Our approach includes three related elements. Changes in fire regime with climate and fuels are especially evident in annual charcoal records from varved sediments. Changes in fire regime with climate and fuels are especially evident in annual charcoal records from varved sediments.
Climate change can cause abrupt stepwise transitions in cool-coniferous and subarctic ecosystems.
For example, rapid changes in tree density and tree growth were associated with individual burns and climate changes in northern Quebec. Climate variability appears to be mediated by landscape pattern. Second, we will assess the indices of regional fire importance across transitions in climate and vegetation change. Third, we will complete close-interval pollen analysis at Deuce Lake, which is small enough to have a predominantly local pollen signal, to examine successional responses to fire. Observed changes in pollen abundances coupled with projected changes based on evidence for fire regimes will aid our interpretations of how vegetation change is mediated by altered fire regimes.