Regional Variation in Interior Alaskan Boreal Forests is Driven by Fire Disturbance, Topography, and Climate

Abstract

We developed landscape-scale spatial models of tree species occupancy and abundance in Yukon–Charley Rivers National Preserve (YCNP), a remote and little-studied region in east-central Alaska. We compared these results with similar work completed in Denali National Park (see Roland et al. 2013). These two areas are a study in contrasts. Specifically, YCNP is a highly continental region with warmer growing seasons, a topographically diverse lowland landscape, and a considerably greater footprint of recent fire disturbance. Our two study areas thus effectively frame a “natural experiment” that allowed us to examine various hypotheses regarding expected changes in the Alaskan boreal forest due to a rapidly warming climate in Alaska. These photographs illustrate the article “Regional variation in interior Alaskan boreal forests is driven by fire disturbance, topography, and climate” by Carl A. Roland, Joshua H. Schmidt, Samantha G. Winder, Sarah. E. Stehn, and E. Fleur Nicklen published in Ecological Monographs. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1369