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Effects of Soil Burn Severity on Post-Fire Tree Recruitment in Boreal Forest

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Abstract

Fire, which is the dominant disturbance in the boreal forest, creates substantial heterogeneity in soil burn severity at patch and landscape scales. We present results from five field experiments in Yukon Territory, Canada, and Alaska, USA that document the effects of soil burn severity on the germination and establishment of four common boreal trees: Picea glauca, Picea mariana, Pinus contorta subsp. latifolia, and Populus tremuloides. Burn severity had strong positive effects on seed germination and net seedling establishment after 3 years. Growth of transplanted seedlings was also significantly higher on severely burned soils. Our data and a synthesis of the literature indicated a consistent, steep decline in conifer establishment on organic soils at depths greater than 2.5 cm. A meta-analysis of seedling responses found no difference in the magnitude of severity effects on germination versus net establishment. There were, however, significant differences in establishment but not germination responses among deciduous trees, spruce, and pine, suggesting that small-seeded species experience greater mortality on lightly burned, organic soils than large-seeded species. Together, our analyses indicate that variations in burn severity can influence multiple aspects of forest stand structure, by affecting the density and composition of tree seedlings that establish after fire. These effects are predicted to be most important in moderately-drained forest stands, where a high potential variability in soil burn severity is coupled with strong severity effects on tree recruitment.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by grants to FSC through the Bonanza Creek LTER program (NSF grant DEB-0080609 and USDA Forest Service grant PNW01-JV11261952-231), grants to JFJ from the Center for Global Change at the University of Alaska and the Northern Research Institute at Yukon College, and graduate fellowships to JFJ from NSERC Canada and the NASA Earth System Science program. The Alaska Division of Forestry provided black and white spruce seed. Access to non-public lands was provided by the US Army at the Fort Greely military base in Delta, and by the Ta’an Kwatchan First Nation for the sites at Fox Lake. We are grateful to the following people for research support: Wim Arp, Eliza Bettinger, Erica Close, Monique Heijmans, Jonathan Henkelman, Heidi Kristensen, Kim Jansen, Ben Legler, Sasha Oystryk, and Heather Smith. We also thank Syndonia Bret-Harte and two anonymous reviewers for providing helpful feedback on the manuscript.

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  1. Jill F. Johnstone

    Present address: Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99775, USA

    Jill F. Johnstone & F. Stuart Chapin III

  2. Arts and Science Division, Yukon College, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Y1A 5K4, Canada

    Jill F. Johnstone

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  1. Jill F. Johnstone
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  2. F. Stuart Chapin III
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Correspondence to Jill F. Johnstone.

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Johnstone, J.F., Chapin, F.S. Effects of Soil Burn Severity on Post-Fire Tree Recruitment in Boreal Forest. Ecosystems 9, 14–31 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-004-0042-x

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