Fire in the boreal forest
Rowe SJ and Scotter GW. 1973. Fire in the boreal forest. Quaternary Research. 3:444-464
The boreal forest in North America owes much of its floristic and faunistic diversity to periodic fires ignited by lightning and by man since he appeared on the scene. The indirect evidences of burning in vegetation and soils, and recent direct observation of fires, are reviewed. Fire is shown to exert a significant effect on vegetational composition, on soil chemical properties and thermal regime, and on animal populations through the particular habitat of created. In turn, fire is itself influenced by the nature of geographic landscape ecosystems according to their surface forms, accumulations of organic materials, and susceptibility to drought. It is concluded that fire should be viewed as a normal ecological process in the boreal forest. A thorough understanding of its long-term role in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems is needed.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Rowe, S; Scotter, G
- Units
- APIS , GLAC , GRPO , ISRO , PIRO , SLBE , VOYA
- Keywords
- Boreal Forest, FIRE, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects, Fire Regime, Management, Plant Communities