Intermediate‐severity wind disturbance in mature temperate forests: legacy structure, carbon storage, and stand dynamics

Meigs, Garrett W.; Keeton, William S.

doi:10.1002/eap.1691

Cited by 47 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 102 publications

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“…However, low-severity fire does produce a pulse of shade-tolerant cohorts, following a slow and sporadic recruitment from other disturbances that do not remove as much litter and duff, which may inhibit establishment of small seeded species. In contrast, endogenous or exogenous mortality mechanisms that create canopy gaps promote advanced regeneration as opposed to seedling regeneration as they slowly diversify forest structure over time (Whitmore 1989, Franklin and Van Pelt 2004, Meigs and Keeton 2018.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How does tree regeneration respond to mixed‐severity fire in the western Oregon Cascades,USA?

et al. 2020

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Dendroecological studies of historical tree recruitment patterns suggest mixed‐severity fire effects are common in Douglas‐fir/western hemlock forests of the Pacific Northwest (PNW), USA, but empirical studies linking observed fire severity to tree regeneration response are needed to expand our understanding into the functional role of fire in this forest type. Recent increases in mixed‐severity fires offered this opportunity, so we quantified the abundance, spatial distribution, species richness, and community composition of regenerating trees across a mixed‐severity fire gradient (unburned–high‐severity fire) 10 and 22 yr post‐fire, and use our results to inform a discussion of fire's functional role in western Oregon Cascades Douglas‐fir forests. Regeneration abundance was unimodal across the fire severity gradient such that the greatest mean abundance followed moderate‐severity fire (25–75% basal area mortality). Similarly, the greatest number of species was present within the most 25‐m2 regeneration quadrants (most extensive distribution) following moderate‐severity fire, relative to any other fire severity class. On average, species richness also exhibited a unimodal distribution across the severity gradient, increasing by 100% in stands that experienced moderate‐severity fire relative to unburned forests or following high‐severity fire, as predicted by the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis. Several distinct regeneration communities emerged across the fire severity gradient, including early seral tree communities indicative of those observed in initial and relay floristics successional models for this forest type. Most significantly, moderate‐severity fire alters successional trajectories and facilitates the establishment of a more diverse tree regeneration community than observed following low‐ or high‐severity fire. These communities are reflective of the diverse overstory communities commonly encountered throughout this forest type. The emergence of these diverse forests is unlikely to develop or persist in the absence of moderate‐severity fire effects, and may be perpetuated longer by recurring moderate‐severity fire relative to experiencing stand replacing fire. Therefore, moderate‐severity fire may be the most functionally important fire effect in Douglas‐fir forests and should be better represented in successional models and more prominent in ecologically based fire and forest management.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How does tree regeneration respond to mixed‐severity fire in the western Oregon Cascades,USA?

et al. 2020

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“…In the silvicultural system, time between entries may be based on the return interval of intermediate-severity disturbances in that forest type and region. Intermediate-severity disturbances result in a wide range of stand structures and alter developmental pathways [15,92,120,121], and thus, provide wide flexibility to forest managers for incorporation into management plans.…”

Section: How May These Events Influence Our Management?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Intermediate-severity disturbances typically increase stand-level structural complexity through coarse woody debris inputs, creation of canopy voids, alteration of the seedbed, and changes in the light regime [14,15,73,80,121,122]. Importantly, intermediate-severity disturbances often result in multi-aged stands [123].…”

Section: How May These Events Influence Our Management?mentioning

confidence: 99%

What Are Intermediate-Severity Forest Disturbances and Why Are They Important?

Hart

Kleinman

2018

Forests

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The classification of discrete forest disturbance events is usually based on the spatial extent, magnitude, and frequency of the disturbance. Based on these characteristics, disturbances are placed into one of three broad categories, gap-scale, intermediate-severity, or catastrophic disturbance, along the disturbance classification gradient. We contend that our understanding of disturbance processes near the endpoints of the disturbance classification gradient far exceeds that of intermediate-severity events. We hypothesize that intermediate-severity disturbances are more common, and that they are more important drivers of forest ecosystem change than is commonly recognized. Here, we provide a review of intermediate-severity disturbances that includes proposed criteria for categorizing disturbances on the classification gradient. We propose that the canopy opening diameter to height ratio (D:H) be used to delineate gap-scale from intermediate-severity events and that the threshold between intermediate and catastrophic events be based on the influence of residual trees on the composition of the regeneration layer. We also provide examples of intermediate-severity disturbance agents, return intervals for these events, and recommendations for incorporating natural intermediate-severity disturbance patterns in silvicultural systems.

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“…The results of our study show that the impact of the tropical cyclone Lionrock led to the appearance of windthrow patches, decreasing tree stem density by 52.6% and basal area by 58.5%. Everham and Brokaw [10] reported that trees significantly damaged by strong winds die off. In this study, we found that the proportion of standing cyclone-damaged trees was 13.8%.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strong Disturbance Impact of Tropical Cyclone Lionrock (2016) on Korean Pine-Broadleaved Forest in the Middle Sikhote-Alin Mountain Range, Russian Far East

Vozmishcheva

Bondarchuk

Gromyko

et al. 2019

Forests

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Tropical cyclones (hurricanes and typhoons) cause large-scale disturbances in forest ecosystems all over the world. In the summer of 2016, a strong tropical cyclone named Lionrock created windthrow patches in the area of more than 400 km 2 on the forested eastern slopes of the Sikhote-Alin Range, in the Russian Far East. Such large-scale forest destruction by wind had never been recorded in the area prior to this event. We examined the tropical cyclone impact upon the forest composition, structure and tree mortality rates on two study sites (1 ha and 0.5 ha in size)-a contiguous windthrow patch site, and a site with partial canopy damage. Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis Siebold and Zucc.), Manchurian fir (Abies nephrolepis Trautv.) and Dahurian larch (Larix cajanderi Mayr.) were the primary tree species represented in the affected forest communities. Combined with the partial canopy damage, 7.7% of trees were blown down by the disturbance event. We determined that this one event mortality rate nearly equaled the average mortality rate for a ten year period for these forests (8.5 ± 4.0%) under normal conditions (no large-scale disturbances). Within a contiguous windthrow patch, tree mortality was determined to be 52.6%, which is significantly higher than the cumulative tree loss for the previous 50 years (42.4%). A substantial portion of thinner-stemmed trees (DBH (diameter measured at breast height) < 30 cm) were wind snapped, and those with larger diameters (DBH > 60 cm) were uprooted. Our results indicate that the probability of tree loss due to catastrophic wind loads increases as a result of the decrease in local density. We believe that tree loss estimates should include the impacts within contiguous patches of windthrows, as well as the patches with only partial tree canopy damage. Strong wind impact forecasting is possible with accounting for species composition within the stand sites and their spatial structure.

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Intermediate‐severity wind disturbance in mature temperate forests: legacy structure, carbon storage, and stand dynamics

Cited by 47 publications

References 102 publications

How does tree regeneration respond to mixed‐severity fire in the western Oregon Cascades,USA?

How does tree regeneration respond to mixed‐severity fire in the western Oregon Cascades,USA?

What Are Intermediate-Severity Forest Disturbances and Why Are They Important?

Strong Disturbance Impact of Tropical Cyclone Lionrock (2016) on Korean Pine-Broadleaved Forest in the Middle Sikhote-Alin Mountain Range, Russian Far East

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