Black Spruce Seedfall Immediately Following Fire

Environmental controls on soil CO2 flux following fire in black spruce, white spruce, and aspen stands of interior Alaska

Boreal forests contain large amounts of stored soil carbon and are susceptible to periodic disturbance by wildfire. This study evaluates the relationship between post-fire changes in soil temperature, moisture, and CO2 exchange in paired burned and control stands of three Alaskan forest systems: Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP, Picea glauca (Moench) Voss, and Populus tremuloides Michx. In these syste...

Vegetation Development Following Fire in Picea Mariana (Black Spruce)- Pleurozium Forests of South-Eastern Labrador, Canada

Succession-driven changes in soil respiration following fire in black spruce stands of interior Alaska

KATHERINE P. O’NEILL*, DANIEL D. RICHTER and ERIC S. KASISCHKE USDA Agricultural Research Service, Appalachian Farming Systems Research Center, 1224 Airport Rd, Beaver WV 25813, USA; Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, Durham NC 27708-0328, USA; Department of Geography, University of Maryland, College Park MD 20742-8225, USA; *Author for correspondence (e-mai...

Leaf area dynamics of a boreal black spruce fire chronosequence.

Specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf area index (LAI) were estimated using site-specific allometric equations for a boreal black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) fire chronosequence in northern Manitoba, Canada. Stands ranged from 3 to 131 years in age and had soils that were categorized as well or poorly drained. The goals of the study were to: (i) measure SLA for the dominant tree and understo...

Modeling the Impact of Black Spruce on the Fire Regime of Alaskan Boreal Forest

In the boreal biome, fire is the major disturbance agent affecting ecosystem change, and fire dynamics will likely change in response to climatic warming. We modified a spatially explicit model of Alaskan subarctic treeline dynamics (ALFRESCO) to simulate boreal vegetation dynamics in interior Alaska. The model is used to investigate the role of black spruce ecosystems in the fire regime of int...