The influences of conifer succession, physiographic conditions and herbivory on quaking aspen regeneration after fire

Smith, Eric Alden; O’Loughlin, Daniel; Buck, Joshua R.; Clair, Samuel B. St.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2011.03.038

Cited by 51 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…6). In addition, as conifer dominance increases it also strongly inhibits post-fire aspen regeneration (Smith et al 2011b) that, based on our data, appears to be essential for re-establishment of the forest community.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Facilitation drives mortality patterns along succession gradients of aspen‐conifer forests

Calder

Clair

2012

Ecosphere

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Citation: Calder, W. J., and S. B. St. Clair. 2012. Facilitation drives mortality patterns along succession gradients of aspenconifer forests. Ecosphere 3(6):57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES12-00119.1Abstract. While it is well established that facilitation and competition are important structuring forces in plant communities, a clear understanding of the interactions between them and how they change through the life stages of plants and affect long-term plant community development is lacking. We have observed that conifer seedlings are rarely found growing in meadows but readily establish under adjacent aspen stands, particularly at the base of aspen trees, creating the potential for antagonistic interactions in later life stages. To examine these relationships and their potential consequences on forest community development, we characterized patterns of establishment, regeneration, and overstory mortality of aspen (Populus tremuloides) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) along a stand composition gradient (aspen dominant ! mixed ! conifer dominant) that develops in seral aspen forests. We found strong stand effects on the establishment of both aspen and subalpine fir regeneration. Aspen regenerated into meadows from the forest boundary, reached peak densities underneath aspen stands, and decreased significantly in mixed and conifer dominated stands. In contrast, subalpine fir seedlings failed to regenerate in meadows, but established readily underneath aspen, mixed and conifer stands. Within stands, establishing subalpine fir seedlings were strongly aggregated around mature aspen trees, which increased the proximity of the two species 2-10 fold depending on subalpine fir age class and stand type. Both stand type and increased proximity of overstory aspen and fir trees drove mortality patterns of the two species in opposite directions. Overstory aspen mortality increased sharply along the stand composition gradient: aspen (7%), mixed (17%), conifer (49%), while subalpine fir wasn't significantly influenced by stand type. Proximity of overstory aspen and subalpine fir, was associated with increased (23) aspen mortality under all stand conditions but increased subalpine fir survival resulting in high aspen:fir mortality ratios that likely accelerate successional shifts toward conifer dominance. Our data suggest that environmental conditions that promote facilitator mortality may compromise the ability of facilitation-dependent forests to regenerate following disturbance. Maintenance of natural disturbance regimes appears to be critical in striking an ecological balance between facilitation and competition that promotes sustainability in succession-driven plant communities.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Facilitation drives mortality patterns along succession gradients of aspen‐conifer forests

Calder

Clair

2012

Ecosphere

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“…As forests shift toward conifer dominance, susceptibility to fire increases (Cumming, 2001), which has resulted in historically short fire return intervals of 70-90 years (Strand et al, 2009). Longer fire return intervals driven by anthropogenic fire suppression (Gallant et al, 2003;Van Wagner et al, 2006) and climate conditions (Buechling and Baker, 2004) promote conifer expansion leading to increased competitive interactions between aspen and conifers (Gallant et al, 2003;Smith and Smith, 2005) and reduced regeneration vigor for aspen when a fire finally does occur (Smith et al, in press). Competitive interactions between aspen and conifers intensify as conifer expansion creates light limitation (Stadt and Lieffers, 2000) and reduction in soil nutrient availability (Nihlgård, 1971) to which aspen shows greater sensitivity than conifers (Calder et al, in press).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mycorrhizas and secondary succession in aspen–conifer forests: Light limitation differentially affects a dominant early and late successional species

Clark¹,

Clair²

2011

Forest Ecology and Management

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“…Fire effects on climate change response of aspen Aspen has been widely regarded as a fire-adapted species (Kaye et al 2005;Clair et al 2010;Smith et al 2011). However, new studies have found more diverse responses of aspen to fire, depending on various aspen functional types (e.g., seral aspen and stable aspen) and topoclimatic conditions (Shinneman et al 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire modulates climate change response of simulated aspen distribution across topoclimatic gradients in a semi-arid montane landscape

et al. 2015

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Content Changing aspen distribution in response to climate change and fire is a major focus of biodiversity conservation, yet little is known about the potential response of aspen to these two driving forces along topoclimatic gradients.Objective This study is set to evaluate how aspen distribution might shift in response to different climate-fire scenarios in a semi-arid montane landscape, and quantify the influence of fire regime along topoclimatic gradients. Methods We used a novel integration of a forest landscape succession and disturbance model (LAN DIS-II) with a fine-scale climatic water deficit approach to simulate dynamics of aspen and associated conifer and shrub species over the next 150 years under various climate-fire scenarios. Results Simulations suggest that many aspen stands could persist without fire for centuries under current climate conditions. However, a simulated 2-5°C increase in temperature caused a substantial reduction of aspen coverage at lower elevations and a modest increase at upper elevations, leading to an overall reduction of aspen range at the landscape level. Increasing fire activity may favor aspen increase at its upper elevation limits adjacent to coniferous forest, but may also favor reduction of aspen at lower elevation limits adjacent to xeric shrubland. Conclusions Our study highlights the importance of incorporating fine-scale terrain effects on climatic water deficit and ecohydrology when modeling species distribution response to climate change. This modeling study suggests that climate mitigation and adaptation strategies that use fire would benefit from consideration of spatial context at landscape scales.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

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The influences of conifer succession, physiographic conditions and herbivory on quaking aspen regeneration after fire

Cited by 51 publications

References 47 publications

Facilitation drives mortality patterns along succession gradients of aspen‐conifer forests

Facilitation drives mortality patterns along succession gradients of aspen‐conifer forests

Mycorrhizas and secondary succession in aspen–conifer forests: Light limitation differentially affects a dominant early and late successional species

Fire modulates climate change response of simulated aspen distribution across topoclimatic gradients in a semi-arid montane landscape

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