PARENT SESSION
Organized Oral Session 37: Post-fire conversion of forest to non-forest: Do we need new theory?
Organizer(s): RG Balice, B Romme, and TW Swetnam
Wednesday, August 10, 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM, Meeting Room 511 C, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal

The post-fire secondary succession paradigm: Are there predictable alternative trajectories?

Balice, Randy^*,1, Swetnam, Thomas², Romme, Bill³, Allen, Craig⁴, ¹ Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM² University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ³ Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO⁴ U.S. Geological Survey, Los Alamos, NM

ABSTRACT- Fire is a well-known ecological process and a primary force that initiates secondary succession in a variety of forest types throughout North America. The endpoints of these sequences are presumed to be forests. However, we present examples where forested landscapes that have burned during the past 100 years appear to be exhibiting long-term conversions to non-forest types of communities. The implications of post-fire type conversions from forests to non-forests are profound, with potential impacts to many ecological processes, in addition to succession. We conclude by asking three basic questions: 1) What is the frequency of post-fire conversion of forest vegetation to non-forest vegetation, and is there evidence that the frequency is changing through time? 2) Under what conditions and via what specific ecological processes, does fire convert forest vegetation to non-forest vegetation? 3) What are the implications of these conclusions to ecological processes, ecological theory and paradigms relating to post-fire secondary succession, and to wildland management?

Key words: post-fire succession