Changing disturbance regimes, ecological memory, and forest resilience
Open accessAbstract
Ecological memory is central to how ecosystems respond to disturbance and is maintained by two types of legacies – information and material. Species life‐history traits represent an adaptive response to disturbance and are an information legacy; in contrast, the abiotic and biotic structures (such as seeds or nutrients) produced by single disturbance events are material legacies. Disturbance characteristics that support or maintain these legacies enhance ecological resilience and maintain a “safe operating space” for ecosystem recovery. However, legacies can be lost or diminished as disturbance regimes and environmental conditions change, generating a “resilience debt” that manifests only after the system is disturbed. Strong effects of ecological memory on post‐disturbance dynamics imply that contingencies (effects that cannot be predicted with certainty) of individual disturbances, interactions among disturbances, and climate variability combine to affect ecosystem resilience. We illustrate these concepts and introduce a novel ecosystem resilience framework with examples of forest disturbances, primarily from North America. Identifying legacies that support resilience in a particular ecosystem can help scientists and resource managers anticipate when disturbances may trigger abrupt shifts in forest ecosystems, and when forests are likely to be resilient.
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Post-fire vegetation successional trajectories depend on numerous factors, including fire size and effects, pre- and post-fire climate, recent fire history and plant life-history traits related to survival and recolonization.
“Post-fire vegetation successional trajectories depend on numerous factors, including fire size and effects, pre-and post-fire climate, recent fire history and plant life-history traits related to survival and recolonization (Davis, Higuera, & Sala, 2018;Johnstone et al., 2016).”
From Fire as a fundamental ecological process: Research advances and frontiers (2020) · cites this paper as Johnstone et al., 2016
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Research works printed but not linked: 2
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“Post-fire vegetation successional trajectories depend on numerous factors, including fire size and effects, pre-and post-fire climate, recent fire history and plant life-history traits related to survival and recolonization (Davis, Higuera, & Sala, 2018; Johnstone et al., 2016).”
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Changing spatial patterns of stand-replacing fire in California conifer forests
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- Authors
- Johnstone, J. F., Allen, C. D., Franklin, J. F., Frelich, L. E., Harvey, B. J., Higuera, P. E., Mack, M. C., Meentemeyer, R. K., Metz, M. R., Perry, G. L., Schoennagel, T., & Turner, M. G.
- Affiliations
- University of Saskatchewan (CA)
- United States Geological Survey (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- University of Montana (US)
- Northern Arizona University (US)
- North Carolina State University (US)
- Lewis & Clark College (US)
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Corresponding author
- Johnstone, Jill F
- ORCID
- Venue
- Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-09
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 369-378
- ISSN
- 1540-9295 (ISSN-L)
- 1540-9309
- OpenAlex
- W2508512371
- Cited by
- 1,513
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 190 · 2025: 181 · 2024: 156 · 2023: 149 · 2022: 164 · 2021: 205 · 2020: 181 · 2019: 130 · 2018: 90 · 2017: 52 · 2016: 10 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 70.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Geological Survey
- National Park Service
- National Science Foundation (DEB‐EF‐0622770, IIA‐0966472, ARC‐1023669)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Ecosystem dynamics and resilience
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
- Keywords
- ecological memory, forest resilience, disturbance regimes, material legacies, safe operating space, life-history traits, climate variability, disturbance interactions, forest disturbance
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