Post-Wildfire Stand-Type Shifts in the Western Boreal

We tend to think of wildfire as resetting the biological clock back to zero; forest types always come back to whatever was there before it burned. However, new evidence reveals that this is not always the case and fire can also cause changes to forest types. For example, very hot fires can kill seeds stored in the soil, while cool fires leave behind a significant amount of stored seed in both underground and in seed cones in surviving tree crowns. Fire can thus also function as a vegetation reset button in response to environmental conditions such as droughts or changes in wildfire frequency. Understanding the details of how, why, and where such changes have occurred in the past are necessary for us to be able to predict where the boreal forest might be heading in the future under climate change scenarios. For forest managers, this knowledge will also provide some guidance on how to manage post-harvesting forest types in service of creating healthier, more resilient, and potentially more productive landscape ecosystems.

Faculty Supervisor:

Charles A. Nock

Student:

Partner:

fRI Research

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Agriculture; Other services (except public administration); Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Alberta

Program: