Reader Comments
Post a new comment on this article
Post Your Discussion Comment
Please follow our guidelines for comments and review our competing interests policy. Comments that do not conform to our guidelines will be promptly removed and the user account disabled. The following must be avoided:
- Remarks that could be interpreted as allegations of misconduct
- Unsupported assertions or statements
- Inflammatory or insulting language
Thank You!
Thank you for taking the time to flag this posting; we review flagged postings on a regular basis.
closeNot enough data? Postfire logging?
Posted by bakerwl on 03 Jun 2014 at 04:36 GMT
Dr. Brown has some anecdotal observations about tree recruitment after recent fires, but not an adequate or systematic sample that allows scientific conclusions to be drawn.
For example, to determine whether recruitment is limited by fire patch size, climate, or other factors, human-effects on postfire tree recruitment must be excluded by sampling in areas without postfire logging. Keyser et al. (2009) in Int. J. Wildland Fire 18:451 found that in the Jasper fire that Dr. Brown observed: “In moderate-severity sites, regeneration was 75% lower in salvaged sites owing to low seed-tree retention, suggesting a re-evaluation of salvage guidelines during future operations in the Black Hills.” It appears that postfire logging could explain some or all of the lack of tree regeneration in the Jasper fire.
Tree recruitment after recent fires is a complex topic that requires a large sample and a careful analysis and controls in order to be able to exclude the many possible competing explanations.
Bill Baker
RE: Not enough data? Postfire logging?
pmbrmtrr replied to bakerwl on 03 Jun 2014 at 14:02 GMT
Certainly there needs to be more research in recent fires concerning lack of regeneration and why, but Dr. Baker only provides an anecdotal observation to address my anecdotal observations. And he supports my point while doing so: the Keyser et al quote is from a moderate severity burn area, where seed trees were still present, irrespective of the level of post-fire logging, and at least some regeneration did occur even if reduced over other areas.
But my question concerns a much more basic ecological question: where does the seed come from in a severely burned ponderosa pine forest for recruitment to occur? Forget current forests and all these side issues with salvage logging, cutting of the big trees, anything management may have done, but in the past? How could a 10,000 acre opening – with no living trees left - in a ponderosa pine forest have led to “abundant and fire-stimulated” recovery after a fire in, say, 1851?
RE: RE: Not enough data? Postfire logging?
hutto replied to pmbrmtrr on 03 Jun 2014 at 19:59 GMT
Tree recruitment obviously occurred after severe fires of the past...it happens, and it's not magic. You simply have to open your eyes to what a few key animal species do with PIPO seeds.