Prefire heterogeneity, fire severity, and early postfire plant reestablishment in subalpine forests of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

1999 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica G. Turner ◽  
William H. Romme ◽  
Robert H. Gardner
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Tree Density ◽  
Burn Severity ◽  
Percent Cover ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Successional Stage ◽  
Burned Areas ◽  
Pine Seedlings

The 1988 fires in Yellowstone National Park providedan opportunity to study effects of a large infrequent disturbance on a natural community. This study addressed two questions: (1) How does prefire heterogeneity of the landscape affect postfire patterns of fire severity? and (2) How do postfire patterns of burn severity influence plant reestablishment? At three sites, 100 sampling points were distributed regularly in a 1-km x 1-km grid and sampled annually from 1989 to 1992. Information was recorded on fire severity (damage to trees, depth of ash and soil charring, and percent mineral soil exposed); pre-fire forest structure (forest successional stage; tree density; tree species; tree size; and evidence of pre-fire disturbance by mountain pine beetle [Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopk.] or mistletoe [Arceuthobium americanum Nutt. ex Engelm.]); post-fire percent cover of graminoids, forbs, and low shrubs; number of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia Engelm.) seedlings; and general topographic characteristics (slope and aspect). Fire severity was influenced by successional stage, with older stands more likely to be in the more severe burn class, and by tree diameter, with tree damage diminishing with tree size. Prefire bark beetle and mistletoe damage also influenced fire severity; severe prefire damage increased the likelihood of crown fire, but intermediate prefire damage reduced the likelihood of crown fire. Fire severity was not influenced by slope, aspect, or tree density. Postfire percent vegetative cover and density of lodgepole pine seedlings varied with burn severity. In lightly burned areas, percent cover returned to unburned levels by 1991. In severely burned areas, total percent cover was about half that of unburned areas by 1992, and shrub cover remained reduced. Recruitment of lodgepole pine seedlings was greatest during the second postfire year and in severe-surface burns rather than in crown fires. Continued monitoring of vegetation dynamics in Yellowstone’s burned forests will contribute to our understanding of successional processes following a disturbance that was exceptional in its size and severity.

Early growth of lodgepole pine after establishment of alsike clover–Rhizobium nitrogen-fixing symbiosis

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 1089-1093 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Trowbridge ◽  
F.B. Holl
Keyword(s):  
Forest Floor ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Nitrogen Concentration ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Early Growth ◽  
Percent Cover ◽  
Foliar Nitrogen ◽  
Growing Seasons ◽  
Pine Seedlings ◽  
Needle Mass

An overdense lodgepole pine (Pinuscontorta Dougl. ex Loud.) stand was knocked down and the site was prepared by broadcast burn, windrow burn, or mechanical forest floor removal. Inoculated alsike clover (Trifoliumhybridum L.) was seeded at 0, 10, 20, and 30 kg/ha for the three different site preparation treatments to determine the effects of (i) site preparation on infection and effectiveness of the clover–Rhizobium symbiosis and clover percent cover and (ii) the clover–Rhizobium N2-fixing symbiosis on survival, early growth, and foliar nitrogen concentration of lodgepole pine seedlings. The N2-fixing symbiosis established well in all treatments. Clover percent cover increased with increasing rate of seeding, although by relatively few percent in the clover seeded plots. Broadcast burning, windrow burning, and mechanical forest floor removal did not affect the establishment of the N2-fixing symbiosis or clover percent cover. Lodgepole pine survival was not affected by the seeding treatments in any year, nor were height measurements during the first three growing seasons. Seedling height was slightly less in clover-seeded plots compared with controls in the fourth growing season. Lodgepole pine seedlings on clover-seeded plots had decreased diameter growth compared with controls during the first three growing seasons, but incremental diameter growth no longer showed this effect by the fourth growing season. Needle mass (g/100 needles) was less in clover-seeded plots at the end of the second growing season, but this effect was reversed by the fourth growing season, when both needle mass and foliar nitrogen concentration in lodgepole pine foliage were greater in clover-seeded plots.

scholarly journals Above-Ground Net Primary Production, Leaf Area Index, and Nitrogen Dynamics in Early Post-Fire Vegetation, Yellowstone National Park

1997 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 130-134
Author(s):  
Monica Turner ◽  
Rebecca Reed ◽  
William Romme ◽  
Mary Finley ◽  
Dennis Knight
Keyword(s):  
Primary Production ◽  
Leaf Area Index ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Yellowstone National Park ◽  
National Park ◽  
Net Primary Production ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Ecosystem Processes ◽  
Area Index

The 1988 fires in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Wyoming, affected >250,000 ha, creating a striking mosaic of burn severities across the landscape which is likely to influence ecological processes for decades to come (Christensen et al. 1989, Knight and Wallace 1989, Turner et al.1994). Substantial spatial heterogeneity in early post-fire succession has been observed in the decade since the fires, resulting largely from spatial variation in fire severity and in the availability of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) seeds in or near the burned area (Anderson and Romme 1991, Tinker et al. 1994, Turner et al. 1997). Post­fire vegetation now includes pine stands ranging from relatively low to extremely high pine sapling density (ca 10,000 to nearly 100,000 stems ha-1) as well as non-forest or marginally forested vegetation across the Yellowstone landscape may influence ecosystem processes related to energy flow and biogeochemisty. We also are interested in how quickly these processes may return to their pre­ disturbance characteristics. In this pilot study, we began to address these general questions by examining the variation in above-ground net primary production (ANPP), leaf area index (LAI) of tree (lodgepole pine) and herbaceous components, and rates of nitrogen mineralization and loss in successional stands 9 years after the fires. ANPP measures the cumulative new biomass generated over a given period of time, and is a fundamental ecosystem property often used to compare ecosystems (Carpenter 1998). Leaf area (typically expressed as leaf area index [LAI], i.e., leaf area per unit ground surface area) influences rates of two fundamental ecosystem processes -­ primary productivity and transpiration -- and is communities (

Remote Sensing of Forest Fire Severity and Vegetation Recovery

1996 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
JD White ◽  
KC Ryan ◽  
CC Key ◽  
SW Running
Keyword(s):  
Satellite Data ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Burn Severity ◽  
Vegetation Recovery ◽  
Electromagnetic Spectrum ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Burned Areas ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Forested Areas

Burned forested areas have patterns of varying burn severity as a consequence of various topographic, vegetation, and meteorological factors. These patterns are detected and mapped using satellite data. Other ecological information can be abstracted from satellite data regarding rates of recovery of vegetation foliage and variation of burn severity on different vegetation types. Middle infrared wavelengths are useful for burn severity mapping because the land cover changes associated with burning increase reflectance in this part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Simple stratification of Landsat Thematic Mapper data define varying classes of burn severity because of changes in canopy cover, biomass removal, and soil chemical composition. Reasonable maps of burn severity are produced when the class limits of burn severity reflectance are applied to the entire satellite data. Changes in satellite reflectance over multiple years reveal the dynamics of vegetation and fire severity as low burn areas have lower changes in reflectance relative to high burn areas. This results as a consequence of how much the site was altered due to the burn and how much space is available for vegetation recovery. Analysis of change in reflectance across steppe, riparian, and forested vegetation types indicate that fires potentially increase biomass in steppe areas, while riparian and forested areas are slower to regrow to pre-fire conditions. This satellite-based technology is useful for mapping severely burned areas by exploring the ecological manifestations before and after fire.

scholarly journals Spatial Heterogeneity of Burn Severity and First-Year Vegetation Responses Following Fire on Subalpine Plateaus in Yellowstone National Park

1989 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 217-224
Author(s):  
Monica Turner ◽  
Robert Gardner ◽  
William Romme
Keyword(s):  
Yellowstone National Park ◽  
National Park ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Vegetation Type ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Burn Severity ◽  
Natural Fire

The 1988 fires that burned in Yellowstone National Park presented ecologists with a unique opportunity to investigate ecological responses to large-scale fires (Christensen et al. 1989, Knight and Wallace 1989). The Yellowstone fires created an extremely heterogeneous landscape in terms of both the overall burning patterns and the variable fire severity within burned areas. Large fires rarely consume the entire forest because of the influence of wind variations, topography, vegetation type, natural fire breaks, and the time of day that the fire passed through (Rowe and Scotter 1973, Wright and Heinselman 1973, Van Wagner 1983). Direct fire effects such as tree mortality and organic matter consumption are related to locally variable parameters such as moisture content (Brown et al. 1985, Peterson and Ryan 1986, Ryan et al. 1988), and fire severity and return intervals are often strongly influenced by topographic and edaphic variability (Habeck and Mutch 1973, Romme and Knight 1981, Hemstrom and Franklin 1982, Whitney 1986). Therefore, burned landscapes generally contain areas of low as well as high intensity fire, usually in a complex mosaic (Van Wagner 1983). These variable fire intensities result in a heterogeneous pattern of burn severities (effects of fire on the ecosystem), as well as islands of unburned vegetation. The influence of burn severity on plant reestablishment following fire is well documented (e.g., Lyon and Stickney 1976, Rowe and Scotter 1973, Viereck 1983, Ryan and Noste 1985), and the importance of the effects of limited burns and low-intensity fires on the vegetation mosaic has been recognized (Habeck and Mutch 1973, Rowe 1983). However, few studies have dealt explicitly with the spatial variation of fire effects in a systematic and quantitative way.

Conversion of dense lodgepole pine stands in west-central British Columbia into young lodgepole pine plantations using prescribed fire. 2. Effects of burning treatments on tree seedling establishment

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Blackwell ◽  
M.C. Feller ◽  
R. Trowbridge
Keyword(s):  
Seedling Growth ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Site Preparation ◽  
Pine Plantations ◽  
Height Increment ◽  
Foliar Chemistry ◽  
Total Height ◽  
Burned Areas ◽  
Foliar Nutrient

The ecological effects of different treatments used to convert dense logdepole pine (Pinusconforta Dougl.) stands into young lodgepole pine plantations are being determined. The treatments used were bulldozing the trees and either broadcast burning the slash or bulldozing the slash into windrows, which were then burned. Burns were conducted under different fuel moisture conditions and state of fuel curing to achieve four classes of fire severity. Lodgepole pine seedling survival was affected by both site preparation and fire severity. Five years after outplanting, survival was significantly (p < 0.05) greater for areas between windrows (81%) than for areas beneath windrows (65%) or for broadcast-burned areas (67%). Survival was greatest after 5 years for low-severity burns in fresh slash (80%) compared with low-severity burns in cured slash and higher severity burns (67–69%). Seedling total height and height increment 5 years after outplanting were significantly greater (p < 0.05) in areas beneath windrows than in areas between windrows or in broadcast-burned areas. However, stem diameter was similar among all site preparation treatments. Fire severity had no effect on lodgepole pine total height, height increment, and basal diameter growth in any year after outplanting. Lodgepole pine seedling foliar nutrient levels were generally consistent with trends in seedling growth in that foliar concentrations generally tended to be higher when growth was higher (in the case of site preparation); however, no significant differences in growth were found (in the case of fire severity). This suggested that foliar nutrient levels could at least partly explain seedling growth results. Surface mineral soil (0–15 cm) chemistry exhibited similar trends to seedling foliar chemistry when site preparation treatments were compared, but not when fire severity classes were compared. This was attributed to foliar chemistry being controlled by factors other than soil chemistry alone.

scholarly journals The Effects of Climatically Altered Fire Regimes on Initial Successional Responses in Yellowstone National Park

2000 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 165-168
Author(s):  
Tania Schoennagel ◽  
Monica Turner
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Yellowstone National Park ◽  
National Park ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Critical Element ◽  
Climate Scenarios ◽  
Disturbance Regimes

Many scientists predict that due to the quick response of fire regimes to changes in climate (Flannigan et al. 1998; Stocks et al. 1998), the most rapid and extensive effects of climate change will be mediated by altered disturbance regimes (Davis and Botkin 1985; Franklin et al. 1992; Graham et al. 1990; Weber and Flannigan 1997). Under climate scenarios expected for C02 doubling, Price and Rind (1994) predict a 44% increase in lightning-caused fires and a 78% increase in total area burned for the U.S. Although regional climate scenarios are still subject to a fairly high degree of uncertainty, regional predictions for Yellowstone National Park (YNP) estimate an increase in aridity (Balling et al. 1992) and mean July temperatures (Bartlein et al. 1997), suggesting that fire frequencies could significantly increase in YNP over the next century. While several models have simulated the response of western coniferous forests to altered fire regimes (Baker et al. 1991; Gardner et al. 1996; Keane et al. 1990; Keane et al. 1995; Romme and Turner 1991), little empirical work on the successional responses to different intervals of stand­replacing fire has been incorporated, and remains a critical element in predicting the effects of climatically altered disturbance regimes in forested landscapes. Previous work in Yellowstone has considered the effects of fire severity, fire size and level of serotiny in explaining initial pathways of postfrre succession across the Yellowstone landscape (Turner et al. 1994; Turner et al. 1997). The effects of the third component of the disturbance regime, fire interval, remains largely unexplored, and represents a fundamental link in predicting potential effects of climate change on the Yellowstone landscape. The specific objectives of our research, therefore, were to assess: Are there a significantly different successional responses following different intervals of stand-replacing fire in Yellowstone National Park? Because serotiny exerts a strong influence on initial post-fire succession in Yellowstone (characterized by variation in lodgepole pine densities), we also sought to track stand-level changes in serotiny over time. In order to flesh out a possible mechanism for why postfrre succession may vary depending upon the age at which the stand burns we asked: What is the temporal variation in lodgepole pine serotiny within the park?

scholarly journals Effects of wildfire on a pine stand in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (No. 7) ◽  
pp. 299-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Trochta ◽  
K. Král ◽  
P. Šamonil
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Total N ◽  
Ground Fire ◽  
One Year ◽  
Fire Extent

The pine stand in the Havran&iacute; Sk&aacute;la locality in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park was affected by an extensive mixed-severity wildfire in summer 2006. The fire severity, fire type and fire extent were assessed by various fire severity measures collected in the field (mean bole char height on stems on sample plots, content of oxidizable C and total N at a soil depth of 0&ndash;5 cm), as well as by classification and filtering of green canopy cover from time series of aerial photographs acquired before the fire (2005), soon after the fire (2006) and one year after the fire (2007). The specific image analyses made it possible to uncover the spatial and temporal pattern of the stand defoliation. The central part of the site was mainly affected by the crown fire and thus defoliated substantially right during the fire. On the contrary, the peripheral part of the site was mostly affected by low-severity ground fire and therefore defoliated progressively one year later. All the fire severity measures used were well related. &nbsp;

Comparison of burn severity assessments using Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio and ground data

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison E. Cocke ◽  
Peter Z. Fulé ◽  
Joseph E. Crouse
Keyword(s):  
Pinus Ponderosa ◽  
Forest Structure ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Burn Severity ◽  
Burned Areas ◽  
Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio ◽  
Severity Levels ◽  
Normalized Burn Ratio

Burn severity can be mapped using satellite data to detect changes in forest structure and moisture content caused by fires. The 2001 Leroux fire on the Coconino National Forest, Arizona, burned over 18 pre-existing permanent 0.1 ha plots. Plots were re-measured following the fire. Landsat 7 ETM+ imagery and the Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (ΔNBR) were used to map the fire into four severity levels immediately following the fire (July 2001) and 1 year after the fire (June 2002). Ninety-two Composite Burn Index (CBI) plots were compared to the fire severity maps. Pre- and post-fire plot measurements were also analysed according to their imagery classification. Ground measurements demonstrated differences in forest structure. Areas that were classified as severely burned on the imagery were predominantly Pinus ponderosa stands. Tree density and basal area, snag density and fine fuel accumulation were associated with severity levels. Tree mortality was not greatest in severely burned areas, indicating that the ΔNBR is comprehensive in rating burn severity by incorporating multiple forest strata. While the ΔNBR was less accurate at mapping perimeters, the method was reliable for mapping severely burned areas that may need immediate or long-term post-fire recovery.

Effects of soil burn severity on germination and initial establishment of maritime pine seedlings, under greenhouse conditions, in two contrasting experimentally burned soils

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 209 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. T. Fontúrbel ◽  
J. A. Vega ◽  
P. Pérez-Gorostiaga ◽  
C. Fernández ◽  
M. Alonso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Organic Matter Content ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Maritime Pine ◽  
Burn Severity ◽  
First Year ◽  
Soil C ◽  
Burned Areas ◽  
Pine Seedlings ◽  
Soil Burn Severity

The effects of soil burn severity on initial establishment of maritime pine in burned areas are not well known. Many factors may interact in the field, thus making it difficult to determine the exact role played by soil burn severity in the post-fire regeneration process. Monoliths of two contrasting soils – an acid, coarse-textured soil, with high organic matter content, and a neutral heavy-textured soil with low organic matter content – were experimentally burned to provide two markedly different levels of soil burn severity. The burned monoliths were sown with Pinus pinaster seeds and then placed in a greenhouse under a preselected water regime to determine the effect of burn severity on emergence and initial establishment of pine seedlings. High soil burn severity in the coarse-textured soils delayed germination, increased mortality and temporarily decreased the height of pine seedlings in the first year after sowing. This response was affected by: soil heating level, soil C consumption, post-fire soil C, depth of burn and post-fire duff-depth. Ash had no influence on the above processes. These factors did not explain the variability in the response of regeneration variables in the heavy-textured soils. The applicability of the results to field conditions is discussed.

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