Long‐term variability and rainfall control of savanna fire regimes in equatorial East Africa

Fires burning the vast grasslands and savannas of Africa significantly influence the global carbon cycle. Projecting the impacts of future climate change on fire‐mediated biogeochemical processes in these dry tropical ecosystems requires understanding of how various climate factors influence regional fire regimes. To examine climate–vegetation–fire linkages in dry savanna, we conducted macroscopic and microscopic charcoal analysis on the sediments of the past 25 000 years from Lake Challa, a deep crater lake in equatorial East Africa. The charcoal‐inferred shifts in local and regional fire regimes were compared with previously published reconstructions of temperature, rainfall, seasonal drought severity, and vegetation dynamics to evaluate millennial‐scale drivers of fire occurrence. Our charcoal data indicate that fire in the dry lowland savanna of southeastern Kenya was not fuel‐limited during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and Late Glacial, in contrast to many other regions throughout the world. Fire activity remained high at Lake Challa probably because the relatively high mean‐annual temperature (~22 °C) allowed productive C₄ grasses with high water‐use efficiency to dominate the landscape. From the LGM through the middle Holocene, the relative importance of savanna burning in the region varied primarily in response to changes in rainfall and dry‐season length, which were controlled by orbital insolation forcing of tropical monsoon dynamics. The fuel limitation that characterizes the region's fire regime today appears to have begun around 5000–6000 years ago, when warmer interglacial conditions coincided with prolonged seasonal drought. Thus, insolation‐driven variation in the amount and seasonality of rainfall during the past 25 000 years altered the immediate controls on fire occurrence in the grass‐dominated savannas of eastern equatorial Africa. These results show that climatic impacts on dry‐savanna burning are heterogeneous through time, with important implications for efforts to anticipate future shifts in fire‐mediated ecosystem processes.     

Forest Fire in Early Holocene Forest Changes at Lake Barrine,Australia

Fire is one of major factors in forest ecosystem. This paper presents results of charcoal and pollen analysis on Early Holocene sediments in Lake Barrine, Australia. Time series analysis and mathematical modeling were used to infer patterns of forest fire, relationship between fire and major vegetation elements and the roles forest fire played in forest changes. The analysis shows that in Early Holocene fire frequencies in this area decreased from one major fire in less than 50 years in the early Eucalyptus forest stage (zone S1) to one in 230 years in the later stage (zone S2). After the establishment of rainforest, fire activities were much weaker. The effects of fire on three major elements of Eucalyptus forest varied according to their different fire adaptive traits. In process of the change from Eucalyptus, forest to rainforest, fire protected-the former and delayed.the establishment of the later.     

Holocene land uplift and its influence on fire history and ecosystem development in boreal Sweden

Lake Uddjaur in northern Sweden was formed as a consequence of non‐uniform glacio‐isostatic uplift in which a forested valley was gradually flooded and high elevation areas became islands. We hypothesized that small islands in Lake Uddjaur burnt through lightning strike more frequently when they were part of a large forested area compared to when they became true islands, and that this reduction in fire impact has enhanced the domination of late successional species and humus accumulation. Fire history and vegetation dynamics were studied by analysis of macroscopic charcoal (> 0.5 mm) and pollen in humus profiles from two islands. According to a model of isostatic uplift, the islands became gradually isolated from the mainland between ca. 2000 to 1000 BP, i.e. during the same time that fire impact declined. Prior to that, both islands were part of a Pinus‐Betula forest landscape affected by fires from ca. 5800 to ca. 1500 BP. Thereafter fire influence ceased and the islands became more strongly characterized by late successional species, e.g. Picea. This change was associated with substantial humus accumulation. The decreased fire influence on these islands contrasts with the regional increase in fire influence during the last 1000 yr. Long‐term influence of wildfire is important in vegetation dynamics and humus accumulation and, thus, post‐glacial isostatic land uplift can indirectly have a substantial influence on ecosystem development. Consequently, this effect should be further considered in long‐time ecosystem studies of areas with large, non‐uniform land uplift such as those found in northern Fennoscandia and eastern Canada.     

Dynamics of temperate rainforest from fine resolution pollen analysis,Upper Ringarooma River,northeastern Tasmania

Abstract The relationship between sclerophyll forest and temperate rainforest in Tasmania is believed to be driven by climate, soils and fire regime; however, this has been tested infrequently on time frames relevant to the longevity of the major forest trees involved. This study uses sediments in four small hollows from within a rainforest stand in the Upper Ringarooma valley in northeastern Tasmania, Australia, to analyse vegetation dynamics and disturbance over the last 1000 years. Pollen-vegetation relationships were investigated by comparing pollen rain and current vegetation, and the chronology was established by radiocarbon and lead-210 dates. The lead-210 data indicate that the two Sphagnum humus profiles were not always closed systems for inorganic inwash; however, the pollen and charcoal records are generally consistent indicating that a mixed Eucalyptus-Nothofagus forest shifted to a Kothofagus dominated rainforest as fire became a less prominent component of the environment. About 400 years ago Leptospermum lanigerum invaded the community as canopy gaps developed, possibly as the older Nothofagus Cunninghamii trees died. There is no strong evidence of invasion by Atherosperma moschatum as suggested by some models of forest dynamics in these forests in Tasmania. In this stand of forest, fire and erosion following flooding have been the major causes of disturbance.     

Understory vegetation indicates historic fire regimes in ponderosa pine‐dominated ecosystems in the Colorado Front Range

Question: Can current understory vegetation composition across an elevation gradient of Pinus ponderosa‐dominated forests be used to identify areas that, prior to 20th century fire suppression, were characterized by different fire frequencies and severities (i.e., historic fire regimes)? Location: P. ponderosa‐dominated forests in the montane zone of the northern Colorado Front Range, Boulder and Larimer Counties, Colorado, USA. Methods: Understory species composition and stand characteristics were sampled at 43 sites with previously determined fire histories. Indicator species analyses and indirect ordination were used to determine: (1) if stands within a particular historic fire regime had similar understory compositions, and (2) if understory vegetation was associated with the same environmental gradients that influence fire regime. Classification and regression tree analysis was used to ascertain which species could predict fire regimes. Results: Indicator species analysis identified 34 understory species as significant indicators of three distinct historic fire regimes along an elevation gradient from low‐ to high‐elevation P. ponderosa forests. A predictive model derived from a classification tree identified five species as reliable predictors of fire regime. Conclusions: P. ponderosa‐dominated forests shaped by three distinct historic fire regimes have significantly different floristic composition, and current understory compositions can be used as reliable indicators of historical differences in past fire frequency and severity. The feasibility demonstrated in the current study using current understory vegetation properties to detect different historic fire regimes, should be examined in other fire‐prone forest ecosystems.     

1200 years of fire and vegetation history in the Willamette Valley, Oregon and Washington, reconstructed using high-resolution macroscopic charcoal and pollen analysis

High-resolution macroscopic charcoal and pollen analyses were used to reconstruct the fire and vegetation history of the Willamette Valley for the last 1200 years. Presented in this paper are three new paleoecological reconstructions from Lake Oswego, Porter Lake, and Warner Lake, Oregon, and portions of previous reconstructions from Battle Ground Lake, Washington, and Beaver Lake, Oregon. The reconstructions show that prior to Euro-American settlement vegetation and fire regimes were influenced by a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors. Battle Ground Lake shows a stronger influence from climate, while Lake Oswego, Beaver Lake, Porter Lake, and Warner Lake were more controlled by human activity. However, human-set fires were also modulated by regional climate variability during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age. Fire reconstructions from Battle Ground Lake, Lake Oswego, Beaver Lake, and Porter Lake imply that fires were infrequent in the Willamette Valley 200-300 years prior to Euro-American settlement. The decline of Native American populations due to introduced disease may have led to this reduction in fire activity. The prehistoric record from Warner Lake, however, indicates that fires in the foothills of the Cascade Range were more frequent than on the valley floor, at least until ca. AD 1800. The historic portions of the reconstructions indicate that Euro-American land clearance for agriculture and logging produced the most dramatic shifts in vegetation and fire regimes. All five records indicate that few fires in the Willamette Valley have occurred since ca. AD 1930, and fires today are predominantly grass fires.     

The age of Calluna stands moderates post‐fire regeneration rate and trends in northern Calluna heathlands

Questions: Does stand age influence the direction and rate of post‐fire successional dynamics in coastal Calluna heaths and can old degraded heath vegetation be restored through reintroduction of fire? Location: Coastal heaths in the Tarva archipelago, central Norway. Methods: We investigated revegetation dynamics after experimental fires set in young (8 years since last fire) and old (>50 years since last fire) grazed heath stands. A repeated measures design was used, with floristic data recorded in permanent plots in the post‐fire successions (n=12) over a 7‐year period. The data were analysed using multivariate ordination techniques (PCA, RDA and PRC) and mixed effects models. Results: The age of Calluna stands strongly influenced post‐fire succession, different trends due to age explained 10.4% of variation in floristic data. Young heath showed faster succession towards pre‐fire community composition than old heath, and this could partially be explained by succession‐related factors: young heath had lower cover of mosses and lichens in the pre‐burned vegetation, and lower cover of litter early in succession. Young heath had a less pronounced overall community response to fire than old heath. Vegetative regeneration of C. vulgaris was absent in both old and young heath, but Calluna still re‐established as the dominant species within 5–7 years in both young and old stands. Regeneration dynamics were also affected by habitat conditions, different trends due to habitat explained 6% of variation. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that old stands do develop characteristic heathland vegetation and structure after fire, and while potential invasives into the system such as trees and rhizomatous species are present, they do not impair Calluna regeneration or vegetation development towards the target heathland community composition and structure. Further, as our young stands are only in their second fire rotation after restoration, we suggest that characteristic dynamics of managed heathlands can re‐establish relatively rapidly, even in severely degenerated sites (>50 years since last fire). Site‐specific factors also need to be considered. We conclude that there is restoration potential in old heaths, despite slow dynamics in the first rotation.     

长江故道湿地植被的数量分类与排序

采用双向指示种分析法（TWINSPAN）和除趋势对应分析法（DCA）对长江故道湿地植被做分类和排序研究。TWINSPAN分类将湿地植被234个样方分为28个群丛,论述了各群丛的群落学特征。DCA排序结果反映了植物群落类型与环境梯度之间的关系,表明影响群丛分布格局的主导生态因子为生境的水分条件。TWINSPAN数量分类在DCA排序图中有较为明确的分布范围和界限,两者的结合使用,能很好地反映群落与环境因子间的生态关系。     

Fire history and vegetation recovery in two raised bogs at the Baltic Sea

Questions: What were the bog fire patterns and frequencies in two boreal peatlands during the last 5000 years? What is the nature and time‐scale of post‐fire vegetation successions? Were fire events related to climate? Location: Männikjärve bog, central east Estonia; Kontolanrahka bog, southwest Finland. Methods: Macroscopic charcoal, plant macrofossils and radiocarbon dating were examined. Redundancy analysis was used in the assessments. Results: During the last 5000 years, both of the above peatlands have experienced several fire events. A typical pre‐fire vegetation community consisted of dry hummock Sphagnum spp., often accompanied by Calluna vulgaris. Only the most severe occasional fires resulted in a dramatic change in the vegetation composition. In these cases, a wet shift occurred, where the pre‐fire hummock community was replaced by a wet hollow community. Calluna vulgaris was found to be a key species in both pre‐ and post‐fire vegetation dynamics. The recovery time of dry microtopes following severe combustion and the subsequent hydrological change could take up to 350 years. Even after a long‐lasting wet phase, the post‐fire disturbance succession led towards a dry hummock community. Conclusions: Fire succession appeared to be cyclic, starting as and developing towards a dry hummock community. Fires have been a regular phenomenon in boreal bogs, even in regions with rather low human impact. The fire history records did not indicate any direct link to the regional long‐term climate.     

Frequency and impact of Holocene fire in eastern South Island, New Zealand

Our evaluation of pre-settlement Holocene (10 000–1000 BP) fire, using radiocarbon-dated charcoals and pollen and charcoal spectra in pollen diagrams, concludes that fires were infrequent and patchy in the eastern South Island of New Zealand. Charcoal radiocarbon dates point to three broad phases of fire frequency: infrequent patchy fires from 10 000 to 2600 BP; a slightly increased frequency between 2600 and 1000 BP; and an unprecedented increase of fires after 1000 BP, which peaked between 800 and 500 BP. We suggest that natural fire was driven more by vegetation flammability (with ignitibility and combustibility components) than climate within this rain-shadow region, that plant chemistry principally determined fire frequency, and that topography determined the extent of fire. The review suggests that there were rare spatial and temporal instances of a feedback relationship between fire and early-successional grasses in eastern South Island. This occurred only within narrow-range, cool environments, whose equilibrium communities were of flammable, phenolic-rich woody species and grasses, and was predominantly in the late pre-settlement period. Elsewhere, grasses and herbs were understorey components to otherwise low-flammability, hardwood forest and scrub.     

Post‐fire vegetation and climate dynamics in low‐elevation forests over the last three millennia in Yellowstone National Park

Conifer forests of the western US are historically well adapted to wildfires, but current warming is creating novel disturbance regimes that may fundamentally change future forest dynamics. Stand‐replacing fires can catalyze forest reorganization by providing periodic opportunities for establishment of new tree cohorts that set the stage for stand development for centuries to come. Extensive research on modern and past fires in the Northern Rockies reveals how variations in climate and fire have led to large changes in forest distribution and composition. Unclear, however, is the importance of individual fire episodes in catalyzing change. We used high‐resolution paleoecologic and paleoclimatic data from Crevice Lake (Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA), to explore the role of fire in driving low‐elevation forest dynamics over the last 2820 yr. We addressed two questions: 1) did low‐elevation forests at Crevice Lake experience abrupt community‐level vegetation changes in response to past fire events? 2) Did the interaction of short‐term disturbance events (fire) and long‐term climate change catalyze past shifts in forest composition? Over the last 2820 yr, we found no evidence for abrupt community‐level vegetation transitions at Crevice Lake, and no evidence that an interaction of climate and fire produced changes in the relative abundance of dominant plant taxa. In part, this result reflects limitations of the datasets to detect past event‐specific responses and their causes. Nonetheless, the relative stability of the vegetation to fires over the last 2820 yr provides a local baseline for assessing current and future ecological change. Observations of climate–fire–vegetation dynamics in recent decades suggest that this multi‐millennial‐scale baseline may soon be exceeded.     

The Fundamentals of Vegetation Change - Complexity Rules

Long-term vegetation dynamics based on paleo-pollen data display transient behaviour, often alternating in phase between predominant determinism and predominant 'turbulence', when viewed as a trajectory in a multivariate phase space. Given this, the metaphor of vegetation dynamics as a 'flowing stream', first introduced by Cooper in his classic 1926 paper entitled "The fundamentals of vegetation change", is re-examined and revealed to be not only useful, but strikingly realistic. Vegetation dynamic theory is reviewed and classic theories are found to reflect reality poorly. It is suggested that vegetation dynamics is a far from equilibrium system, and that the application of nonequilibrium thermodynamic theory is appropriate.     

中条山中段植物群落数量分类与排序研究

在群落样方调查基础上,采用双向指示种分析法（TWINSPAN）和除趋势对应分析（DCA）对中条山中段植物群落进行了数量分类和排序。TWINSPAN将53个样方分为14组,根据植被分类的原则划分为14个群丛,论述了各群丛的群落学特征。53个样方的DCA排序结果反映了植物群落类型与环境梯度之间的关系,表明影响群丛分布格局的主导生态因子为海拔高度、水分和热量。DCA排序将65个种分为5个种组,各种组在排序轴上的位置反映了种组成员的生态适应性及其在群落中的重要性和更新生态位。     

Dynamic instabilities in the microtubule cytoskeleton: A state diagram

The dynamics of microtubule growth and disassembly is considered in the framework of the theory of nonequilibrium reaction-diffusion systems. The phase diagram contains regions corresponding to stable stationary and nonstationary solutions. Dynamic instabilities can arise from nonequilibrium kinetic transitions. Agents affecting the microtubule dynamics are classed into four types, and the interplay of their effects is analyzed.     

Cluster analysis,ordination and dominance-structural classification applied to diverse tropical vegetation at Jabiluka,Northern Territory

One hundred and seven sample plots were established on a study area at Jabiluka, Northern Territory, and detailed quantitative floristic and structural data were collected. Data collection was by sampling both on aerial photographs and in the field, and both sets of data were used to describe the primary floristic types and structural sub-types. Cluster analysis (Orloci 1967, 1969), polar ordination (Mathews 1977) and Specht's (1970, 1977) approach to vegetation classification were used to analyse the data. Two independent clustering techniques, one based on art information measure and the other on a measure of within group dispersion, produced very similar dendrograms. The analyses consistently separated the plots into three major groups - floodplain, dryland and sandstone landscapes; within these groups 15 floristic associations and eight structural formations were identified. The environmental parameters associated with the various groups were substrate type, and seasonal inundation from the Magela Creek system. The results of ordination did not highlight any environmental parameters not already made evident by cluster analysis.     

Changes in woody vegetation abundance and diversity after natural disturbances causing different levels of mortality

Questions: How does woody vegetation abundance and diversity differ after natural disturbances causing different levels of mortality? Location: Abies balsamea–Betula papyrifera boreal mixed‐wood stands of southeast Quebec, Canada. Methods: Woody vegetation abundance and diversity were quantified and compared among three disturbance‐caused mortality classes, canopy gap, moderate‐severity disturbances, and catastrophic fire, using redundancy analysis, a constrained linear ordination technique, and diversity indices. Results: Substantial changes in canopy tree species abundance and diversity only occurred after catastrophic fire. Shade‐tolerant, late‐successional conifer species remained dominant after canopy gap and moderate‐severity disturbances, whereas shade‐intolerant, early‐successional colonizers dominated canopy tree regeneration after catastrophic fire. Density and diversity of mid‐tolerant and shade‐intolerant understory tree and shrub species increased as the impact of disturbance increased. Highest species richness estimates were observed after catastrophic fire, with several species establishing exclusively under these conditions. Relative abundance of canopy tree regeneration was most similar after canopy gap and moderate‐severity disturbances. For the sub‐canopy tree and shrub community, relative species abundances were most similar after moderate‐severity disturbances and catastrophic fire. Vegetation responses to moderate‐severity disturbances thus had commonalities with both extremes of the disturbance‐caused mortality gradient, but for different regeneration layers. Conclusions: Current spatio‐temporal parameters of natural disturbances causing varying degrees of mortality promote the development of a complex, multi‐cohort forest condition throughout the landscape. The projected increase in time intervals between catastrophic fires may lead to reduced diversity within the system.     

POST-FIRE RECOVERY OF FLORIDA LAKE WALES RIDGE VEGETATION

Community responses to fire of five major vegetation associations of the Lake Wales Ridge were investigated during a 5-yr post-fire period. Vegetation of southern ridge sandhills, sand pine scrub, scrubby flatwoods, flatwoods, and swales was sampled using permanent line transects and quadrats in both burned and unburned (control) areas. Fire passed through the mosaic of vegetation leaving a pattern of unburned and lightly to severely burned areas. There was little change in soil chemistry (pH, K, P, Mg) with the exception of a short-lived increase in Ca. Vegetation recovery rates, measured by percentage cover and Horn's Index, were rapid. Typically, less than 2 yr was needed for recovery of poorly drained flatwoods and swale associations and 1 to 4 years for better drained scrubby flatwoods and southern ridge sandhills. Species diversity (H′) increased significantly following fire at poorly drained sites due to increased evenness, but was largely unchanged at better drained sites. There was virtually no change in vascular plant species composition for the sprouting associations. Fire is not a succession-initiating disturbance in the Clementsian sense. The species present prior to burning either resprout soon after fire or resist fire, thus rapidly restoring the preburn conditions. Limited data suggest fire in the associations dominated by seeding species likewise does not initiate a relay type succession. The ridge vegetation exhibits marked resiliency to fire as a result of an evolutionary history of a stressful environment including winter droughts, acidic, nutrient-poor sand substrates, and frequent lightning-caused low intensity burns.     

博斯腾湖湖滨湿地植被数量分类与排序

应用双向指示种分析(TWINSPAN)方法对湿地植物群落进行分类,采用除趋势对应分析(DCA)、典范对应分析(CCA)对群落进行排序,以明确博斯腾湖湖滨湿地的主要植物群落类型及影响植被类型变化和分布的主要环境因子。结果表明,博斯腾湖湖滨湿地植被可分为7个主要群丛,分别为长苞香蒲(Ass.Typha angustata)、芦苇+长苞香蒲(Ass.Phragmites australis+Ty.angustata)、芦苇+水烛(Ass.P.australis+Ty.Angustifolia)、多枝柽柳-芦苇(Ass.Tamarix ramosissima-P.australis)、胡杨-多枝柽柳(Ass.Populus euphratica-Ta.ramosissima)、旱柳-多枝柽柳(Ass.Salix matsudana-Ta.ramosissima)和多枝柽柳(Ass.Ta.ramosissima),它们分布于湖滨浅水带、湖滨沼泽带、湖岸乔灌林带和旱生灌丛带;TWINSPAN分类产生的7个主要群丛在DCA排序图上被很好地反映出来。CCA排序与DCA排序结果基本一致,说明土壤含水量和土壤总含盐量是决定该地区植被分布格局的主要环境因子。博斯腾湖湖滨湿地植被种类单一,生态结构简单,水盐动态及其相互作用是影响该地区植被分布的主要因素之一。因此,在对博斯腾湖湖滨湿地进行植被保护与重建过程中,需重点考虑土壤含水量和土壤总含盐量这2个主要环境因子的影响,合理开发、利用水资源,防止土壤盐渍化的发生。     

流域径流泥沙对多尺度植被变化响应研究进展

植被变化与流域水文过程构成一个反馈调节系统,是目前生态水文学研究的重点对象.由于植被自身的生长发育以及受自然因素和人为干扰的作用,植被变化具有多尺度性;由于受流域水文环境的异质性和水文通量的变化性的影响,流域水文过程也同样具有多尺度性.因此,只有通过对不同尺度生态水文过程分析,才能揭示流域径流泥沙对植被变化的响应机理.从不同时空尺度回顾了植被生长、植被演替、植被分布格局变化、造林以及森林经营措施等对流域径流泥沙影响的主要研究成果;概括了目前研究采用的3种主要方法,即植被变化对坡面水流动力学影响的实验室模拟、坡面尺度和流域尺度野外对比观测实验以及水文生态模型模拟方法;分析了植被变化与径流泥沙响应研究要考虑的尺度问题,从小区尺度上推至流域尺度或区域尺度时应考虑不同的生物物理控制过程.研究认为,要确切理解植被与径流泥沙在不同时空尺度的相互作用,必须以等级生态系统的观点为基础,有效结合生态水文与景观生态的理论,从地质-生态-水文构成的反馈调节入手,系统地理解植被变化与径流泥沙等水分养分之间的联系及反馈机制,建立尺度转换的基础.同时,作为有效的研究工具,今后水文模型的发展应更加注重耦合植被生理生态过程以及景观生态过程,从流域径流泥沙对多尺度植被变化水文响应的过程与机制入手,为植被恢复与重建、改善流域水资源状况和流域生态环境奠定基础.     

Short‐term bryoid and vascular vegetation response to reforestation alternatives following wildfire in conifer plantations

Question: How are dynamics of early‐seral post‐fire vascular plant and bryoid (terrestrial mosses, lichens, and fungi) vegetation impacted by reforestation activities, particularly manual vegetation removal and planting density? Does the relationship between vegetation dynamics and vegetation removal differ between harsh (west‐facing) and moderate (east‐facing) aspects? Location: Five high‐severity burn plantation forests of Pseudotsuga menziesii in southwestern Oregon, USA. Methods: Plantations severely burned in a recent wildfire were planted with conifer seedlings as a four‐species mixture or a monoculture, at two different densities, with and without manual vegetation removal. A subset of plots was also planted on a contrasting aspect within each plantation. The contrasting aspects differed in potential solar insolation and were indicative of moderate (eastern exposure) and harsh (western exposure) site conditions. Covers of shrub, herbaceous and bryoid vegetation layers were measured during reforestation activities 2–4 yr after the fire. Dynamics of structural layer cover and community composition were compared among treatments with analysis of variance and multivariate analyses (non‐metric multidimensional scaling and blocked multi‐response permutation procedure). Results: Structural layer cover and community composition differed between areas that received reforestation treatments and untreated areas. However, variability within treatments in a plantation was greater than variability within treatments across plantations. Effects of vegetation removal on composition and structure were more evident than effects of planting or altering planting density. Vegetation removal decreased cover of tall and low shrub and the bryoid layer, and increased herbaceous layer cover. Bryoid community and low shrub structural layer responses were more pronounced on moderate aspects than on harsh aspects. Vegetation removal shifted vascular plant community composition towards exotic and annual species. Conclusions: These reforestation treatments may be implemented without substantially altering early‐seral vegetation community composition dynamics, especially in areas with harsh site conditions. Site conditions, such as aspect, should be evaluated to determine need and potential effects of reforestation before implementation. Monitoring for exotic species establishment should follow reforestation activities.