Academic Journal
SHRUB COMMUNITIES, SPATIAL PATTERNS, AND SHRUB-MEDIATED TREE MORTALITY FOLLOWING REINTRODUCED FIRE IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIA, USA.
| Title: | SHRUB COMMUNITIES, SPATIAL PATTERNS, AND SHRUB-MEDIATED TREE MORTALITY FOLLOWING REINTRODUCED FIRE IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIA, USA. |
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| Authors: | Lutz, James A., Furniss, Tucker J., Germain, Sara J., Becker, Kendall M. L., Blomdahl, Erika M., Jeronimo, Sean M. A., Cansler, C. Alina, Freund, James A., Swanson, Mark E., Larson, Andrew J. |
| Source: | Fire Ecology; 2017, Vol. 13 Issue 1, p104-126, 23p |
| Subject Terms: | FUELWOOD, SHRUBS -- Environmental aspects, NATIONAL parks & reserves -- Environmental conditions |
| Geographic Terms: | YOSEMITE National Park (Calif.) |
| Abstract (English): | Shrubs contribute to the forest fuel load; their distribution is important to tree mortality and regeneration, and vertebrate occupancy. We used a method new to fire ecology extensive continuous mapping of trees and shrub patches within a single large (25.6 ha) study site to identify changes in shrub area, biomass, and spatial pattern due to fire reintroduction by a backfire following a century of fire exclusion in lower montane forests of the Sierra Nevada, California, USA. We examined whether trees in close proximity to shrubs prior to fire experienced higher mortality rates than trees in areas without shrubs. We calculated shrub biomass using demography subplots and existing allometric equations, and we developed new equations for beaked hazel (Corylus cornuta ssp. californica [A. de Candolle] E. Murray) from full dissection of 50 stems. Fire decreased shrub patch area from 15.1% to 0.9%, reduced live shrub biomass from 3.49 Mg ha-1 to 0.27 Mg ha-1, and consumed 4.41 Mg ha-1 of living and dead shrubs. Distinct (non-overlapping) shrub patches decreased from 47 ha-1 to 6 ha-1. The mean distance between shrub patches increased 135%. Distances between montane chaparral patches increased 285%, compared to a 54% increase in distances between riparian shrub patches and an increase of 267% between generalist shrub patches. Fire-related tree mortality within shrub patches was marginally lower (67.6% versus 71.8%), showing a contrasting effect of shrubs on tree mortality between this forest ecosystem and chaparral-dominated ecosystems in which most trees are killed by fire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Abstract (Spanish): | Los arbustos contribuyen en la carga de combustibles de los ecosistemas forestales. Su distribución es importante en la mortalidad y regeneración de los árboles y en la ocupación del espacio por los vertebrados. Nosotros usamos un nuevo método en ecología del fuego mapeo continuo de parches de árboles y arbustos dentro de un sitio de estudio (25,6 ha) para identificar cambios en el área cubierta por arbustos, su biomasa y los patrones de distribución causados por la reintroducción del fuego en bosques montanos en la Sierra Nevada de California, EEUU. Examinamos si árboles muy próximos a arbustos antes del fuego experimentaban una mayor mortalidad que árboles en áreas sin arbustos. Calculamos la biomasa de los arbustos usando patrones de densidad y ecuaciones alométricas, y desarrollamos nuevas ecuaciones para el arbusto Corylus cornuta (Corylus cornuta ssp. californica [A. de Candolle] E. Murray) mediante la disección de 50 tallos. El fuego hizo decrecer el área de los parches de arbustos del 15,1% al 0,9%, redujo su biomasa viva de 3,49 Mg ha-1 a 0,27 Mg ha-1, y consumió 4,41 Mg ha-1 tanto de su biomasa viva como muerta. Los parches de arbustos no solapados con árboles decrecieron de 47 ha-1 a 6 ha-1. La distancia media entre parches de arbustos se incrementó un 135%. Las distancias entre parches del chaparral se incrementaron un 285%, comparado con un incremento del 54% entre parches de arbustos generalistas. La muerte de árboles relacionados con el fuego en parches de arbustos fue marginalmente baja (67,6% versus 71,8%), mostrando un efecto contrastante de los arbustos en la mortalidad de árboles entre este ecosistema forestal y los ecosistemas dominados por vegetación de chaparral, en los cuales la mayoría de los árboles mueren por efectos del fuego. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 19339747 |
| DOI: | 10.4996/fireecology.1301104 |
| Database: | Complementary Index |