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Modelling Spatial Interactions Among Fire, Spruce Budworm, and Logging in the Boreal Forest

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Abstract

In the boreal forest, fire, insects, and logging all affect spatial patterns in forest age and species composition. In turn, spatial legacies in age and composition can facilitate or constrain further disturbances and have important consequences for forest spatial structure and sustainability. However, the complex three-way interactions among fire, insects, and logging and their combined effects on forest spatial structure have seldom been investigated. We used a spatially explicit landscape simulation model to examine these interactions. Specifically, we investigated how the amount and the spatial scale of logging (cutblock size) in combination with succession, fire, and spruce budworm outbreaks affect area burned and area defoliated. Simulations included 30 replicates of 300 years for each of 19 different disturbance scenarios. More disturbances increased both the fragmentation and the proportion of coniferous species and imposed additional constraints on the extent of each disturbance. We also found that harvesting legacies affect fire and budworm differently due to differences in forest types consumed by each disturbance. Contrary to expectation, budworm defoliation did not affect area burned at the temporal scales studied and neither amount of logging nor cutblock size influenced defoliation extent. Logging increased fire size through conversion of more of the landscape to early seral, highly flammable forest types. Although logging increased the amount of budworm host species, spruce budworm caused mortality was reduced due to reductions in forest age. In general, we found that spatial legacies do not influence all disturbances equally and the duration of a spatial legacy is limited when multiple disturbances are present. Further information on post-disturbance succession is still needed to refine our understanding of long-term disturbance interactions.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a NSERC-PGS and CFS-NSERC Supplement to PMAJ and a NSERC Discovery grant to MJF and SFMN funding to Kneeshaw and others. Additional financial support for BRS was provided by the US National Fire Plan.

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Author notes

  1. Patrick M. A. James

    Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E9, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, 33 Willcocks St., Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3B3, Canada

    Patrick M. A. James

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Harbord St., Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G5, Canada

    M.-J. Fortin

  3. USDA Forest Service, 5985 Hwy K, Rhinelander, Wisconsin, 54501, USA

    B. R. Sturtevant

  4. Gowlland Technologies Ltd., Tucker Bay Road, Lasqueti Island, British Columbia, V0R 2J0, Canada

    A. Fall

  5. Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case Postale 8888, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, Quebec, H3C 3P8, Canada

    D. Kneeshaw

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  1. Patrick M. A. James
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Correspondence to Patrick M. A. James.

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Author Contributions

PMAJ designed the study, performed research, analyzed data, contributed new methods, and wrote the paper. MJF designed the study and wrote the paper. BRS designed the study and wrote the paper. AF designed the study, contributed new methods, and wrote the paper. DK designed the study and wrote the paper.

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James, P.M.A., Fortin, MJ., Sturtevant, B.R. et al. Modelling Spatial Interactions Among Fire, Spruce Budworm, and Logging in the Boreal Forest. Ecosystems 14, 60–75 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-010-9395-5

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