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Impact of fire on long-term vegetation dynamics of ombrotrophic peatlands in northwestern Québec, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Gabriel Magnan ,
Martin Lavoie  and
Serge Payette
Gabriel Magnan*
Affiliation:
Département de Géographie Université Laval, 2405 rue de la Terrasse, Québec, Canada G1V 0A6
Martin Lavoie
Affiliation:
Département de Géographie Université Laval, 2405 rue de la Terrasse, Québec, Canada G1V 0A6
Serge Payette
Affiliation:
Département de Biologie, Université Laval, 1045 avenue de la Médecine, Québec, Canada G1V 0A6
*
*Corresponding author at: GEOTOP, Université du Québec á Montréal, C.P. 8888, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 3P8. Fax: + 1 514 987 3635. E-mail addresses:magnangabriel@gmail.com (G. Magnan), martin.lavoie@cen.ulaval.ca (M. Lavoie), serge.payette@bio.ulaval.ca (S. Payette).
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Abstract

A 7000-year record of local fire history was reconstructed from three ombrotrophic peatlands in the James Bay lowlands (northwestern Québec, Canada) using a high-resolution analysis of macroscopic charcoal (long axis≥0.5 mm). The impact of fire on vegetation changes was evaluated using detailed analysis of plant macrofossils. Compared to upland boreal forest, fire incidence in these Sphagnum-dominated bogs is rather low. Past fire occurrence seems to have been controlled primarily by internal processes associated with local hydroseral succession. Size of the peatland basin and distance from the well-drained forest soils also appear to be factors controlling fire occurrence. The impact of peatland fires on long-term vegetation succession appears negligible except in a forested bog, where it initiated the replacement of Sphagnum by mosses. In some circumstances, fire caused marked changes in the bryophyte assemblages over many decades. However, ombrotrophic peatland vegetation is generally resilient to surface fire.

Keywords

Fire historyMacroscopic charcoalOmbrotrophic peatlandsPlant-macrofossil analysisVegetation successionNorthern Québec
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 77 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 110 - 121
Copyright
University of Washington

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