinous than other stands. This suggests the potential for very rapid change in the frequency of serotiny (i.e., a single fire interval), and that high frequencies of stand-replacing fire should result in high frequencies of serotiny (because most stands will have initiated due to a stand-replacing fire).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conflicting selection from fire and seed predation drives fine-scaled phenotypic variation in a widespread North American conifer

Talluto

2014

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

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Recent work has demonstrated that evolutionary processes shape ecological dynamics on relatively short timescales (eco-evolutionary dynamics), but demonstrating these effects at large spatial scales in natural landscapes has proven difficult. We used empirical studies and modeling to investigate how selective pressures from fire and predispersal seed predation affect the evolution of serotiny, an ecologically important trait. Serotiny is a highly heritable key reproductive trait in Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta subsp. latifolia), a conifer that dominates millions of hectares in western North America. In these forests, the frequency of serotiny determines postfire seedling density with corresponding community-and ecosystem-level effects. We found that serotinous individuals have a selective advantage at high fire frequencies and low predation pressure; however, very high seed predation shifted the selective advantage to nonserotinous individuals even at high fire frequencies. Simulation modeling suggests that spatial variation in the frequency of serotiny results from heterogeneity in these two selective agents. These results, combined with previous findings showing a negative association between the density of seed predators and the frequency of serotiny at both landscape and continental scales, demonstrate that contemporary patterns in serotiny reflect an evolutionary response to conflicting selection pressures from fire and seed predation. Thus, we show that variation in the frequency of a heritable polygenic trait depends on spatial variation in two dominant selective agents, and, importantly, the effects of the local trait variation propagate with profound consequences to the structure and function of communities and ecosystems across a large landscape.Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem | geographic selection mosaics | genes to ecosystems R ecent work has attempted to unify processes acting across spatiotemporal scales by connecting smaller-scale (e.g., individuals, patches) ecological processes to large-scale (e.g., ecosystems, landscapes) patterns via evolutionary mechanisms (1, 2). When heritable traits in foundation species have important community and ecosystem effects, ecological drivers that exert natural selection on these traits can propagate to largescale patterns in community and ecosystem function, resulting in landscape heterogeneity driven by small-scale ecological variation (1, 3). Although there is a clear conceptual link between selection acting on individuals and landscape-scale patterns, making mechanistic connections across these very different scales has proven challenging (refs. 4 and 5; but see ref. 6). Forested ecosystems in particular are difficult to study, because long generation times prevent direct observations of any response to selection. Nevertheless, attempts to elucidate the connections between individual-level genetic variation and ecosystem and landscape structure are imperative, especially given the unprecedented pace of global change.Here, we integrate empiric...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conflicting selection from fire and seed predation drives fine-scaled phenotypic variation in a widespread North American conifer

Talluto

2014

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

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“…9). The sub-model is based on previously published principles and equations (Muir and Lotan 1985, Greene and Johnson 1994, 1998Gauthier et al 1996, Charron and Greene 2002, Calogeropoulos et al 2003, Radeloff et al 2003 and is applied to determine both in situ (from propagules that come from the cell itself) and ex situ (from propagules that come from neighbouring cells) regeneration. Modifications were brought to these equation systems based on the work of Hogg and Schwartz (1997), in order to take GCC into account.…”

Section: The Natural Regeneration Sub-modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making the case for cumulative impacts assessment: Modelling the potential impacts of climate change, harvesting, oil and gas, and fire

Yamasaki¹,

Duchesneau²,

Doyon³

et al. 2008

The Forestry Chronicle

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The cumulative impacts of human and natural activity on forest landscapes in Alberta are clear. Human activity, such as forestry and oil and gas development, and natural processes such as wildfire leave distinctive marks on the composition, age class structure and spatial configuration of the forest. Also, other processes such as climate change may be slowly and subtly modifying forest dynamics and may lead to important changes over time. Given the importance and ubiquitous nature of these cumulative impacts, a forest management plan that does not adequately take such impacts into account cannot be expected to adequately manage the forest, neither its components nor its processes. In order to address the question of cumulative impacts in the context of forestry, a landscape model was designed and built in order to simulate forestry, oil and gas, climate change, wildfire, and demographic change for the Whitecourt forest management area over a long time horizon. This paper presents the model and the forest landscape states it forecasted with cumulative impacts, and evaluates the fate of some key indicators of biodiversity and forest productivity. Simulations of harvesting as the only disturbance, the nearest analogue to the current approach to forest management planning, yield results that differ greatly, in every respect, from the results of simulations of harvesting combined with other disturbance agents. The simulation of multiple disturbance agents together allows for the detection of interactions among disturbance agents, and indeed, there are important interactions between the processes of fire and oil and gas. Results also show that climate and demographic change will intensify the impact of fire on the supply of timber and other values. Also, the continued development of petroleum resources will lead to an important erosion of the forest landbase. Overall, this paper makes a strong case for cumulative impacts assessment and the use of spatial and temporal stochastic modelling in forest management.Key words: cumulative impacts, forest management, climate change, landscape modelling, APLM RÉSUMÉLes impacts cumulatifs des activités humaines et naturelles sur le paysage forestier en Alberta sont évidents. L'activité humaine, telle la foresterie et les développements pour le pétrole, et les processus naturels tel le feu laissent une marque distincte sur la composition, la structure des classes d'âge, et la configuration spatiale de la forêt. De plus, d'autres processus tels les changements climatiques influencent peut-être aussi subtilement et tranquillement la dynamique forestière et pourront mener à des changements importants avec le temps. Étant donné l'importance et l'ubiquité de ces impacts cumulatifs, un plan d'aménagement forestier ne prenant pas compte de ces impacts ne pourra aménager de façon satisfaisante ni la forêt, ses composantes, ni ses processus. Pour adresser la question des impacts cumulatifs dans le contexte de la foresterie, un modèle de paysage a été conçu et construit pour simuler...

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“…2-12), and geographically. A high degree of cone serotiny is likely to occur where there are large, stand-replacement fires; relatively short, fire-free intervals; and fire sizes large enough to limit seed dispersal from unburned areas (Muir and Lotan 1985;Parker and Kelly 1989).…”

Section: Seedbankmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on flora

Brown¹,

Smith²

2000

302

156

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_____________________________________This state-of-knowledge review about the effects of fire on flora and fuels can assist land managers with ecosystem and fire management planning and in their efforts to inform others about the ecological role of fire. Chapter topics include fire regime classification, autecological effects of fire, fire regime characteristics and postfire plant community developments in ecosystems throughout the United States and Canada, global climate change, ecological principles of fire regimes, and practical considerations for managing fire in an ecosytem context.

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Disturbance History and Serotiny of Pinus contorta in Western Montana

Cited by 81 publications

References 32 publications

Conflicting selection from fire and seed predation drives fine-scaled phenotypic variation in a widespread North American conifer

Conflicting selection from fire and seed predation drives fine-scaled phenotypic variation in a widespread North American conifer

Making the case for cumulative impacts assessment: Modelling the potential impacts of climate change, harvesting, oil and gas, and fire

Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on flora

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