期刊
ECOSPHERE
卷 9, 期 2, 页码 -出版社
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.2091
关键词
Abies lasiocarpa; Larix lyallii; North Cascades; Northern Rockies; Pacific Northwest; Pinus albicaulis
类别
资金
- U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station through University of Washington, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
- Joint Fire Science Program [D 13-3-01-22]
Alpine treelines are expected to move upward in a warming climate, but downward in response to increases in wildfire. We studied the effects of fire on vegetation structure and composition across four alpine treeline ecotones extending from Abies lasiocarpa/Picea engelmannii forests at lower elevations, through Pinus albicaulis/Larix lyallii parkland, to alpine tundra. We estimated the probabilities of burning and transitions between states following fire among four canopy-cover (structural) classes: non-forest (0% tree cover), sparse woodland (< 10% tree cover), open forest (10-40% tree cover), and closed forest (> 40% tree cover). We also evaluated changes in the size structure and composition of live overstory trees (>= 1.4 m height) due to mortality following fire. The severity and resulting effects of fire varied among structural classes: Non-forest was less likely to burn than the landscape as a whole; open forest was more likely to remain forest than to change to non-forest; and closed forest never changed to non-forest, irrespective of burn severity. Higher-severity fires caused greater mortality of larger-diameter trees than of smaller-diameter trees. Our results suggest that structural components of the alpine treeline will not respond unidirectionally to a warming climate nor to an increase in fire. Instead, the ecotone will expand bidirectionally and develop larger, more heterogeneous patches of vegetation.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据