Ecology of Wildfire Residuals in Boreal Forests

Acknowledgments xi

About the companion website xiii

1 Introduction 1

The boreal forest biome 2

Geographical distribution 4

Distinguishing features 6

Boreal wildfires 9

Major characteristics 9

Ecological significance 11

Goals and scope of the book 12

References 14

2 Formation of wildfire residuals 18

Factors that affect the formation of residuals 19

Boreal forest communities 20

Boreal wildfires 31

Residual formation and distribution 40

Spatial heterogeneity in fire behavior 41

Process of residual formation 44

Summary 59

References 61

3 Types of wildfire residuals and their extent 65

Types of wildfire residuals 66

A post-wildfire scene 66

Past descriptions of wildfire residuals 71

Abundance and extent of wildfire residuals 79

Snag residuals 80

Live tree residuals 81

Residual patches 84

Changes in residuals after wildfires 88

Snag residuals 88

Live tree residuals 89

Residual patches 92

Toward improved definitions and assessment 93

Reasons for improvement 93

Definitions of wildfire residuals 95

Improved study approaches 103

Summary 107

References 113

4 Ecological roles of wildfire residuals 119

Ecological processes involving snag residuals 121

Invasion by beetles 121

Colonization by woodpeckers 132

Occupation by other bird species 140

Forest regeneration 142

Roles of the residual patches 148

Providing temporary shelter 149

Supplementing the recovery 151

Creating heterogeneity 161

Ecological significance 161

Wildfire residuals and the carbon cycle 162

Wildfire residuals and nutrient and hydrological cycles 165

Summary 168

References 173

5 Role of wildfire residuals in forest management applications 184

Restoring wildfire residuals 185

Ecological expectations 186

Considerations for application 187

Challenges and uncertainties 190

Emulating wildfire disturbance 191

Background 191

Emulating wildfire residuals by forest harvest 193

Expectations and uncertainties 197

Salvage logging 202

Background 202

Ecological consequences 204

Practical considerations 212

Uncertainties 217

Summary 220

References 222

6 Ecology of boreal wildfire residuals ? a summary and synthesis 227

Wildfire residuals and their occurrence 227

Residual vegetation types 228

Spatial patterns of residuals 231

Ecological roles of wildfire residuals 235

Snag residuals 235

Residual patches 236

A conceptual view 237

Knowledge uncertainties 239

Management applications and wildfire residuals 240

Salvage logging 240

Emulating wildfire disturbances 240

Restoring wildfire residuals 242

Suppressing fire 243

Research needs on wildfire residuals 243

Advancing research methods 243

Expanding research topics 244

Conclusion 245

Index 247