Recovery of Above Ground Biomass and

Foliar Nitrogen in Yellowstone National Park

after the 1988 FireDanielle Haddad

Compton Tucker (NASA Goddard)Scott Ollinger (UNH)

Luigi Boschetti (University of Maryland), Jeff Masek and Shannon Franks (Goddard), Monica Turner (University of Wisconsin), and Creighton Litton (University of Hawaii at

Manoa)

In the summer of 1988 36% of Yellowstone National Park was burned by Forest Fires

Objective• To use a time series of Landsat images to

estimate changes in above ground biomass and foliar nitrogen over time after major disturbance by fire.

• How long does it take the forest to recover from a major forest fire?

– How long does it take for the carbon and nitrogen pool to recover?

– Do they recover at the same rate?

– Could nitrogen limitation slow down the forest recovery?

Why is this important• Fires are becoming more frequent in

Yellowstone.

• Field studies can only look at a limited number of sites.

• A time series also lets us look at the past and the present, while field studies only give you a snap shot of one point in time.

• Limited nitrogen availability can limit plant growth and fire burns foliage and soil organic matter resulting in nitrogen losses.

• It is important to know what long term impacts fire has on Yellowstone’s ecosystem.

MethodsAbove Ground Biomass• Using past field studies to find a

correlation between above ground net primary production (ANPP) and NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index).

• 1988 is time zero, where above ground biomass is assumed to be near zero do to being burned away by fire.

• Each year we add on the estimated ANPP (estimated from the Landsat NDVI for that year) to the above ground biomass pool and subtract out 2% of the above ground biomass pool each year to account for losses in biomass due to mortality and litter loss.

• When the ANPP is equal to the output for that year then the forest is at steady state and full matured.

Foliar Nitrogen• Using past field studies to find a

correlation between % foliar nitrogen and Landsat band 5 surface reflectance.

• Using changes in the surface reflectance of band 5 we will track how % foliar nitrogen changes over time.

• By looking at Landsat images before and after the 1988 fire we will see how long it takes for % foliar nitrogen to reach prefire levels.

Ollinger et al. 2008

Band 5

FOREST BIOMASS

ANPP Mortality + Woody Litter

Edited from Ollinger’s 2010 Biogeochemistry class

Input Output

Diagram of method for estimating above ground biomass

At Steady State, M is Constant; Q = S

Q MS

0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.70

2

4

6

8

10

12f(x) = 78.3863092147629 x^4.26822708671434R² = 0.628789887145038

Above Ground Net Primary Production vs Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

NDVI

ANPP

(Mg/

ha/y

r)

10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 300.8

0.9

1

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

f(x) = 0.0226243933827626 x + 0.652598103227122R² = 0.436883123685085

% Foliar Nitrogen vs Landsat Band 5

Band 5% Reflectance

% F

olia

r Nitr

ogen

Yellowstone: 1988 Fire and Sites

Burned in 1988

Unburned in 1988

Ground Sample Locations

19861988

19901992

19941996

19982000

20022004

20060.80

0.90

1.00

1.10

1.20

1.30

% Foliar Nitrogen Over Time Following the 1988 Fire at Yel-lowstone

Cascade Meadows North

Lewis Canyon

Pitchstone Hobo

Firehole Loop South

Biscuit Basin

Riddle High

South Lewis Canyon

84 Blowdown

Cascade Meadows South

Cygnet Lakes North

Fountain East

Gravel Pit

Heart Lake Trail

Gibbon Falls

% F

olia

r N

19891990

19911992

19931994

19951996

19971998

19992000

20012002

20032004

20052006

20070

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Above Ground Net Primary Production at Yellowstone Over TimeCascade Meadows North

Lewis Canyon

Pitchstone Hobo

Firehole Loop South

Biscuit Basin

Riddle High

South Lewis Canyon

84 Blowdown

Cascade Meadows South

Cygnet Lakes North

Fountain East

Gravel Pit

Heart Lake Trail

Gibbon Falls

ANPP

(Mg/

ha/y

r)

19891990

19911992

19931994

19951996

19971998

19992000

20012002

20032004

20052006

20070

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Total Above Ground Biomass at Yellowstone Over Time

Cascade Meadows North

Lewis Canyon

Pitchstone Hobo

Firehole Loop South

Biscuit Basin

Riddle High

South Lewis Canyon

84 Blowdown

Cascade Meadows South

Cygnet Lakes North

Fountain East

Gravel Pit

Heart Lake Trail

Gibbon Falls

Tota

l Abo

ve G

roun

d Bi

omas

s (M

g/ha

)

Cascade Meadows

North

Lewis Canyon Pitchstone Hobo

Firehole Loop South

Biscuit Basin Riddle High South Lewis Canyon

Cygnet Lakes North

Gibbon Falls0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Total Above Ground Biomass Before and 19 Years After the 1988 Fire in Yellowstone

Total Above Ground Biomass Pre 1988 (Mg/ha)Total Above Ground Biomass in 2007 (19 years later)(Mg/ha)

0.9 0.95 1 1.05 1.1 1.15 1.2 1.25 1.30.04

2.04

4.04

6.04

8.04

10.04

12.04

14.04

16.04

Above Ground Net Primary Production vs Foliar Nitrogen: Estimated Values

% Foliar N

AN

PP (M

g/ha

/yr)

0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.50

5

10

15

20

f(x) = 2.60767691364525 x -̂4.33199691731827R² = 0.358231819868765

Above Ground Net Primary Production vs Foliar Nitrogen: Field Data

% Foliar N

AN

PP (M

g/ha

/yr)

P value = <0.0001*

Works CitedKrankina et al. (2005) Effects of climate, disturbance, and species on forest biomass across Russia. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35: 2281 – 2293

Litton, Creighton M., Above- and Belowground Carbon Allocation in Post-fire Lodgepole Pine Forests: Effects of Tree Density and Stand Age, Ph.D., Department of Botany, December, 2002.

Ollinger et al. (2008) Canopy nitrogen, carbon assimilation, and albedo in temperate and boreal forest: Functional relations and potential climate feedbacks. PNAS 105: 19336 -19341

Turner et al. (2004) Landscape Patterns of Sapling Density, Leaf Area, and Aboveground Net Primary Production in Postfire Lodgepole Pine Forest, Yellowstone National Park (USA). Ecosystems 7: 751 – 775

Turner et al. (2009) Variation in foliar nitrogen and aboveground net primary production in young post fire lodgepole pine. Can. J. Res. 39: 1024 - 1035

Wildland Fires in Yellowstone. National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/yell/naturescience/wildlandfire.htm

ImagesLandsat Thematic Mapper (TM) onboard Landsat 4 and 5: http://glovis.usgs.gov

LEDAPS: Landsat Ecosystems Disturbance Adaptive Processing Systems, Jeff Masek: http://ledaps.nascom.nasa.gov

Regional Burn Severity Mosaics from Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) by USGS and the Forest Service: http://www.mtbs.gov