Citation

Coop JD, Parks SA, Stevens-Rumann CS, Crausbay SD, Higuera PE, Hurteau MD, Tepley A, Whitman E, Assal T, Collins BM, Davis KT, Dobrowski S, Falk DA, Fornwalt PJ, Fulé PZ, Harvey BJ, Kane VR, Littlefield CE, Margolis EQ, North M, Parisien MA, Prichard S, Rodman KC. BioScience 2020; 70(8): 659-673.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, American Institute of Biological Sciences, Publisher Bioone)

DOI

10.1093/biosci/biaa061

PMID

32821066 PMCID

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.

Language: en

Keywords

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