The changing contribution of peatlands to burned area in Alberta's Boreal Plains.
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| Title: | The changing contribution of peatlands to burned area in Alberta's Boreal Plains. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Wilkinson, S.L.1 (AUTHOR) sophie_wilkinson@sfu.ca, Krieger-Pottruff, E.J.1 (AUTHOR), Clark, A.2 (AUTHOR), Wotton, B.M.3 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 4/20/2026, Vol. 56, p1-10. 10p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Peatlands, *Wildfires, *Climate change, *Plains, *Ecological impact, Area measurement |
| Geographic Terms: | Canada, Alberta |
| Abstract: | Fire regimes are changing globally in response to climate change, with burned area increasing across nearly all Canadian ecozones. The strongest trends are occurring in western Canada, including the peatland-dominated Boreal Plains (BP) ecozone. Until recently, land cover classification and fire perimeter resolution and accuracy have limited understanding of which ecosystem types contribute to burned area, in particular, the role of peatlands in the boreal wildfire regime. Here, we use a high-resolution wetland subtype map along with burned area perimeters and ignition point data to evaluate peatland burn rates and ignition conditions. We show that the contribution of coniferous treed peatlands to the total area burned in Alberta's BP ecozone increased between 1985 and 2019 and with total area burned. Coniferous peatlands burned at approximately twice the rate (percent of peatland type area/year) of deciduous peatlands over the study period and that deciduous treed peatlands have the greatest number of human-caused ignitions, affecting both ignition seasonality and peatland area burned. These new insights into the boreal fire regime help reveal drivers of change and have implications for land use planning, fire management, and carbon accounting as changes to ecosystem conditions and fire weather combine to produce shifts in fire regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Canadian Journal of Forest Research is the property of Canadian Science Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | GreenFILE |
| FullText | Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: 8gh DbLabel: GreenFILE An: 193069736 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: The changing contribution of peatlands to burned area in Alberta's Boreal Plains. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Wilkinson%2C+S%2EL%2E%22">Wilkinson, S.L.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> sophie_wilkinson@sfu.ca</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Krieger-Pottruff%2C+E%2EJ%2E%22">Krieger-Pottruff, E.J.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Clark%2C+A%2E%22">Clark, A.</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Wotton%2C+B%2EM%2E%22">Wotton, B.M.</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo> (AUTHOR) – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Canadian+Journal+of+Forest+Research%22">Canadian Journal of Forest Research</searchLink>. 4/20/2026, Vol. 56, p1-10. 10p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Peatlands%22">Peatlands</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Wildfires%22">Wildfires</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Climate+change%22">Climate change</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Plains%22">Plains</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ecological+impact%22">Ecological impact</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Area+measurement%22">Area measurement</searchLink> – Name: SubjectGeographic Label: Geographic Terms Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Canada%22">Canada</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Alberta%22">Alberta</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Fire regimes are changing globally in response to climate change, with burned area increasing across nearly all Canadian ecozones. The strongest trends are occurring in western Canada, including the peatland-dominated Boreal Plains (BP) ecozone. Until recently, land cover classification and fire perimeter resolution and accuracy have limited understanding of which ecosystem types contribute to burned area, in particular, the role of peatlands in the boreal wildfire regime. Here, we use a high-resolution wetland subtype map along with burned area perimeters and ignition point data to evaluate peatland burn rates and ignition conditions. We show that the contribution of coniferous treed peatlands to the total area burned in Alberta's BP ecozone increased between 1985 and 2019 and with total area burned. Coniferous peatlands burned at approximately twice the rate (percent of peatland type area/year) of deciduous peatlands over the study period and that deciduous treed peatlands have the greatest number of human-caused ignitions, affecting both ignition seasonality and peatland area burned. These new insights into the boreal fire regime help reveal drivers of change and have implications for land use planning, fire management, and carbon accounting as changes to ecosystem conditions and fire weather combine to produce shifts in fire regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Canadian Journal of Forest Research is the property of Canadian Science Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1139/cjfr-2025-0292 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 10 StartPage: 1 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Peatlands Type: general – SubjectFull: Wildfires Type: general – SubjectFull: Climate change Type: general – SubjectFull: Plains Type: general – SubjectFull: Ecological impact Type: general – SubjectFull: Area measurement Type: general – SubjectFull: Canada Type: general – SubjectFull: Alberta Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: The changing contribution of peatlands to burned area in Alberta's Boreal Plains. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Wilkinson, S.L. – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Krieger-Pottruff, E.J. – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Clark, A. – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Wotton, B.M. IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 20 M: 04 Text: 4/20/2026 Type: published Y: 2026 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 00455067 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 56 Titles: – TitleFull: Canadian Journal of Forest Research Type: main |
| ResultId | 1 |
