Fire Frequency and Subalpine Forest Succession Along a Topographic Gradient in Wyoming
Romme WH and Knight DH. 1981. Fire Frequency and Subalpine Forest Succession Along a Topographic Gradient in Wyoming. Ecology. 62(2):319–326
Differences in fire frequency and the rate of secondary succession following fire have had a major effect on the present composition of forest vegetation in a 4500-ha undisturbed watershed in the subalpine zone of the Medicine Bow Mountains, southeastern Wyoming, USA. Periodic fire coupled with slow secondary succession has perpetuated lodgepole pine forest on the upland, while mature Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir forest have developed in sheltered ravines and valley bottoms where fire is less frequent and succession following fire is more rapid and/or more direct. A graphic model is presented showing the relationship between topographic position, fire-free interval, and the occurrence of mature forests dominated by spruce and fir. (Abstract by Romme and Knight as printed in Ecology).
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Romme, William; Knight, Dennis
- Units
- BICA , GRTE , YELL
- Keywords
- Ecology, FIRE, Fire History, Forest, Subalpine Zone, Succession, Trees