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Abiotic Factors Modify Ponderosa Pine Regeneration Outcomes After High-Severity Fire

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Abstract

Large high-severity burn patches are increasingly common in southwestern US dry conifer forests. Seed-obligate conifers often fail to quickly regenerate large patches because their seeds rarely travel the distances required to reach core patch area. Abiotic factors may further alter the distance seeds can travel to regenerate a patch, which would change expected post-fire regeneration patterns. We used the presence and density of ponderosa pine regeneration as a proxy for seed dispersal to quantify the effect of abiotic factors on seed dispersal into high-severity patches. We established 45 transects in burn patches across the Gila National Forest, NM, USA, to measure regeneration density in areas that varied by aspect, slope, and prevailing wind direction relative to intact forest. We modeled the effect of abiotic factors on regeneration presence and density, comparing density estimates against a distance-only model to assess differences in model performance and expected regeneration density. We found the highest regeneration densities on north-facing aspects that were near, downwind, and downslope of intact forest, which decreased in density and likelihood as conditions for seed dispersal became less favorable. Accounting for abiotic factors improved model performance and increased regeneration density estimates compared to the distance-only model. Our findings indicate that regeneration presence and density vary as a function of the interaction between abiotic factors and distance to the primary seed source, which is determined by patch characteristics. Therefore, abiotic factors will have a smaller effect on regeneration outcomes in large, simple patches, which have more area further from the patch edge.

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Data Availability

Data and code used in this research are available at: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2547d7wxh.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge and appreciate the assistance of Joseph Crockett, Marissa Goodwin, and Carolina May for their help with data collection.

Funding

This work was supported by the Interagency Carbon Cycle Science program grant no. 2017-67004-26486/project accession no. 1012226 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Joint Fire Science Program under Project JFSP 16-1-05-8. This work was also supported by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative—Education and Workforce Development program grant no. 2022-67011-36462/project accession no. 1028071 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

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  1. Biology Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

    Kevin G. Willson & Matthew D. Hurteau

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  1. Kevin G. Willson
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Correspondence to Kevin G. Willson.

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KW and MH designed the study, performed research, analyzed data, and wrote the paper.

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Willson, K.G., Hurteau, M.D. Abiotic Factors Modify Ponderosa Pine Regeneration Outcomes After High-Severity Fire. Ecosystems (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-024-00911-2

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