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Wildfire-mediated forest type conversion in northwestern North America is the latest webinar from Forest Professionals British Columbia (FPBC).
Recent post-fire tree regeneration failures and the resulting shifts in vegetation communities after fire have contributed to a growing concern that forest resilience to wildfire is increasingly unstable in northwestern North America. Increasing area burned, leading to large areas with high tree mortality and shortening fire-free intervals, alongside harsh, warm, and dry post-fire conditions for seedling establishment seem to have created conditions that promote a reduction of conifer reestablishment.
In some ecosystems where alternative seed sources from faster-growing trees (e.g., aspen, birch, or Jack pine) are available, burned forests may transition to a persistent alternate composition. In others, the result has been a complete forest regeneration failure and forest loss. Although seedling establishment can continue for decades after a fire in some regions, the occurrence of these events appears to be increasing, with important implications for the future of forests in northwestern North America.
Presenter(s):
Ellen Whitman, PhD.
Whitman holds a doctorate in forest biology and management from the University of Alberta, where her work focused on fire ecology, with an emphasis on remote sensing of ecological fire effects, and understanding post-fire recovery in the northwestern boreal forest. Currently, she is a forest fire research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service at the Northern Forestry Centre in Edmonton, AB. Her recent research scope includes conducting dendrochronology analysis of historical wildfires, studying climate change impacts on fire regimes and forests. Ellen conducts collaborative research with land managers and Indigenous peoples, and is currently engaged in studies that involve First Nations as partners in knowledge production.
