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Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2004

Testing for anthropogenic influence on fire regime for a 600-year period in the Jaksha area, Komi Republic, East European Russia

Drobyshev, Igor; Niklasson, Mats; Angelstam, Per; Majewski, P.

Abstract

In an attempt to quantitatively evaluate the natural versus anthropogenic signal in site fire histories, the statistical relationship between dendrochronologically dated fire events and tree-ring chronologies (deemed to be an independent proxy for climate variation) was analyzed for 14 sites in a 2600-km(2) area of pine-dominated forests in the Komi Republic (East European Russia) over the period from 1424 to 1954. We developed a cumulative measure of statistical fit between two types of fire events (early- and late-season fires) and ring-width chronologies of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) (total ring- and latewood-width chronologies). For a given site, the statistical fit between fires and tree-ring data tended to decrease with an increasing proportion of unique fire years. Distance from a site to the nearest village (deemed to be a proxy of human impact) explained 50% of the variation in statistical fit between fires and tree-ring data. The fit decreased in the majority of the sites from the earlier (1424-1700) to the later (1700-1960) periods. We interpret this to be a result of increased human impact on the fire regime since 1700 due to intensified colonization of the area.

Published in

Canadian Journal of Forest Research
2004, Volume: 34, number: 10, pages: 2027-2036
Publisher: CANADIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING, NRC RESEARCH PRESS

        SLU Authors

        • Angelstam, Per

          • Department of Conservation Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

        Associated SLU-program

        Climate

        UKÄ Subject classification

        Ecology
        Forest Science

        Publication identifier

        DOI: https://doi.org/10.1139/X04-081

        Permanent link to this page (URI)

        https://res.slu.se/id/publ/42426