Subalpine tree establishment after fire in the Olympic Mountains, Washington

Metadata:

• Identification_Information
• Data_Quality_Information
• Spatial_Data_Organization_Information
• Spatial_Reference_Information
• Entity_and_Attribute_Information
• Distribution_Information
• Metadata_Reference_Information

Identification_Information:

Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: James K. Agee and Larry Smith

Publication_Date: 198406

Title:

Subalpine tree establishment after fire in the Olympic Mountains, Washington

Series_Information:

Series_Name: Ecology

Issue_Identification: Vol. 65, No.3, June 1984.

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Tempe, Arizona

Publisher: Ecological Society of America

Description:

Abstract:

Rates of subalpine tree reestablishment were measured on the 1978 Hoh burn (3 yr old), the 1924 Mount Wilder burn (55 yr old), and the 1891 High Divide burn (88yr old) in Olympic National Park, Washington, USA. All three sites were Abies lasiocarpa/Tsuga mertensiana forest at the time of burning; Vaccinium spp. were dominant after the fire. Tree establishment rates were higher on burned sites during periods with generally above-average to average spring/summer precipitation than during below-average periods. Highest rates of tree establishment occurred close to fire edges. Current species composition on the older burns closely reflects the composition of residual trees. Drought resistance of the residual tree species may interact with climate to affect establishment rates. Tsuga mertensiana establishes best during wet periods; Abies lasiocarpa, Pseudotsuga menziesii and Pinus monticola establish well during normal periods. These patterns are quite different from tree invasion into heather (Phyllodoce/Cassiope) meadows, which occurred during a fairly discrete 1920-1940 regional drought when extended snow-free periods apparently existed in these meadows.

Purpose:

The study was concerned with identifying which subalpine plant communities are most flammable, how long fire-created meadows persist, and to what degree the reforestation process is predictable. This information was needed to evaluate the impact of allowing some naturally occurring fires to burn in Olympic National Park.

Supplemental_Information:

The geographic coordinates for this study are the coordinates of the Olympic Peninsula, estimated from as USGS 1:24000 map. For exact coordinates of the study sites, please contact the author.

Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Range_of_Dates/Times:

Beginning_Date: 1979

Ending_Date: 1981

Currentness_Reference: Observed

Status:

Progress: Complete

Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: None Planned

Spatial_Domain:

Description_of_Geographic_Extent:

3 fire sites within Olympic National Park were studied

Bounding_Coordinates:

West_Bounding_Coordinate: -124.7

East_Bounding_Coordinate: -122.6

North_Bounding_Coordinate: 48.4

South_Bounding_Coordinate: 46.9

Keywords:

Theme:

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Theme_Keyword: fire effects

Theme_Keyword: meadow invasion

Theme_Keyword: subalpine forests

Place:

Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Place_Keyword: USA

Place_Keyword: Pacific Northwest

Place_Keyword: Washington

Place_Keyword: Olympic Peninsula

Place_Keyword: Olympic National Park

Place_Keyword: Hoh

Place_Keyword: Mount Wilder

Place_Keyword: High Divide

Stratum:

Stratum_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Temporal:

Temporal_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Taxonomy:

Taxonomic_Keywords: Abies lasiocarpa

Taxonomic_Keywords: Tsuga mertensiana

Taxonomic_Coverage:

Specific_Taxonomic_Information:

General_Taxonomic_Coverage: All trees were identified to genus and species

Access_Constraints:

Contact author for data. Article may be obtained directly from Ecology, or from most libraries.

Use_Constraints: Must cite author if using data in published work

Point_of_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Dr. James K. Agee

Contact_Organization: University of Washington

Contact_Position: Professor of Forest Ecology

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: Mailing and Physical Address

Address: University of Washington

Address: Box 352100

City: Seattle

State_or_Province: Wa

Postal_Code: 98195-2100

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 206/543-2688

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 206/543-3254

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: jagee@u.washington.edu

Security_Information:

Security_Classification_System: None

Security_Classification: None

Security_Handling_Description: None

Data_Quality_Information:

Lineage:

Methodology:

Methodology_Type: Field

Methodology_Identifier:

Methodology_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Methodology_Keyword: vegetation sampling

Methodology_Description:

METHODS One 50 x 50 m plot was randomly established in the central portion of the High Divide fire and separated into 10 x 10 m cells. All trees, including seedlings, were identified by cell location, species, and height. Age was determined by increment coring either at the base, or at a minimal height above the base; any tree that could not be cored was aged by harvesting the tree and cutting a basal disc. Shrub and herbaceous cover on the 50 x 50 m plot was sampled along 10m line transects randomly located along five stratified lines parallel to the slope contour (Buell and Cantlon 1950). Sampling procedures were identical at Mount Wilder, except that two 50 x 50 m plots were randomly established in the central "open" portion of the burned area and two "edge" plots were randomly located within 200 m of unburned forest. The 200m distance was selected as a boundary between the "edge" and "open" plots due to the substantial decline in seed fall in openings further than 125 m from clearcut edges for Tsuga mertensiana (Franklin and Smith 1974) and probably for its heavier seeded associated species, too. The Hoh fire regeneration was sampled with reconnaissance methods. Seedling establishment was monitored with 1 m radius plots in year 1 (1979) and year (1981), but substantial browsing, wallowing, and trampling of the area by native Roosevelt elk (Cervus elaphus roosevelti Merriam) and exotic mountain goats(Oreamnos americanus Blainville, introduced into the Olympic Mountains in the 1920s) resulted in the destruction of precise sampling points. A 30 x 50 m permanent plot was established for future reference. One 2.2 x 30 m belt transect was placed perpendicular to the forest edge into an unburned heath dominated meadow on a bench near the High Divide fire. This meadow showed no evidence of fire for at least the past century or two. Both Phyllodoce empetriformis and Cassiope mertensiana occur in such meadows, which are hereafter referred to as heather meadows. Tree invasion apparently unrelated to fire was occurring on this 15% south facing slope. All trees within the transect were aged.

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

All tree core and disc samples were returned to the laboratory, sanded, and counted under a dissecting microscope. Tree ages are accurate to ±2 yr at best, with generally higher precision in the younger specimens. Sources of error include occasional missing rings, uncertainty in determining the exact location of the tree base, and some estimation of age from tree core height to the tree base on larger specimens. Selection of appropriate time intervals to analyze general climatic trends was subjective. There are no regularly operating weather stations with long periods of record at subalpine sites in the Olympic Mountains. Annual totals may mask short term phenomena that affect seedling survival. Regional dendrochronological records were selected for defining climatic intervals (Brubaker 1980). Principal component analysis using records across Washington associated regional tree growth anomaly patterns with climatic variation. The amplitudes of tree-growth eigenvector I correlated with spring-summer rainfall in both eastern and western Washington. Positive amplitudes imply above average and negative values below average growing season rainfall. The eigenvector I amplitudes from Brubaker (1980)were used to create short interval and long interval classifications defining dry, normal, and wet spring/summer conditions. The short interval climate periods were identified as dry if three consecutive years had negative amplitudes and at least two of those exceeded - 0.5. Wet periods were similarly defined using positive amplitudes. Other years were grouped into normal periods. The long interval climate periods were identified as dry or wet in the same manner. With the exception of a long normal period, 1959-1972, all other normal periods were very short (=4 yr) and therefore were halved and assigned to the adjacent wet or dry period. Given the uncertainties in actual dates of tree establishment, definition of more precise climatic intervals was not justified. The effects on regeneration of general climatic patterns, distance to edge, and presence of nearby seed source were analyzed, using standard analysis of variance (ANOVA) and covariance (ANOCOV) techniques. The objective of all analyses was to separate the variance in the establishment rates associated with seed source from that due to general climate. The High Divide tree establishment data were analyzed, using a one way ANOCOV, with the tree establishment per year over the interval defined as the dependent variable, the short interval climatic period (three levels)used as the independent variable, and number of trees on the plot exceeding 20 yr of age at the beginning of the interval as an initial stocking covariate. At Mount Wilder the effect on regeneration of plot distance from the fire edge and climate was tested by ANOVA, using tree establishment per year over the interval as the dependent variable, with distance from edge (two levels: open and edge) and broad climate periods (dry and normal/wet) as independent variables. A second analysis of the Mount Wilder data was designed to test the effect of immediately adjacent stocking on annual tree establishment rate within each of the nine central 10 x 10 m subplots within the two edge plots. A two-way ANOCOV was used, with the two plots as blocks, broad climate period (dry, normal, wet) as the independent variable, and stocking of trees older than 20 yr at the beginning of the climate period in the subplot and in all surrounding subplots as the covariate. All analyses required transformations of the dependent variable to meet the analysis assumptions. No transformation was successful in meeting the homogeneity of variance assumption on the Mount Wilder edge plot analysis, and results should be interpreted cautiously.

Process_Date: Unknown

Process_Time: Unknown

Process_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Dr. James K. Agee

Contact_Organization: University of Washington

Contact_Position: Professor of Forest Ecology

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: Mailing and Physical Address

Address: University of Washington

Address: Box 352100

City: Seattle

State_or_Province: Wa

Postal_Code: 98195-2100

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 206/543-2688

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 206/543-3254

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: jagee@u.washington.edu

Distribution_Information:

Distributor:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Dr. James K. Agee

Contact_Organization: University of Washington

Contact_Position: Professor of Forest Ecology

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: Mailing and Physical Address

Address: University of Washington

Address: Box 352100

City: Seattle

State_or_Province: Wa

Postal_Code: 98195-2100

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 206/543-2688

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 206/543-3254

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: jagee@u.washington.edu

Standard_Order_Process:

Non-digital_Form:

Contact author for reprint, or obtain copy from local library or the "Ecology" journal.

Fees: none

Metadata_Reference_Information:

Metadata_Date: 19980718

Metadata_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Robert Norheim

Contact_Organization: University of Washington

Contact_Position: GIS Technician

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: Mailing and Physical Address

Address: University of Washington, Box 352100

City: Seattle

State_or_Province: Washington

Postal_Code: 98195

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 206/543-9138

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 206/543-9138

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: norheim@u.washington.edu

Contact_Instructions: Unavailable

Metadata_Standard_Name:

Content Standards for National Biological Information Infrastructure Metadata

Metadata_Standard_Version:

NBII Draft of December 1995, Based FGDC of June 8, 1994

Metadata_Access_Constraints: None

Metadata_Use_Constraints: None

Metadata_Security_Information:

Metadata_Security_Classification_System: None

Metadata_Security_Classification: Unclassified

Metadata_Security_Handling_Description: None