Impacts of Drought on Forest Growth and Regeneration Following Fire in Southwestern Yukon, Canada super(1)

The influences of climatic variations on forest growth and regeneration in the 1958 burn and the adjacent unburned forests in the valleys of southwestern Yukon, Canada, were examined. Tree-ring analysis was conducted on 50 aspen and 54 white spruce in 12 mature stands where these species were codominant. The analysis was also conducted on 147 regenerating aspen in the 1958 Takhini burn. It was observed that the mature stands were uneven-aged and the patterns of growth variation for the aspen and spruce between 1944 and 2000 were similar. The growth of both species was most strongly related to variation in precipitation. It was found that the forests have been slow to regenerate after fire and are vulnerable if the climate becomes drier under future global change.