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Are post-fire residual forest patches refugia for boreal bryophyte species? Implications for ecosystem based management and conservation

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Abstract

Residual patches of forest remaining after natural or anthropogenic disturbance may facilitate regeneration of fragmented forest. However, residual patch function remains unclear, especially after natural wildfire. We investigate the role of residual boreal forest patches as refugia for bryophytes and ask the question, do they house bryophyte communities similar to those encountered in undisturbed forests? Bryophytes were sampled in three habitat types in black spruce boreal forests illustrating a gradient of disturbance severity: undisturbed forests, residual patches and burned matrices. Temporal, disturbance severity, spatial and structural variables of habitats were also recorded. Bryophyte community composition differed among habitat types with residual patches characterized by higher species richness, the loss of forest specialists and the addition of disturbance-prone species. The bryophyte community found in residual patches is at the interface between the communities of undisturbed forests and burned matrices. As residual patches did not conserve all species, particularly forest specialists, they were not refugia. However, we identify temporal, spatial and structural characteristics that can maintain bryophyte communities most similar to undisturbed forests and enhance residual patch “refugia potential”. Residual patches enhance bryophyte diversity of the landscape housing species that cannot survive in the burned matrix. As conclusion we discuss the use of retention patches in harvested stands, together with the preservation of undisturbed stands that house singular bryophyte communities and especially sensitive forest specialists.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Chafi Chaieb who provided bryophyte samples from the undisturbed forest sites and Julie Arseneault for their identification. Authors would also like to thank: Emilie E. Chavel and Louiza Moussaoui who provided some of the environmental data used in this paper; Myriam Paquette, Flora Joubier, Louis Dubois and Philippe Heine for their field assistance; Danielle Charron, Philippe Duval, Raynald Julien, Danièle Laporte, Marie-Hélène Longpré, and Michel Poitras for their technical support; Marc J. Mazerolle for his statistical advice; and Jean Faubert for his precious help in the identification of the most difficult bryophyte samples.

Funding

This study was funded by the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) and the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) in partnership with Tembec, Eacom and Resolute Forest Products.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de recherche sur les forêts, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, 445 Boul. de l’Université, Rouyn-Noranda, QC, J9X 4E5, Canada

    Marion Barbé, Nicole J. Fenton & Yves Bergeron

  2. Chaire industrielle UQAM-UQAT en aménagement forestier durable, Institut de recherche sur les forêts, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, 445 Boul. de l’Université, Rouyn-Noranda, QC, J9X 4E5, Canada

    Yves Bergeron

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  1. Marion Barbé
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Correspondence to Marion Barbé.

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Additional information

Communicated by T. G. Allan Green.

This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Forest and plantation biodiversity.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

10531_2016_1281_MOESM1_ESM.docx

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 43 kb) Online Resource 1 Temporal, severity, spatial and structural variables measured at each of the undisturbed forests, residual patches and burned matrices sampled

10531_2016_1281_MOESM2_ESM.docx

Supplementary material 2 (DOCX 78 kb) Online Resource 2 Number of bryophyte taxa found at each habitat type: undisturbed forest, residual patch and burned matrix in boreal black spruce feather-moss forest after wildfire in western Québec region

Supplementary material 3 (DOCX 18 kb) Online Resource 3 Correlation coefficients among 12 environmental variables

10531_2016_1281_MOESM4_ESM.docx

Supplementary material 4 (DOCX 18 kb) Online Resource 4 Mean and SD of continuous environmental variables per habitat type

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Barbé, M., Fenton, N.J. & Bergeron, Y. Are post-fire residual forest patches refugia for boreal bryophyte species? Implications for ecosystem based management and conservation. Biodivers Conserv 26, 943–965 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1281-9

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