Ecological meanings of wildfires in mountain forest ecosystems

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This study evaluates historical changes in wildfire regime in subalpine forests of Kootenay National Park(KNP), Canadian Rockies. This study used response to severe fires at the beginning of the 21^<at> century, along with historical reconstructions to examine crown-fire effects on landscape heterogeneity and to assess, comparatively, effects of fire exclusion management in the past. The large fires were within the natural range of disturbances for this forest landscape, and linked with the changing climate, indicating that the large fires do not stand out as "human-induced disasters" in their effects on landscape patterns. Such stochastic large disturbances are the essential part of natural ecological processes.