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Type: Journal Article
Author(s): Chao Li; Hugh J. Barclay; Brad C. Hawkes; Stephen W. Taylor
Publication Date: 2005

Because mountain pine beetle attack mature pine stands, an understanding of forest age class dynamics is important to managing forests within the distribution of the beetle. The assumed theoretical negative exponential forest age distribution provides an estimate when ecosystem dynamics are in equilibrium. This study investigates the dynamics of forest age distribution for non-equilibrium ecosystem dynamics, which result primarily from large and irregular stand-replacement fire disturbances that alter the forest age distribution. A model experiment using the SEM-LAND model on a 1 million ha lodgepole pine forest landscape was conducted to estimate how the proportion of susceptible area could be influenced by different fire regimes. The results of the simulation suggest that the temporal dynamics of the area susceptible to mountain pine beetle attack are complex and depend on the fire history of the study area, if the area is experiencing large and irregular stand-replacement fires. The age range of the lodgepole pine forest stands susceptible to mountain pine beetle attack might significantly affect the estimate of the area susceptible to attack.

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Citation: Li, C., H. J. Barclay, B. C. Hawkes, and S. W. Taylor. 2005. Lodgepole pine forest age class dynamics and susceptibility to mountain pine beetle attack. Ecological Complexity, v. 2, no. 3, p. 232-239.

Cataloging Information

Topics:
Regions:
Alaska    California    Eastern    Great Basin    Hawaii    Northern Rockies    Northwest    Rocky Mountain    Southern    Southwest    International    National
Keywords:
  • age classes
  • British Columbia
  • Canada
  • catastrophic fires
  • Dendroctonus ponderosae
  • distribution
  • fire cycle
  • fire frequency
  • fire regime
  • fire regimes
  • forest age distribution
  • forest management
  • insects
  • lodgepole pine
  • MPB - mountain pine beetle
  • pine forests
  • Pinus contorta
  • plant diseases
  • SEM-LAND model
  • statistical analysis
  • wildfires
Tall Timbers Record Number: 19632Location Status: In-fileCall Number: Fire FileAbstract Status: Fair use, Okay, Reproduced by permission
Record Last Modified:
Record Maintained By: FRAMES Staff (https://www.frames.gov/contact)
FRAMES Record Number: 44296

This bibliographic record was either created or modified by Tall Timbers and is provided without charge to promote research and education in Fire Ecology. The E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database is the intellectual property of Tall Timbers.