EDI Staging Environment
As 21st-century climate and disturbance dynamics depart from historical baselines, ecosystem resilience is uncertain. Multiple drivers are changing simultaneously, and interactions among drivers could amplify ecosystem vulnerability to change. We explored how interacting drivers affected post-fire recovery of subalpine forests, which Subalpine forests in Greater Yellowstone (Northern Rocky Mountains, USA) were historically resilient to infrequent (100-300 year), severe fire., in Greater Yellowstone (Northern Rocky Mountains, USA). We sampled paired short- (< 30 year) and long- (> 125 year) interval post-fire plots most recently last burned between 1988 and 2018 to address two questions: (1) How do short-interval fire, climate, topography, and distance to unburned live forest edge and other factors (topography, distance to live edge) interact to affect post-fire forest recoveryregeneration? (2) How do forest biomass and fuels vary following short- versus long-interval severe fires? Mean post-fire live stem density was an order of magnitude lower following short- versus long-interval fires (3,240 versus 28,741 stems ha-1, respectively). Differences between paired plots increased with greater climate water deficit normal (ρ = 0.67) and were amplified at longer distances to live forest edge. Surprisingly, warmer-drier climate was associated with higher seedling densities even after short-interval fire, likely relating to regional variation in serotiny of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia). Unlike conifers, density of aspen (Populus tremuloides), a deciduous resprouter, increased with short- versus long-interval fire (mean 384 versus 62 stems ha-1, respectively). Live biomass and canopy fuels remained low nearly 30 years after short-interval fire, in contrast to rapid recovery after long-interval fire, suggesting that future burn severity may be reduced for several decades following reburns. Short-interval plots also had half as much dead woody biomass compared to long-interval plots (60 versus 121 Mg ha-1), primarily due to the absence of large snags. Our results suggest declines in tree regeneration following short-interval fire will be especially pronounced where serotiny was high historically. Propagule limitation will also interact with short-interval fire to diminish tree regeneration Overall, our results suggest that a trifecta of short-interval fire, large patch size, and arid post-fire climate could threaten subalpine forest resilience but lessen also reduce future burn severity. Amplifying driver interactions among multiple drivers are likely to reduce threaten forest resilience under expected trajectories of 21st century climate and fire.
EDI is a collaboration between the University of New Mexico and the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Center for Limnology:
