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Topographic conditions dominate tree species recovery over 15 years post-fire in a temperate Pinus sylvestris forest

Jan Holík,D. Janík,P. Šamonil,L. Hort,Kamil Král

Published 2025 in Fire Ecology

ABSTRACT

Intensifying fire regimes and changing climatic conditions raise concerns about the capacity of forests to naturally recover after fire. Linking long-term observations of post-fire natural tree regeneration with the environmental and spatiotemporal context is thus becoming increasingly important to guide restoration efforts worldwide. Especially where fires have been rare, snapshot and short-term monitoring efforts prevail, thereby failing to recognize the post-fire species dynamics and wider community trends. Using multivariate Bayesian and spatial point process modeling, we evaluated the main environmental drivers of post-fire tree species recovery, its compositional and structural components, and species’ spatiotemporal co-occurrence patterns over 15 years post-fire in a Central European Pinus sylvestris forest. Topography-related conditions and ground cover were the prevalent drivers of tree species responses. In addition to diverse species-specific and size-dependent responses, higher site moisture and moss cover were beneficial for most species, while steep and warm habitats with exposed mineral soil and lack of litter mostly represented harsh conditions. We demonstrate the transition of the Pinus sylvestris forest to early successional broadleaves. Betula pendula seedlings and saplings began to dominate 10 and 5 years after the fire, respectively. Pinus sylvestris seedlings showed a similar abundance to Betula pendula and Populus tremula 5 years after the fire but declined sharply thereafter. We identified synchronized but species-specific patterns of seedling decline and sapling basal area build-up in early successional broadleaves. Fagus sylvatica, Picea abies, and Pinus sylvestris saplings showed synchronized recovery 15 years post-fire. We highlight the need for a detailed recognition of species-environment relationships, particularly where species with diverse levels of natural recovery are challenged along wide topographic gradients. Our findings also demonstrate that the compositional and structural components of post-fire recovery were shaped by species and wider community dynamics depending on time since fire. Exploring these species’ unique and synchronized trajectories through spatiotemporal co-occurrence patterns is essential for setting realistic expectations of future forest recovery and can also help guide active restoration efforts in various post-disturbance contexts.

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