Afin d’évaluer les facteurs environnementaux expliquant la limite nordique de répartition du bouleau jaune (Betula alleghaniensis Britton) dans l’est du Canada, nous avons analysé l’abondance, la structure d’âge, le taux d’accumulation de biomasse et la sensibilité de la croissance au climat de cette espèce dans 14 sites répartis le long d’un gradient latitudinal de 200 km couvrant trois domaines bioclimatiques et atteignant les populations les plus nordiques dans l’ouest du Québec. Nous avons observé une grande variabilité de la densité de plantules entre les domaines, ainsi que de la présence de sites avec une régénération abondante du bouleau jaune dans chaque domaine bioclimatique. La densité de plantules était corrélée positivement à l’âge moyen et à l’abondance des bouleaux jaunes mâtures dans la canopée, alors que la densité de gaulis était positivement associée aux habitats plus secs. Les patrons de croissance des arbres mâtures n’ont pas montré d’effet négatif de la température le long du gradient sud-nord. Les facteurs contrôlant la limite nordique de répartition du bouleau jaune agissaient sur la régénération, mais pas sur la croissance des arbres mâtures. À l’échelle du peuplement, la densité de régénération était fortement contrôlée par les conditions locales de site, et non par les différences climatiques entre les sites. A l’échelle régionale, la variabilité climatique pourrait indirectement contrôler la répartition du bouleau jaune en affectant la fréquence des perturbations et, conséquemment, la disponibilité de sites propices à la régénération.

• Strategic introduction of less flammable broadleaf vegetation into landscapes was suggested as a management strategy for decreasing the risk of boreal wildfires projected under climatic change. However, the realization and strength of this offsetting effect in an actual environment remain to be demonstrated.
• Here we combined paleoecological data, global climate models and wildfire modelling to assess regional fire frequency (RegFF, i.e. the number of fires through time) in boreal forests as it relates to tree species composition and climate over millennial time-scales.
• Lacustrine charcoals from northern landscapes of eastern boreal Canada indicate that RegFF during the mid-Holocene (6000–3000 yr ago) was significantly higher than pre-industrial RegFF (ad c. 1750). In southern landscapes, RegFF was not significantly higher than the pre-industrial RegFF in spite of the declining drought severity. The modelling experiment indicates that the high fire risk brought about by a warmer and drier climate in the south during the mid-Holocene was offset by a higher broadleaf component.
• Our data highlight an important function for broadleaf vegetation in determining boreal RegFF in a warmer climate. We estimate that its feedback may be large enough to offset the projected climate change impacts on drought conditions.

Testate amoebae that inhabit peat are sensitive indicators of water table position. In this study, we used testate amoebae in sediments from a mire in the western Alps (Lac du Thyl) to: (1) reconstruct the hydrology of the site over the last 7,000 years, (2) determine how hydrological changes affected testate amoebae diversity and (3) infer past trophic state shifts. The study site is located in one of the driest valleys of the Alps and is thus very sensitive to hydrological changes. Our study revealed that the water table depth increased (dry conditions) between 5,800 and 4,000 cal year BP. This triggered establishment of a Sphagnum-type peat and acidic conditions from 5,700 to 4,000 cal year BP. These processes were independent of ongoing transformations of the terrestrial vegetation and soil in the catchment area. After 1,690 cal year BP, the depth to the water table decreased (wetter conditions) and a minerotrophic fen developed. At the same time, the diversity of testate amoebae increased, probably as a result of deforestation that supported the expansion of grassland. Climate and land use were apparently more important factors controlling the lake hydrology than were changes in vegetation and soil in the catchment. Testate amoebae diversity was linked to land cover. Changes in pH were controlled indirectly by external forcing (climate), but more directly by fluctuations in the level of the water table (internal forcing) and autogenous expansion of Sphagnum.

Wildfire activity in North American boreal forests increased during the last decades of the 20th century, partly owing to ongoing human-caused climatic changes. How these changes affect regional fire regimes (annual area burned, seasonality, and number, size, and severity of fires) remains uncertain as data available to explore fire–climate–vegetation interactions have limited temporal depth. Here we present a Holocene reconstruction of fire regime, combining lacustrine charcoal analyses with past drought and fire-season length simulations to elucidate the mechanisms linking long-term fire regime and climatic changes. We decomposed fire regime into fire frequency (FF) and biomass burned (BB) and recombined these into a new index to assess fire size (FS) fluctuations. Results indicated that an earlier termination of the fire season, due to decreasing summer radiative insolation and increasing precipitation over the last 7.0 ky, induced a sharp decrease in FF and BB ca. 3.0 kyBP toward the present. In contrast, a progressive increase of FS was recorded, which is most likely related to a gradual increase in temperatures during the spring fire season. Continuing climatic warming could lead to a change in the fire regime toward larger spring wildfires in eastern boreal North America.

We used tree-ring data from a major North American boreal tree species, Jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.), to decipher spatial and temporal tree-growth responses to climate variability within the area of northwestern Quebec and northeastern Ontario. Fifteen sites with clay soils were selected and grouped into North and South sub-regions at approximately 49°N and 50°N, respectively. Tree-ring chronologies were analyzed through a response function for the years 1951–2000 to identify growth-limiting climate factors. Increased precipitation in June in the previous year and a warm month of April this year favored radial growth whereas higher temperature in September and increased precipitation in October, both of the previous year, and current June precipitation were negatively related to growth. There was a clear difference in climatic response between the southern and northern sub-regions: southern sites were more responsive to temperature dynamics while on northern sites Jack pine growth appeared negatively influenced by an excess of precipitation. Soil conditions, with larger areas covered by less water permeable clay deposits in the northern sub-region, explain this result.If recently observed trends towards warmer springs continue, Jack pine may increase its radial growth in the study area. However, increases in fall precipitation, also predicted under the future climate, may offset the positive effect of previous years weather on clay sites.