Summary
Published in Ecosystems 23:1075–1092. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00455-w
We used bioproxies from paleosoils buried within two aeolian dunes to test hypotheses concerning the origin of dry sandy boreal forests in Canada. These forests are dominated today by Pinus banksiana Lamb. One hypothesis is that too frequent Holocene stand-replacing fires would have transformed the original vegetation through extirpation of susceptible species to fire in water stress habitat. Alternatively, the ecosystem would have not changed since the dunes stabilized enough to support forest establishment. The vegetation composition and richness were determined by identification of charcoal and macroremains and radiocarbon dating for the chronology. Both sites revealed a similar history covering 6400 years. Half of the charcoal layers were less than 2500 years old in both sites, indicating that they had been subjected to the same fire history. Data indicated a stable plant composition and richness, although the percentage of Pinus decreased slightly over 4000 years (decreasing rate 1% per century). The fungus Cenococcum geophilum was consistently present, with a stochastic abundance. The vegetation grew under natural fire conditions and soil dryness since 6000 years. The ecosystem was probably not stressed by late-Holocene fires or climate changes, as the multi-millennial steady state reveals a resistant and resilient ecosystem.
Sector(s):
Forests
Categorie(s):
Scientific Article
Theme(s):
Ecosystems and Environment, Forestry Research, Forests
Departmental author(s):
Author(s)
CARCAILLET, Christopher, Mireille DESPONTS, Vincent ROBIN and Yves BERGERON
Year of publication :
2019
Format :
PDF available upon request
How to get the publication :
ISSN
1435-0629
Keywords :
forestry research scientific article, résilience, feu, paléoécologie, macrofossile, écosystèmes et environnement, perturbation, article scientifique de recherche forestière, ecosystems and environment, resilience, fire, paleoecology, macrofossil
