Post-Glacial Climate–Fire Interactions Control Tree Composition of Mesic Temperate Forests in Eastern North America

Payette, Serge; Pilon, Vanessa; Frégeau, Mathieu; Couillard, Pierre-Luc; Laflamme, Jason

doi:10.1007/s10021-021-00625-9

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 73 publications

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“…BP. As proposed by Payette et al (2021), « relatively small changes in climate and fire frequency can shift (the) coexistence from mostly (white) pine to mostly ( sugar) maple ». Such replacement of coniferous (C) to broadleaf (B) species during the Holocene has been picked up by the C:B pollen ratio for our three sites (Figure 8), A climate shift from hot/dry to cold/moist conditions would have led to an increase of mesic conditions for deciduous species, thus benefiting to Acer saccharum expansion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postglacial establishment and expansion of marginal populations of sugar maple in western Québec, Canada: Palynological detection and interactions with fire, climate and successional processes

et al. 2023

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An isolated sugar maple ( Acer saccharum Marsh.) stand is located in the boreal forest of Abitibi, about 75 km beyond its present northern range limit. When did this relatively thermophilous tree species establish after ice retreat? Were its populations more abundant than now sometimes in the past? If so, when and how did they expand then retracted? How did the species persist in boreal forest over time? What could have been the role of fire on this stand? To answer those questions, we reconstructed the postglacial fire and vegetation history from three lacustrine sediment sequences distributed along a c. 180 km latitudinal transect from southern boreal forests to the northern portion of deciduous forests. From north to south, those are lakes Labelle, Chasseur and Fur. We explored a procedure based on pollen accumulation rates in order to detect the probable presence of sugar maple within the lakes’ watershed. The procedure successfully indicates a sugar maple establishment c. 7800–5100 cal. BP at Fur, 5500–4400 cal. BP at Chasseur and c. 4000–2700 cal. BP at Labelle, in the north. At Fur, the subsequent sugar maple expansion happened 1 to 2 thousand years after establishment, during colder and moister climatic conditions favoring Pinus strobus L. replacement by Betula spp. c. 6000–5000 cal. BP. Sugar maple establishment, persistence or expansion is apparently not linked to a change in fire activity at Fur and Chasseur, but at Labelle, the species was more abundant during periods of shorter fire return intervals from 2000 to 500 years ago. Our study suggests that northern (Chasseur and Labelle) sugar maple establishment and possible expansion was probably more controlled by a complex interaction of inhibition and facilitation dynamics than by climate alone, a process reliant on the dominant vegetation’s composition and structure.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postglacial establishment and expansion of marginal populations of sugar maple in western Québec, Canada: Palynological detection and interactions with fire, climate and successional processes

et al. 2023

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Historical dynamics of marginal populations at the leading edge of a temperate species in the boreal‐temperate ecotone

Mondou Laperrière,

Minchev,

Grondin

et al. 2024

Ecosphere

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Marginal populations of temperate species at the leading edge of their range will likely play a key role at the boreal‐temperate ecotone (BTE) in the face of climate changes. In eastern North America, red maple (Acer rubrum L.) is the most abundant temperate tree species encroaching into the boreal forest. In order to provide useful insights about possible responses to climate change and anticipate the formation of new assemblages, this study relies on long‐term Holocene data from forest soil wood macrofossils (charcoal and ligneous remains) and contemporary stand analyses to assess the postglacial origin and modern‐day dynamics of red maple at its leading edge within the BTE. We sampled the soils of eight marginal red maple stands. Macroscopic charcoal particles and ligneous remains were identified using microanatomical characteristics. Macrofossils of temperate tree species were radiocarbon dated to reconstruct their long‐term stand‐scale history. Contemporary dynamics (<200 years) were assessed by analyzing tree size structure of all stems within 400 m2 plots, minimal stand age from tree‐ring dating, as well as the recent occurrence of fire and logging from published ecoforest data. White pine (Pinus strobus L.), the only other temperate tree species that was identified, was present 6500–4000 years ago, during the mid‐Holocene thermal maximum but decreased during the cooler and fire‐prone late‐Holocene Neoglacial (4000 years ago to present). By contrast, red maple was found at its current northern limit since the last 4000 years. Modern‐day marginal red maple stands are self‐regenerating populations that established following a recent stand‐replacing disturbance (wildfire or clearcut). The present‐day increase of anthropogenic disturbances within the BTE could mirror the Neoglacial increase in fire activity that fostered red maple during the Holocene. We thus predict that red maple is poised to increase in abundance within the BTE, which should facilitate the northward establishment of other temperate deciduous species into the boreal forest prompted by the new conditions brought about by anthropogenic or climate change‐induced disturbances.

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The post-fire shift of temperate white pine-birch forest to boreal balsam fir forest in eastern Canada: climate-fire implications

Payette

Frégeau

Couillard

et al. 2023

Botany

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11Extensive 14C dating and botanical identification of charcoal fragments located in the 12 organic soil surface and buried in the mineral podzolic solum were used to reconstruct the 13 successional pathways of a balsam fir forest site. The studied forest site developed in a 14context of continuous fire disturbance over the last 9000 years with at least 26 fires 15 occurring at a mean interval of 330 years. Tree vegetation of the site followed a four-step 16 trajectory consisting of an early-Holocene spruce forest and a late-Holocene mixedwood 17 balsam fir forest. Boreal-like spruce-birch and temperate-like white pine-birch forests 18dominated the site between 7900-5900 cal. BP and 5600-1275 cal. BP, respectively.19because all forest types developed repeatedly after fire since early deglaciation, changes 20 in forest composition, in particular the shift of white pine forest to balsam fir forest, and 21 concurrent decline of birch (yellow birch and/or paper birch) and pine populations, were 22 most likely related to progressive cooler and wetter conditions from mid- to late23Holocene. Fire disturbance on this part of the southern boreal biome has been a24continuous, positive regenerative process over the Holocene allowing the successional

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Post-Glacial Climate–Fire Interactions Control Tree Composition of Mesic Temperate Forests in Eastern North America

Cited by 3 publications

References 73 publications

Postglacial establishment and expansion of marginal populations of sugar maple in western Québec, Canada: Palynological detection and interactions with fire, climate and successional processes

Postglacial establishment and expansion of marginal populations of sugar maple in western Québec, Canada: Palynological detection and interactions with fire, climate and successional processes

Historical dynamics of marginal populations at the leading edge of a temperate species in the boreal‐temperate ecotone

The post-fire shift of temperate white pine-birch forest to boreal balsam fir forest in eastern Canada: climate-fire implications

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