How do large, infrequent fires affect the spatial heterogeneity of forest ecosystem processes?
Kashian, Daniel*,1, Turner, Monica1, Romme, William2, 1 University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin2 Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, Colorado ABSTRACT- Understanding the implications of landscape heterogeneity and disturbance dynamics for ecosystem processes remains a challenging task. Although ecologists have made strong advances in understanding temporal dynamics of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) of forests, the spatial variability of ANPP and its changes through time are poorly understood across broad spatial scales, particularly in response to large, infrequent disturbances. The 1988 Yellowstone fires resulted in a 250,000-ha mosaic of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) regeneration that varies widely in both seedling density (CV=175.9%) and in ANPP (CV=105.7%). To examine the temporal dynamics of this spatial variation in ANPP, we estimated ANPP across a chronosequence of stands ranging in age from 50 to 350 years and in density from 460 to
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