Spatial pattern of post-fire forest succession in Central Kamchatka, Russia

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  • ロシア, カムチャッカ中央部における 火災後の植生遷移の空間パターン

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Fire is a natural component of vegetation dynamics in boreal forests. However, in Far East Russia, socio-economic changes following the dissolution of the Soviet Union have resulted in increased incidences of human-caused forest fires. Here,we compared the species composition and stand structure among three forest stands at various stages of recovery after fires in Central Kamchatka, to infer how intraspecific differences in regeneration strategies and subsequent patterns of survival affect post-fire forest succession. At 2 years after a fire, sprouted stems of Populus tremula and Betula platyphylla were clustered according to their modes of sprouting;root suckers at the 3-m scale, and stump sprouts at the 0.5-m scale, respectively. At 40 years after a fire,stems of Larix cajanderi originating from seeds were clustered at an 8-m scale. At 200 years after a fire, clumps of B. platyphylla and L. cajanderi were both randomly distributed and the clumps of B. platyphylla were maintained by sprouting. Bray-Curtis ordination analyses suggested that there may be multiple pathways of post-fire succession depending on the relative survival rates of P. tremula and B. platyphylla. If fire-return intervals become shorter in Central Kamchatka because of more frequent human-caused fires,the population size of L. cajanderi will decrease and early successional forests comprising P. tremula and B. platyphylla will dominate the landscape. On the other hand,if fires are suppressed,late-successional forests comprising L. cajanderi and B. platyphylla will dominate the landscape.

Journal

  • 低温科学

    低温科学 0073 1-6, 2015-03-31

    Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University

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