Skip to main content
Dryad

Systematic review of post-fire forest recovery at high latitudes

Abstract

Through this systematic review, we sought to determine the general relationship between post-fire tree regeneration densities and latitude in forests above 40º N/S. We expected regeneration densities post-fire would decrease with increasing latitude, and that forest regeneration would be negatively impacted by high burn severities, forest management, harsh site conditions, and unprotected microsites. We also anticipated that light-demanding species with adaptations to fire would replace shade-tolerant species that lack such adaptations post-fire. To achieve our objective and test our hypotheses, we analyzed 93 articles that directly measured post-fire regeneration at or above 40º N/S.