Wildfire effects on stream food webs and nutrient dynamics in Glacier National Park, USA
Abstract
We documented immediate and mid-term (5 years) impacts on streams from a large (15,500 ha) wildfire in northwestern Montana. Fire-related impacts were ecosystem-wide, extending from water chemistry to fish. During the initial firestorm, phosphorus and nitrogen levels increased 5- to 60-fold above background levels resulting from aerial deposition from smoke and ash. Nutrients returned to background concentrations within several weeks after the fire. During subsequent years, nutrient concentrations periodically increased in fire-impacted sites compared to reference sites, especially during spring run-off. Evidence of post-fire changes was also documented in the aquatic food web via stable isotope analyses. Macroinvertebrates and fish from fire-impacted sites were significantly more enriched in 15N and depleted in 13C than consumers from forested reference sites (P<0.001). The post-fire isotopic shift in consumers was consistent with increased utilization of algae and/or other autochthonous food sources together with decreased reliance on terrestrial leaf litter and other allochthonous food sources. Such a post-fire shift from a detritus based on a periphyton-based food web fits predictions of the river continuum concept following canopy removal and nutrient enrichment. Following decades of active fire suppression, forest managers are now contemplating aggressive efforts to reduce the fuel build-up noted in forests throughout the western US. Such efforts could involve increased use of fire and mechanical thinning and harvest. Results from our work and others suggest that expanded fire activity could mobilize substantial quantities of highly available nutrients to lakes and streams. With significant nutrient delivery mechanisms involving water, as well as airborne transport via smoke and ash, the potential for increased nutrient loadings to surface waters could extend well beyond the catchment of any particular fire. As natural resource managers contemplate expanding the use of fire as a forest restoration tool, they face the dilemma that such efforts could run counter to a decades-long effort to reduce nutrient loadings to lakes and other surface waters threatened by eutrophication.
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Small increases in phosphorus and nitrogen, combined with greater light availability from reduced riparian canopy shade, can accelerate growth of aquatic plants and benthic communities, altering aquatic ecosystem structure and composition.
“Small increases in nutrients P and N, for example, in combination with greater light availability because of reduced shade from the burned riparian canopy can accelerate growth of aquatic plants and benthic communities, which alter aquatic ecosystem structure and composition.8,64”
From Wildfire and the Future of Water Supply (2014) · cites this paper as [64]
After a large-area fire (>15,000 ha) in Montana, invertebrate carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures 4-5 yr post-fire still reflected greater dependence on algal food resources than those in unburned watersheds.
“After a large-area fire (>15,000 ha) in Montana, for example, invertebrate carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures 4–5 yr post-fire still reflected greater dependence on algal food resources than those in unburned watersheds (Spencer et al., 2003).”
From Wildfire Induces Changes in Receiving Waters: A Review With Considerations for Water Quality Management (2022) · cites this paper as Spencer et al., 2003
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Self-citationPhosphorus and Nitrogen Dynamics in Streams during a Wildfire
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- Authors
- Spencer, C. N., Gabel, K. O., & Hauer, F. R.
- Affiliations
- Augustana University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Spencer, Craig N
- ORCID
- Hauer, F.Richard
- Venue
- Forest Ecology and Management
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2003-06
- Volume
- 178
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 141-153
- ISSN
- 0378-1127 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2115192744
- Cited by
- 205
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 7.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Forest Ecology and Management (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Northwestern University
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity and ecology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Isotope Analysis in Ecology
- Keywords
- wildfire effects on streams, stream food webs, nutrient dynamics, stable isotopes, macroinvertebrates, fish, River Continuum Concept, periphyton, detritus, eutrophication, prescribed burning, forest restoration, fire suppression, Glacier National Park
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