Journal
CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS OF ECOLOGY
Volume 10, Issue 5, Pages 556-562Publisher
MAIK NAUKA/INTERPERIODICA/SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1134/S1995425517050055
Keywords
Siberian silkmoth outbreaks; forest fires; climate impact; taiga forests
Categories
Funding
- Russian Foundation for Basic Research [17-05-01257]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We provide a quantitative analysis of postoutbreak wildfire frequency within the confluence of the Yenisei and Angara rivers affected by the Siberian Silkmoth (Dendrolimus sibiricus Tschetv.). A catastrophic outbreak was observed in 1993-1996. It expanded to about 1 million ha and caused stand mortality on an area of about 460000 ha. For the outbreak area, the fire frequency was about 7 times higher when compared to the reference area; on the burned area, it was 20 times higher. The peak of fire activity within outbreak areas occurs in May-June, while that for undamaged coniferous stands is in July. The number of fires is correlated with the mean monthly air temperature (r = 0.65) of June. The area of fires displays a negative correlation with moisture conditions: precipitation (r = -0.53), drought index (SPEI: r = -0.57), and ground-cover moisture content (r = -0.57). Extensive fires prevail within outbreak areas (S > 1000 ha), while within the control there is a smaller area of fires. Multiple (reoccurring) wildfires are typical for pest outbreak areas. The area of these fires is related to their reoccurrence by logarithmic dependence (17% of the territory twice burned by forests fires, 5% on that burned three times, and 0.5% on that burned four times). Wildfires in the outbreak areas surpress the initial forest recovery by destroying the regeneration of conifers: 20 years after the outbreak, > 90% of disturbed areas are occupied by grass-bush and small-leaved cenoses.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available