The effects of surficial deposit - drainage combinations on spatial variations of fire cycles in the boreal forest of eastern Canada

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 1083 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Mansuy ◽  
Sylvie Gauthier ◽  
André Robitaille ◽  
Yves Bergeron
Keyword(s):  
Discriminant Analysis ◽  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Aridity Index ◽  
Spatial Variations ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Forest Protection ◽  
Fire Cycle ◽  
Surficial Deposit ◽  
Landscape Units

Spatial variations in the fire cycle of a large territory (190 000 km2) located in the boreal forest of eastern Canada were assessed using random sampling points. Our main objective was to determine if regions characterised by a large proportion of dry surficial deposit–drainage (SDD) burn more frequently than regions with a smaller proportion. Through a regionalisation of the landscape units, we analysed the effects of SDD on spatial variations of the fire cycle. A discriminant analysis involving the SDD and other physical variables (precipitation, temperature, aridity index, water bodies, elevation and slope) made it possible to identify a combination of variables characterising each region. A considerable variation in fire cycle was observed among the different SDD types (from 144 to 425 years) and between regions (from 90 to 715 years). Through the discriminant analysis, this study suggests that a combination of possible climatic top-down (precipitation R2 = 0.727, aridity index R2 = 0.663 and temperature R2 = 0.574) and bottom-up factors (xeric undifferentiated till R2 = 0.819 and humid undifferentiated till R2 = 0.691) could explain this variation at the regional scale. Implications of those results for forest protection against fire and regional development are briefly discussed.

Regional patterns of postfire canopy recovery in the northern boreal forest of Quebec: interactions between surficial deposit, climate, and fire cycle1This article is one of a selection of papers from the 7th International Conference on Disturbance Dynamics in Boreal Forests.

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (7) ◽  
pp. 1328-1343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Mansuy ◽  
Sylvie Gauthier ◽  
André Robitaille ◽  
Yves Bergeron
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Forest Regeneration ◽  
Information Criterion ◽  
Forest Recovery ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Regional Patterns ◽  
Fire Cycle ◽  
Young Forest ◽  
Deposit Type ◽  
Surficial Deposit

In many northern forest ecosystems, the postfire transition from a closed-crown forest to open woodland is often observed but poorly understood. This paper looks at the effect of interactions between surficial deposit, climate, and fire cycle on postfire forest recovery within a large territory (190 000 km2) of the boreal forest of eastern Canada. Postfire recovery was estimated using the time elapsed to move from the burnt stage to the regenerated stage and the young forest stage. The main objective was to determine if forests situated in dry regions (characterized by a high proportion of dry coarse surficial deposits, low precipitation, and short fire cycle) tend to reestablish more slowly after fire, obtaining a more open stand compared with wetter regions characterized by a longer fire cycle. To identify the best explanatory model for postfire recovery, multinomial logistic regressions with the Akaike information criterion were conducted using a combination of physicoclimatic factors. Our best model suggests that the most significant predictors of postfire recovery are time since fire (χ2 = 1370.06), surficial deposit type (χ2 = 651.95), the Canadian Drought Code (χ2 = 247.75), and the growing season precipitation (χ2 = 102.80). Fast recovery and dense forest regeneration are associated with subhydric till deposits only in the regions characterized by a long fire cycle (>500 years). Conversely, slow regeneration conducive to a sparse young forest was usually associated with regions characterized by a short fire cycle (<200 years) underlain by dry coarse deposits such as juxtaglacial but also mesic deposits in some cases. Our results also show that slow recovery and reduced forest regeneration are most likely to occur following fires that occurred in dry years, regardless of the deposit type and region.

scholarly journals Occupancy of the American Three-toed Woodpecker in a Heavily Managed Boreal Forest of Eastern Canada

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Lamarre ◽  
Junior A. Tremblay
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
High Probability ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Forest Harvesting ◽  
Probability Of Detection ◽  
Habitat Characteristics ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Old Growth Forest

The southern extent of the boreal forest in North America has experienced intensive human disturbance in the past decades. Among these, forest harvesting leads to the substantial loss of late-successional stands that include key habitat attributes for several avian species. The American Three-toed Woodpecker, Picoides dorsalis, is associated with continuous old spruce forests in the eastern part of its range. In this study, we assess the influence of habitat characteristics at different scales on the occupancy of American Three-toed Woodpecker in a heavily managed boreal landscape of northeastern Canada, and we inferred species occupancy at the regional scale. We conducted 185 playback stations over two breeding seasons and modelled the occupancy of the species while taking into account the probability of detection. American Three-toed Woodpecker occupancy was lower in stands with large areas recently clear-cut, and higher in landscapes with large extents of old-growth forest dominated by black spruce. At the regional scale, areas with high probability of occupancy were scarce and mostly within protected areas. Habitat requirements of the American Three-toed Woodpecker during the breeding season, coupled with over-all low occupancy rate in our study area, challenge its long-term sustainability in such heavily managed landscapes. Additionally, the scarcity of areas of high probability of occupancy in the region suggest that the ecological role of old forest outside protected areas could be compromised.

scholarly journals Occupancy of the American Three-Toed Woodpecker in a Heavily-Managed Boreal Forest of Eastern Canada

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Vincent Lamarre ◽  
Junior A. Tremblay
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
High Probability ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Forest Harvesting ◽  
Probability Of Detection ◽  
Habitat Characteristics ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Old Growth Forest

The southern extent of the boreal forest in North America has experienced intensive human disturbance in recent decades. Among these, forest harvesting leads to the substantial loss of late-successional stands that include key habitat attributes for several avian species. The American Three-toed Woodpecker, Picoides dorsalis, is associated with continuous old spruce forests in the eastern part of its range. In this study, we assessed the influence of habitat characteristics at different scales on the occupancy of American Three-toed Woodpecker in a heavily-managed boreal landscape of northeastern Canada, and we inferred species occupancy at the regional scale. We conducted 185 playback stations over two breeding seasons and modelled the occupancy of the species while taking into account the probability of detection. American Three-toed Woodpecker occupancy was lower in stands with large areas recently clear-cut, and higher in landscapes with large extents of old-growth forest dominated by black spruce. At the regional scale, areas with high probability of occupancy were scarce and mostly within protected areas. Habitat requirements of the American Three-toed Woodpecker during the breeding season, coupled with overall low occupancy rate in our study area, challenge its long-term sustainability in such heavily managed landscapes. Additionally, the scarcity of areas of high probability of occupancy in the region suggests that the ecological role of old forest outside protected areas could be compromised.

Natural fire frequency for the eastern Canadian boreal forest: consequences for sustainable forestry

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 384-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yves Bergeron ◽  
Sylvie Gauthier ◽  
Victor Kafka ◽  
Patrick Lefort ◽  
Daniel Lesieur
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Entire Area ◽  
Fire Cycle ◽  
Clear Cutting ◽  
In Fire

Given that fire is the most important disturbance of the boreal forest, climatically induced changes in fire frequency (i.e., area burnt per year) can have important consequences on the resulting forest mosaic age-class distribution and composition. Using archives and dendroecological data we reconstructed the fire frequency in four large sectors along a transect from eastern Ontario to central Quebec. Results showed a dramatic decrease in fire frequency that began in the mid-19th century and has been accentuated during the 20th century. Although all areas showed a similar temporal decrease in area burned, we observed a gradual increase in fire frequency from the west to Abitibi east, followed by a slight decrease in central Quebec. The global warming that has been occurring since the end of the Little Ice Age (~1850) may have created a climate less prone to large forest fires in the eastern boreal forest of North America. This interpretation is corroborated by predictions of a decrease in forest fires for that region of the boreal forest in the future. A longer fire cycle (i.e., the time needed to burn an area equivalent to the study area) has important consequences for sustainable forest management of the boreal forest of eastern Canada. When considering the important proportion of overmature and old-growth stands in the landscape resulting from the elongation of the fire cycles, it becomes difficult to justify clear-cutting practices over all the entire area as well as short rotations as a means to emulate natural disturbances. Alternative practices involving the uses of variable proportion of clear, partial, and selective cutting are discussed.

Modeling Site Amplification in Eastern Canada on a Regional Scale

2016 ◽  
Vol 87 (4) ◽  
pp. 1008-1021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Braganza ◽  
Gail M. Atkinson ◽  
Hadi Ghofrani ◽  
Behzad Hassani ◽  
Luc Chouinard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Regional Scale ◽  
Site Amplification ◽  
Eastern Canada

scholarly journals Use of Global Reanalysis Data in the Study of the Aridity Index in the Magdalena-Cauca Macro-Basin, Colombia

10.29007/92l9 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Vega-Viviescas ◽  
David A. Zamora ◽  
Erasmo A. Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Aridity Index ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Reanalysis Data ◽  
In Situ Data ◽  
Global Reanalysis

The Magdalena-Cauca macro-basin (MCMB) in Colombia, by its tropical location, annually experiences the effects of movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, and it is highly affected by interannual macro-climatic phenomena, such as El Niño– Southern Oscillation (ENSO). With the aim of increasing the use of global reanalysis and remote sensing data for supporting water management decisions at the watershed scale and within the framework of the eartH2Observe research project, the aridity index (AI) was calculated with three different data sources. Precipitation products and AI results were compared with their corresponding in-situ national official data. The comparison shows high correlations between the AI derived from observed data and AI obtained from the reanalysis, with Pearson correlation coefficients above 0.8 for two of the products investigated. This shows the importance of using global reanalysis data in water availability studies on a regional scale for the MCMB and the potential of this information in others macrobasins in Colombia including the Orinoquia and Amazon regions, where in-situ data is scarce.

scholarly journals Resilience of the boreal forest in response to Holocene fire-frequency changes assessed by pollen diversity and population dynamics

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 1026 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Carcaillet ◽  
Pierre J. H. Richard ◽  
Yves Bergeron ◽  
Bianca Fréchette ◽  
Adam A. Ali
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Frequency Control ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Frequency Changes ◽  
Fire Intervals ◽  
In Fire

The hypothesis that changes in fire frequency control the long-term dynamics of boreal forests is tested on the basis of paleodata. Sites with different wildfire histories at the regional scale should exhibit different vegetation trajectories. Mean fire intervals and vegetation reconstructions are based respectively on sedimentary charcoal and pollen from two small lakes, one in the Mixedwood boreal forests and the second in the Coniferous boreal forests. The pollen-inferred vegetation exhibits different trajectories of boreal forest dynamics after afforestation, whereas mean fire intervals have no significant or a delayed impact on the pollen data, either in terms of diversity or trajectories. These boreal forests appear resilient to changes in fire regimes, although subtle modifications can be highlighted. Vegetation compositions have converged during the last 1200 years with the decrease in mean fire intervals, owing to an increasing abundance of boreal species at the southern site (Mixedwood), whereas changes are less pronounced at the northern site (Coniferous). Although wildfire is a natural property of boreal ecosystems, this study does not support the hypothesis that changes in mean fire intervals are the key process controlling long-term vegetation transformation. Fluctuations in mean fire intervals alone do not explain the historical and current distribution of vegetation, but they may have accelerated the climatic process of borealisation, likely resulting from orbital forcing.

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