Mitigating risks of future wildfires by management of the forest composition: an analysis of the offsetting potential through boreal Canada

Girardin, Martin P.; Terrier, Aurélie

doi:10.1007/s10584-015-1373-7

Cited by 40 publications

(28 citation statements)

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“…For example, a fire burned 583 000 ha within a few days in 2013 near the aboriginal community of Eastmain (province of Québec), which is the equivalent of 31 % of the total area burned during that year in Québec (Erni et al, 2017). Studies of the spatial distribution of wildland fires in the past have highlighted that the frequency and size of fires in Canada have continuously increased over the last 50 years or so in response to the ongoing global warming (e.g., Kasischke and Turetsky, 2006;Hessl, 2011;Girardin and Terrier, 2015). Concerns are now being raised about the increasing frequency and severity of extreme climatic events with further warming, which could lead to an increasing concentration of numerous large fires in time and space (Wang et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The pyrogeography of eastern boreal Canada from 1901 to 2012 simulated with the LPJ-LMfire model

et al. 2018

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The pyrogeography of eastern boreal Canada from 1901 to 2012 simulated with the LPJ-LMfire model

et al. 2018

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“…Forest management has contributed to modifying the composition and distribution of forest fuels (Girardin and Terrier, 2015;Danneyrolles et al, 2016). However, alterations in fuel composition and structure that were induced by human activities are not implemented in the present LPJ-LMfire simulations.…”

Section: Agreements and Disagreements In Fire Activity And Forest Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, a fire burned 583,000 ha within a few days in 2013 near the aboriginal community of Eastmain (Province of Quebec), which is the equivalent of 31 % of the total area burned during that year in Quebec (Erni et al, 2017). 10 Studies of the spatial distribution of wildland fires in the past have highlighted that the frequency and size of fires in Canada have continuously increased over the last 50 years or so in response to ongoing global warming (e.g., Kasischke and Turetsky, 2006;Hessl, 2011;Girardin and Terrier, 2015). Concerns are now being raised about the increasing frequency/severity of extreme climatic events with further warming, which could lead to an increasing concentration of numerous large fires in time and space .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The pyrogeography of eastern boreal Canada from 1901 to 2012 simulated with the LPJ-LMfire model

Chaste¹,

Girardin²,

Kaplan³

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Wildland fires are the main natural disturbance shaping forest structure and composition in eastern boreal Canada. 15On average, more than 700,000 ha of forest burns annually, and causes as much as C$2.9 million worth of damage. Although we know that occurrence of fires depends upon the coincidence of favourable conditions for fire ignition, propagation and fuel availability, the interplay between these three drivers in shaping spatiotemporal patterns of fires in eastern Canada remains to be evaluated. The goal of this study was to reconstruct the spatiotemporal patterns of fire activity during the last century in eastern Canada's boreal forest as a function of changes in lightning ignition, climate and vegetation. We addressed this 20 objective using the dynamic global vegetation model LPJ-LMfire, which we parametrized for four Plant Functional Types (PFTs) that correspond to the prevalent tree genera in eastern boreal Canada (Picea, Abies, Pinus, Populus). LPJ-LMfire was run with a monthly time-step from 1901 to 2012 on a 10-km 2 resolution grid covering the boreal forest from Manitoba to Newfoundland. Outputs of LPJ-LMfire were analyzed in terms of fire frequency, net primary productivity (NPP), and aboveground biomass. The predictive skills of LPJ-LMfire were examined by comparing our simulations of annual burn rates 25 and biomass with independent datasets. The simulation adequately reproduced the latitudinal gradient in fire frequency in Manitoba and the longitudinal gradient from Manitoba towards southern Ontario, as well as the temporal patterns present in independent fire histories. Nevertheless, the simulation led to underestimation and overestimation of the fire frequency at both the northern and southern limits of the boreal forest in Quebec. The general pattern of simulated total tree biomass also agreed well with observations, with the notable exception of overestimated biomass at the northern treeline, mainly for Picea PFT. In 30 these northern areas, the predictive ability of LPJ-LMfire is likely being affected by a low density of weather stations, which has led to underestimation of the strength of fire-weather interactions during extreme fire years and, therefore, vegetation consumption. Agreement of the spatiotemporal patterns of fire frequency with the observed data confirmed that fire in the study area is strongly ignition-limited. Overall, climate and lightning ignition variability at multi-decadal and -annual timeBiogeosciences Discuss., https://doi

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“…Conversely, logging can make moist or wet forests more fire prone [17]. Indeed, clear evidence of such inter-relationships can be found in tropical rainforests [7,8], wet temperate forests in western North America [9], and wet temperate forests in Australia [18••, 19, 20], although some moist forests may be an exception to this general response [21].…”

Section: Logging and Fire Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, in the boreal forests of Canada, strategic interventions in logged areas to promote greater areas of less flammable broadleaf trees in place of conifers may mitigate fire risks [21]. Roads and cutblocks in these forests may impede the spread of fire, although roads also may lead to an increase in ignition points [22].…”

Section: Logging and Fire Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactions between Forest Resource Management and Landscape Structure

Lindenmayer

2016

Curr Landscape Ecol Rep

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Logging of natural forests can directly alter landscape structure, defined here as the spatial pattern of patches of overstory forest cover of different ages. Logging can also alter landscape structure through interactions with other disturbances such as wildfire. Here, I briefly outline interactions between logging of wet forests, altered fire dynamics and landscape structure, with particular emphasis on the wet ash eucalypt forests of south-eastern Australia. There is compelling evidence for increased fire proneness of logged and regenerated wet forest stands around the world. There is also evidence of accumulated effects on fire dynamics, so-called Blandscape traps^that are associated with multiple, spatially dispersed cutblocks in wood production landscapes. That is, changes in stand-level flammability may accumulate over larger areas, thereby influencing patterns of spatial contagion in fire behavior. The impacts of altered patterns of landscape structure on biodiversity and ecosystem processes are often poorly understood. New science is required to better understand, quantify, and predict biotic responses to the new landscape dynamics and the spatial and temporal patterns of forest cover now occurring in many landscapes. Altered patterns of landscape structure have the potential to trigger ecosystem collapse in some forested environments. However, predicting ecosystem collapse is difficult and may even be impossible from a practical perspective. Managers and researchers need to become better informed about the risks of negative effects of combinations of ecosystem stressors that lead to novel spatial patterns in landscape structure and may make forest ecosystems more prone to landscape traps, regime shifts, and ecosystem collapse.

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Mitigating risks of future wildfires by management of the forest composition: an analysis of the offsetting potential through boreal Canada

Cited by 40 publications

References 40 publications

The pyrogeography of eastern boreal Canada from 1901 to 2012 simulated with the LPJ-LMfire model

The pyrogeography of eastern boreal Canada from 1901 to 2012 simulated with the LPJ-LMfire model

The pyrogeography of eastern boreal Canada from 1901 to 2012 simulated with the LPJ-LMfire model

Interactions between Forest Resource Management and Landscape Structure

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