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Rugged terrain may contribute to both resilience and reorganization after wildfire in subalpine forests
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DOI：10.1007/s10980-026-02430-y.png)
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Abstract
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Climate change may erode the resilience of subalpine forest to fire by altering fire-recovery dynamics. In rugged landscapes, postfire forest recovery may be sustained if rugged terrain constrains fire spread and enhances postfire tree regeneration. We combined remote sensing and a field study to ask how terrain ruggedness at multiple spatial scales (1) shapes fire patterns and (2) influences postfire tree regeneration. We calculated the median and variability of the terrain ruggedness index (TRI) in 43 fires that burned on the Bridger-Teton National Forest (BTNF; Wyoming, USA) since 1984 and tested relationships with fire patterns. We quantified postfire tree regeneration in 2024 in 52 plots across a gradient of TRI in three fires on the BTNF. Objective 1: Fire size and area burned at high severity decreased with greater median ruggedness but increased with greater variability in ruggedness. Relationships with fire patterns were scale-dependent for median but not variability in ruggedness. Objective 2: Postfire tree regeneration was sparse (< 1500 stems ha−1), and ruggedness effects on regeneration were species-specific and distinct from other terrain measures (aspect, slope, elevation). Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) regeneration increased with ruggedness at smaller scales, while lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) and aspen (Populus tremuloides) regeneration declined with ruggedness at larger scales. By reducing high-severity fire and enhancing regeneration of some species, rugged landscapes may contribute to forest reorganization through shifts in forest structure and species composition. Rugged terrain could prevent transformations to non-forest, but pre- and postfire forests may differ.
Keywords:
Climate change
Resilience
Forest reorganization
Forest ecology
Wildfire
Postfire tree regeneration
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