Fuel characteristics, loads and consumption in Scots pine forests of central Siberia

Galina A Ivanova,Valery A Ivanov,Susan G Conard,Elena A Kukavskaya,Douglas J Mcrae

doi:10.1007/s11676-019-01038-0

Abstract

Forest fuel investigations in central and southern Siberian taiga of Scots pine forest stands dominated by lichen and feather moss ground vegetation cover revealed that total aboveground biomass varied from 13.1 to 21.0 kg/m2. Stand biomass was higher in plots in the southern taiga, while ground fuel loads were higher in the central taiga. We developed equations for fuel biomass (both aerial and ground) that could be applicable to similar pine forest sites of Central Siberia. Fuel loading variability found among plots is related to the impact and recovery time since the last wildfire and the mosaic distribution of living vegetation. Fuel consumption due to surface fires of low to high-intensities ranged from 0.95 to 3.08 kg/m2, that is, 18–74% from prefire values. The total amount of fuels available to burn in case of fire was up to 4.5–6.5 kg/m2. Moisture content of fuels (litter, lichen, feather moss) was related to weather conditions characterized by the Russian Fire Danger Index (PV-1) and FWI code of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System. The data obtained provide a strong foundation for understanding and modeling fire behavior, emissions, and fire effects on ecosystem processes and carbon stocks and could be used to improve existing global and regional models that incorporate biomass and fuel characteristics.

Highlights

Boreal forest ecosystems contain large stores of carbon and occur in northern regions where climate is warming most rapidly and fires are becoming more frequent and more severe (Groisman et al 2017)
Because Russia contains some two-thirds of the global boreal forest, accurate data on fuel characteristics and impacts of fire in these systems are important for improving our understanding of fuel consumption, emissions, and effects of fire on regional and global carbon stocks
We explored a number of independent variables, and concluded that regressions based on the logarithm of diameter at breast height (DBH) provided the best models for representing biomass components across the range of our sampled trees

Summary

Introduction

Boreal forest ecosystems contain large stores of carbon and occur in northern regions where climate is warming most rapidly and fires are becoming more frequent and more severe (Groisman et al 2017). Because Russia contains some two-thirds of the global boreal forest, accurate data on fuel characteristics and impacts of fire in these systems are important for improving our understanding of fuel consumption, emissions, and effects of fire on regional and global carbon stocks. Even within Russia, forests vary widely in biomass and fuel characteristics and in fire regimes—differences that are often not captured in global models or appreciated by forest managers or decisionmakers. Among about 1200 million ha of boreal forests in Russia, 115.2 million ha are dominated by Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). About 18% of all forest fires in Russia occur in Scots pine stands (Bartalev et al 2015).

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