Abstract
Broad scale forest fires have determined the post-glacial dynamics in the boreal forests and are important for e.g. biodiversity. Due to human interference, the annually burned forest landscape has decreased dramatically since the Middle Ages. Today most of the forest fires are part of low intensity and small scale prescribed burning programs. Our knowledge of the effects of broad scale natural fires in modern times on soil and water chemistry as well as on biodiversity and recolonization of forest organisms is thus limited. According to many climate models there will be an increased risk of future forest fires in boreal forests. It is thus of utmost importance to take advantage of the rare events of broad scale fires in boreal forests to increase our understanding of the effects of forest fires on the above factors. Such fires occurred in summer 2006 in the county of Norrbotten. Sine many dramatic effects occur during the first post-fire year, events in 2007 are of crucial importance for understanding the post-fire developments. FIRE focuses on the documentation of baseline conditions and the evaluation of short-term effects on the above factors at different spatial scales. FIRE will be performed within burnt 100 ha sites each in Bodträskfors and Muddus national park, using adjacent unburnt forests as reference sites. FIRE will increase our understanding of the importance of large scale forest fires for the functioning and the dynamics of boreal ecosystems.
Sweden