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Lodgepole pine is a conifer species that is adapted to large, stand-replacing fire. However, warming climate is allowing fires to burn more frequently in subalpine forests than in the past, and lodgepole pine adaptations may not be as beneficial under these conditions. For example, it takes several decades for a lodgepole pine tree to produce a seedbank of serotinous (fire-adapted) cones, so when the same part of a forest burns twice within a few decades, the trees must rely on seed dispersal from non-serotinous cones outside the burned area. I've been studying lodgepole pine seed dispersal in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to understand how more fire is changing the ability of this species to regenerate.
Over the summer and fall of 2018, I collected lodgepole pine seeds in seed traps to measure how far they dispersed into burned areas in relation to a number of driving factors-- including the age of the nearby unburned forest. When forests were younger and shorter, seeds didn't disperse nearly as far as they did from much older, taller trees. We were able to quantify the relationship between tree height and seed dispersal distance to understand how increased fire frequency may inhibit postfire regeneration of this iconic fire-adapted species. Not only do shorter intervals between fire prevent adequate production of fire-adapted cones, but they also limit the distance at which seeds can disperse.
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