Fire in old forest leaves a distinctive two-age-class structure
Evidence
When forests over 150 years of age are subjected to fire, the large old trees often survive the blaze due to their thicker bark and the greater thermal mass of their wood that, in combination, resist the damaging heat of a fire. Small-and medium-sized trees are often killed and eventually replaced by an even-aged, younger cohort of trees that colonize after the fire. The result is a forest populated with just two age classes—the larger, older, fire-resistant trees and the smaller, young, post-fire cohort (F.1),. — Tom Wessels, Forest Forensics, 127
Categorization
- XREF: The two-age-class signature is a direct structural manifestation of the no-pristine-forest view linking to Cronon. — connects to: Coring dominant fire-adapted trees dates stand origin after burns. — Miron L. Heinselman, Fire in the Virgin Forests of the…, 93; Forest age and composition changes cluster along disturbance-history boundaries — Tom Wessels, Forest Forensics: A Field Guide to…, 30; Legible disturbance layers from fire and glacier shape today’s shoreline — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 624 (+2 more)
Related
- Contrasting stand ages let fire boundaries be traced on airphoto maps. (similarity 0.83)
- The landscape mosaic remains fire-created even after sixty years of suppression. (similarity 0.82)
- Coring dominant fire-adapted trees dates stand origin after burns. (similarity 0.81)
- Virtually every BWCA forest stand regenerated after fire since 1595 (similarity 0.81)
- Virtually every BWCA virgin forest stand burned since 1595. (similarity 0.79)
- Five fire years created nearly three-quarters of today’s forest stands. (similarity 0.79)
- Surface fires returned every 36 years on average in surviving pine stands. (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Forest age and composition changes cluster along disturbance-history boundaries
#corroborates(0.82) — Tom Wessels, Forest Forensics, 30 - Coring dominant fire-adapted trees dates stand origin after burns.
#corroborates(0.80) — Miron L. Heinselman, Fire in the Virgin Forests of the…, 93 - Landscape-level diversity in the BWCA depends on a fire-made mosaic of successional stages.
#expands(0.80) — Miron L. Heinselman, Fire in the Virgin Forests of the…, 411 - Legible disturbance layers from fire and glacier shape today’s shoreline
#exemplifies(0.75) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 624 - Tree species evolved distinct reproductive adaptations to fire
#expands(0.72) — Miron L. Heinselman, Fire in the Virgin Forests of the…, 44