Wildfire-Driven Forest Conversion in Western North American Landscapes

Jonathan D Coop; Sean A Parks; Camille S Stevens-Rumann; Shelley D Crausbay; Philip E Higuera; Matthew D Hurteau; Alan Tepley; Ellen Whitman; Timothy Assal; Brandon M Collins; Kimberley T Davis; Solomon Dobrowski; Donald A Falk; Paula J Fornwalt; Peter Z Fulé; Brian J Harvey; Van R Kane; Caitlin E Littlefield; Ellis Q Margolis; Malcolm North; Marc-André Parisien; Susan Prichard; Kyle C Rodman

doi:10.1093/biosci/biaa061

Wildfire-Driven Forest Conversion in Western North American Landscapes

Bioscience. 2020 Aug 1;70(8):659-673. doi: 10.1093/biosci/biaa061. Epub 2020 Jul 1.

Authors

Jonathan D Coop¹, Sean A Parks², Camille S Stevens-Rumann³, Shelley D Crausbay⁴, Philip E Higuera⁵, Matthew D Hurteau⁶, Alan Tepley⁷, Ellen Whitman⁷, Timothy Assal⁸, Brandon M Collins⁹, Kimberley T Davis¹⁰, Solomon Dobrowski¹¹, Donald A Falk¹², Paula J Fornwalt¹³, Peter Z Fulé¹⁴, Brian J Harvey¹⁵, Van R Kane¹⁵, Caitlin E Littlefield¹⁶, Ellis Q Margolis¹⁷, Malcolm North¹⁸, Marc-André Parisien⁷, Susan Prichard¹⁵, Kyle C Rodman¹⁹

Affiliations

¹ School of Environment and Sustainability, Western Colorado University, Gunnison.
² Research ecologist with the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Rocky Mountain Research Station, US Forest Service, Missoula, Montana.
³ Forest and Rangeland Stewardship Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.
⁴ Senior scientist with Conservation Science Partners, Fort Collins, Colorado.
⁵ Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana.
⁶ Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
⁷ Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Northern Forestry Centre, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
⁸ Department of Geography, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.
⁹ Fire Research and Outreach, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, and with the Pacific Southwest Research Station, US Forest Service, in Davis, California.
¹⁰ Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula.
¹¹ Department of Forest Management, University of Montana, Missoula.
¹² Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, Tucson.
¹³ Rocky Mountain Research Station, US Forest Service, Fort Collins, Colorado.
¹⁴ School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff.
¹⁵ School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle.
¹⁶ Caitlin Littlefield is a postdoctoral research associate, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington.
¹⁷ US Geological Survey, New Mexico Landscapes Field Station, Santa Fe.
¹⁸ US Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Mammoth Lakes, California.
¹⁹ Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Abstract

Changing disturbance regimes and climate can overcome forest ecosystem resilience. Following high-severity fire, forest recovery may be compromised by lack of tree seed sources, warmer and drier postfire climate, or short-interval reburning. A potential outcome of the loss of resilience is the conversion of the prefire forest to a different forest type or nonforest vegetation. Conversion implies major, extensive, and enduring changes in dominant species, life forms, or functions, with impacts on ecosystem services. In the present article, we synthesize a growing body of evidence of fire-driven conversion and our understanding of its causes across western North America. We assess our capacity to predict conversion and highlight important uncertainties. Increasing forest vulnerability to changing fire activity and climate compels shifts in management approaches, and we propose key themes for applied research coproduced by scientists and managers to support decision-making in an era when the prefire forest may not return.

Keywords: climate change; ecological transformation; high-severity fire; stand-replacing fire; tree regeneration; tree seedlings; vegetation type conversion; wildfire.