10.5061/DRYAD.1PR7K
Turner, Monica G.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Whitby, Timothy G.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Tinker, Daniel B.
University of Wyoming
Romme, William H.
Colorado State University
Data from: Twenty-four years after the Yellowstone fires: are postfire
lodgepole pine stands converging in structure and function?
Dryad
dataset
2017
Fire ecology
1988 Fires
Pinus contorta var. latifolia
lodgepole pine
2017-02-28T00:00:00Z
2017-02-28T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1890/15-1585.1
641174 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Disturbance and succession have long been of interest in ecology, but how
landscape patterns of ecosystem structure and function evolve following
large disturbances is poorly understood. After nearly 25 years, lodgepole
pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) forests that regenerated after the
1988 Yellowstone Fires (Wyoming, USA) offer a prime opportunity to track
the fate of disturbance-created heterogeneity in stand structure and
function in a wilderness setting. In 2012, we resampled 72 permanent plots
to ask (1) How have postfire stand structure and function changed between
11 and 24 yr postfire, and what variables explain these patterns and
changes? (2) How has landscape-level (among-stand) variability in postfire
stand structure and function changed between 11 and 24 yr postfire? We
expected to see evidence of convergence beginning to emerge, but also that
initial postfire stem density would still determine trajectories of
biomass accumulation. After 24 yr, postfire lodgepole pine density
remained very high (mean = 21,738 stems ha−1, range = 0 to 344,067 stems
ha−1). Stem density increased in most plots between 11 and 24 yr postfire,
but declined sharply where 11-yr-postfire stem density was > 72,000
stems ha−1. Stems were small in high-density stands, but stand-level
lodgepole pine leaf area, foliage biomass, and live aboveground biomass
increased over time and with increasing stem density. After 24 yr, mean
annual lodgepole pine aboveground net primary production (ANPP) was high
(mean = 5 Mg ha−1 yr−1, range = 0 to 16.5 Mg ha−1 yr−1). Among stands,
lodgepole pine ANPP increased with stem density, which explained 69% of
the variation; another 8% of the variation was explained by environmental
covariates. Early patterns of postfire lodgepole pine regeneration, which
were contingent on prefire serotiny and fire severity, remained the
dominant driver of stand structure and function. We observed mechanisms
that would lead to convergence in stem density (structure) over time, but
it was landscape variation in functional variables that declined
substantially. Stand structure and function have not converged across the
burned landscape, but our evidence suggests function will converge sooner
than structure.
YNP 2012 Extensive Data DryadThese data are for 2012 in an Excel
spreadsheet containing three sheets of data and one of metadata.YNP 1999
Extensive Data DryadThese data are for 1999 (originally included in Turner
et al. 2004, Ecosystems) and are in an Excel spreadsheet with three sheets
of data and one with metadata.
Yellowstone National Park
USA
Wyoming