Planted seedling survival in a post-wildfire landscape: From experimental planting to predictive probabilistic surfaces

作者：Christopher Marsh, Joseph L. Crockett, Daniel Krofcheck, A. Keyser, Craig D. Allen, M. E. Litvak, Matthew D. Hurteau · 发表于：Forest Ecology and Management · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120524 · 被引用次数：47 · 研究领域：Fire effects on ecosystems、Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics、Forest ecology and management

Across the southwestern United States, high-severity wildfire is causing increasingly large areas of tree mortality and removing the seed sources required for the natural regeneration of these formerly conifer-dominated landscapes. Planting tree seedlings can accelerate reforestation, but in the semi-arid southwestern US, the survival of planted conifer seedlings is typically low. Our research examined how post-fire planting success is influenced by climate, topographic, biotic, and microclimate factors. We present data on a seedling planting experiment within the footprint of the 2011 Las Conchas Fire in northern New Mexico. We planted 768 tree seedlings of four species: ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), piñon (P. edulis), southwestern white pine (P. strobiformis), and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) in an area burned at high-severity and densely populated by New Mexico locust (Robinia neomexicana) and other shrub species. We established experimental plots stratified by aspect, either northerly or southerly, and cover, either planted under New Mexico locust or in the open, and collected topographical and microclimate measurements over three years. Mean survival over the 3-year period for all species in all treatments was 20%. Using microclimate variables and site-level topographical indices in a piecewise exponential model, we first determined how these factors influenced seedling survival of four conifer tree species, finding that topographical indices describing incomi...