Influence of Time since Fire and Micro-Habitat Availability  on Terricolous Lichen Communities in Black Spruce  (Picea mariana) Boreal Forests

Zouaoui, Saliha; Boudreault, Catherine; Drapeau, Pierre; Bergeron, Yves

doi:10.3390/f5112793

Cited by 18 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 58 publications

(71 reference statements)

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“…Although generally considered to be dispersal limited [39], lichens are expected to begin initial recolonization one to three years following the fire, with pioneer lichen species, such as Cladonia coccifera (likely equivalent to our C. borealis) and C. gracilis [7]. Both of these pioneer species were found in our study, although they were confined to low and moderate severity burns and likely represent relict populations from pre-fire communities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Burn Severity Dominates Understory Plant Community Response to Fire in Xeric Jack Pine Forests

Pinno

Errington

2016

Forests

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Abstract:Fire is the most common disturbance in northern boreal forests, and large fires are often associated with highly variable burn severities across the burnt area. We studied the understory plant community response to a range of burn severities and pre-fire stand age four growing seasons after the 2011 Richardson Fire in xeric jack pine forests of northern Alberta, Canada. Burn severity had the greatest impact on post-fire plant communities, while pre-fire stand age did not have a significant impact. Total plant species richness and cover decreased with disturbance severity, such that the greatest richness was in low severity burns (average 28 species per 1-m 2 quadrat) and plant cover was lowest in the high severity burns (average 16%). However, the response of individual plant groups differed. Lichens and bryophytes were most common in low severity burns and were effectively eliminated from the regenerating plant community at higher burn severities. In contrast, graminoid cover and richness were positively related to burn severity, while forbs did not respond significantly to burn severity, but were impacted by changes in soil chemistry with increased cover at pH >4.9. Our results indicate the importance of non-vascular plants to the overall plant community in this harsh environment and that the plant community is environmentally limited rather than recruitment or competition limited, as is often the case in more mesic forest types. If fire frequency and severity increase as predicted, we may see a shift in plant communities from stress-tolerant species, such as lichens and ericaceous shrubs, to more colonizing species, such as certain graminoids.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Burn Severity Dominates Understory Plant Community Response to Fire in Xeric Jack Pine Forests

Pinno

Errington

2016

Forests

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“…() found that terricholous lichens burned even during low‐severity fires; therefore, burn severity may be less important to caribou forage than time since fire. Multiple studies have documented slow recovery of lichens postfire (Hart & Chen, ; Bret‐Harte et al ., ; Zouaoui et al ., ) and it is unlikely much recovery of lichen communities occurred during the 26‐year time frame examined here. Zouaoui et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zouaoui et al . () documented a highly nonlinear recovery rate for lichens that increased rapidly at approximately 100 years postfire. If lichen recovery rates are minimal immediately following fire, then behaviour is likely being influenced by other factors such as vegetation recovery rates or changes in forest structure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Barren‐ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) behaviour after recent fire events; integrating caribou telemetry data with Landsat fire detection techniques

Rickbeil

Hermosilla

White

et al. 2016

Global Change Biology

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Fire regimes are changing throughout the North American boreal forest in complex ways. Fire is also a major factor governing access to high‐quality forage such as terricholous lichens for barren‐ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus). Additionally, fire alters forest structure which can affect barren‐ground caribou's ability to navigate in a landscape. Here, we characterize how the size and severity of fires are changing across five barren‐ground caribou herd ranges in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada. Additionally, we demonstrate how time since fire, fire severity, and season result in complex changes in caribou behavioural metrics estimated using telemetry data. Fire disturbances were identified using novel gap‐free Landsat surface reflectance composites from 1985 to 2011 across all herd ranges. Burn severity was estimated using the differenced normalized burn ratio. Annual area burned and burn severity were assessed through time for each herd and related to two behavioural metrics: velocity and relative turning angle. Neither annual area burned nor burn severity displayed any temporal trend within the study period. However, certain herds, such as the Ahiak/Beverly, have more exposure to fire than other herds (i.e. Cape Bathurst had a maximum forested area burned of less than 4 km2). Time since fire and burn severity both significantly affected velocity and relative turning angles. During fall, winter, and spring, fire virtually eliminated foraging‐focused behaviour for all 26 years of analysis while more severe fires resulted in a marked increase in movement‐focused behaviour compared to unburnt patches. Between seasons, caribou used burned areas as early as 1‐year postfire, demonstrating complex, nonlinear reactions to time since fire, fire severity, and season. In all cases, increases in movement‐focused behaviour were detected postfire. We conclude that changes in caribou behaviour immediately postfire are primarily driven by changes in forest structure rather than changes in terricholous lichen availability.

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“…Habitat availability may be substantially altered by wildfire if a major source of food is removed, or regenerates through postfire vegetation changes (Zouaoui et al. , Lord and Kielland ). Wildfires may also have a direct impact on predation risk by removing predator refugia, or by increasing the density of other prey species (Courtois et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A framework for modeling habitat quality in disturbance‐prone areas demonstrated with woodland caribou and wildfire

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Natural resource management professionals require adaptable spatial tools for conserving and managing wildlife across landscapes. These tools should integrate multiple components of habitat quality and incorporate local disturbance regimes. We provide a spatial modeling framework that integrates three components of habitat (nutritional resources, connectivity, and predation risk) into indices of habitat quality under a simulated wildfire disturbance regime. Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), a species of conservation concern, is used to illustrate our framework. We simulated disturbance from wildfire on two boreal forest landscapes to produce stand ages, from which we computed and integrated the three habitat indicator components using different schemes. Spatial variation in the influence of wildfire and the distribution of the three components of habitat resulted in heterogeneous patterns of habitat quality. The inclusion of disturbance led to a different habitat quality landscape than that of a static model in which the influence of wildfire on vegetation communities was not considered, incorporating the likelihood of persistence into the overall representation of habitat quality. The integration of nutrition, connectivity, and predation risk into a single index of habitat quality produced spatial patterns distinct from maps of the individual components. Regardless of whether the components were combined through additive, multiplicative, or minimum habitat quality threshold methods, areas of very high-and poor-quality habitat were found at consistent locations across the landscape, suggesting that these two types of regions provide opportunities for long-term management interventions. The framework presented here is adaptable and modular; it could be modified and applied to other species, regions, and disturbance regimes. It provides a nuanced representation of persistent habitat and has the potential to be a useful tool for conservation planning.

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Influence of Time since Fire and Micro-Habitat Availability on Terricolous Lichen Communities in Black Spruce (Picea mariana) Boreal Forests

Cited by 18 publications

References 58 publications

Burn Severity Dominates Understory Plant Community Response to Fire in Xeric Jack Pine Forests

Burn Severity Dominates Understory Plant Community Response to Fire in Xeric Jack Pine Forests

Barren‐ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) behaviour after recent fire events; integrating caribou telemetry data with Landsat fire detection techniques

A framework for modeling habitat quality in disturbance‐prone areas demonstrated with woodland caribou and wildfire

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