Wildfire in sub-boreal pine/spruce landscapes affected by overlapping disturbances at short intervals: bark beetles, wildfire, forest harvest, compound effects, and linked events 

Our work on short-interval disturbances includes research on how multiple forms of disturbance overlap and potentially interact with one another, and the ecological outcome of these events. We're working to understand the disturbance ecology of mountain pine beetle, fire, and forest harvest in pine forests in the Nechako region of central interior British Columbia, Canada where lodgepole pine dominates forest stands and harvest and beetle effects are particularly strong. 

Ongoing research areas include:

Effects of wildfire burning through forests of central interior British Columbia affected by mountain pine beetle: potential for linked and compound effects, including investigation of fire severity, post-fire tree regeneration, and chemical structures of char when burning forests that are "already dead" 

Talucci, A.C., and Krawchuk, M.A. 2019. Dead forests burning: the influence of beetle outbreaks on fire severity and legacy structure in sub-boreal forests. Ecosphere 10(5) https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2744

Talucci, A.C., Lertzman, K.P., and Krawchuk, M.A. 2019. Drivers of lodgepole pine recruitment across a gradient of bark beetle outbreak and wildfire in British Columbia. Forest Ecology and Management https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2019.117500 

Talucci, A.C., et al. In prep. An added boost in pyrogenic carbon when wildland fires burn through forests with high pre-fire mortality.

Talucci, A.C., et al. In prep. Landscape scale assessment of burn severity across a gradient of bark beetle outbreaks and wildfire in British Columbia.

Completed projects:

Streamwood recruitment and function after wildfire in pine and spruce forests of central interior British Columbia (Kurt Frei, MSc 2018

Avian and insect communities in landscapes affected by mountain pine beetle and wildfire (Kim House, MSc 2014)

Examination of taxonomic and functional traits of ground-layer plant community assemblages in areas affected by forest harvest followed by wildfire (Michael Ton, MSc 2015)