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Succession in the southern part of the Canadian boreal forest

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Abstract

Forest succession following fire in a forest mosaic of northwestern Quebec has been studied in order to: (1) describe the successional pathways using communities of different ages and (2) evaluate convergence of successional pathways and possible effect of fire suppression on the establishment of steady-state communities. As a first step, ordination and classification techniques were used in order to remove changes in forest composition which are related to abiotic conditions. Then, ordinations based on tree diameter distributions were used to study shifts in species composition in relation to time since the last fire.

Even under similar abiotic conditions, successional pathways are numerous. However, regardless of forest composition after fire, most stands show convergence toward dominance of Thuja occidentalis and Picea mariana on xeric sites and dominance of Abies balsamea and Thuja occidentalis on more mesic sites. Stable communities of >300 yr occur on xeric sites while on mesic sites directional succession still occurs after 224 yr. Nearly all species involved in succession are present in the first 50 yr following fire. Only Abies balsamea and Thuja occidentalis increase significantly in frequency during succession. Following initial establishment, successional processes can generally be explained by species longevity and shade tolerance. Early successional species may be abundant in the canopy for more than 200 yr while the rapid decrease of Picea glauca, a late successional species could be related to spruce budworm outbreaks. Considering the short fire rotation observed (about 150 yr), a steady-state forest is unlikely to occur under natural conditions, though it may be possible if fire is controlled.

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Author notes

  1. Michelle Dubue

    Present address: Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Avenue Dr Penfield, H3A 1B1, Montreal, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Groupe de Recherche en Écologie Forestière, Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, CP 8888 Succ A, H3C 3P8, Montréal, Canada

    Yves Bergeron

  2. Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, CP 6128 Succ A, H3C 3J7, Montréal, Canada

    Michelle Dubue

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Bergeron, Y., Dubue, M. Succession in the southern part of the Canadian boreal forest. Vegetatio 79, 51–63 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00044848

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