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Context <p>Wildfires generate large, spatially heterogeneous patches in boreal forests, providing a unique opportunity to investigate the spatial pattern of saproxylic beetle colonization.</p> Objective <p>In this study, we analyzed spatial patterns of beetle assemblages within a 76,483&#xa0;ha wildfire in northern Québec in 2005.</p> Methods <p>Using a spatial modeling approach (Principal Coordinate of Neighboring Matrices, PCNM), we examined how beetle abundance patterns were structured at different spatial scales and whether these patterns were explained by plot-level variables, landscape-scale burn severity, or proximity to potential source habitats.</p> Results <p>Our results showed that most common saproxylic species exhibited significant spatial structure, primarily at a very large scale (&gt; 2&#xa0;km), with additional contributions from medium and small scales. These patterns were largely explained by environmental variables, particularly landscape-level attributes such as fire severity, rather than by distance to potential source habitats. While some mycophagous species showed reduced abundance with increasing distance from a recent (2002) burn, overall, distance to unburned or previously burned areas did not strongly constrain colonization.</p> Conclusions <p>Our findings suggest that early post-fire beetle colonizers possess high dispersal capacities, allowing them to track suitable habitats across large distances. At a close proximity to suitable habitats, fine-scale environmental conditions, such as local fire severity and substrate characteristics, also played an important role, especially for xylophagous and predaceous species. These findings indicate that post-fire saproxylic beetle colonization is driven by a complex interplay of large-scale environmental heterogeneity and species-specific responses to fine-scale habitat features. Our study underscores the importance of incorporating broad spatial extents when studying post-fire colonization dynamics and highlights how spatial modeling can help disentangle the relative influence of environmental structure and dispersal processes.</p>

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Spatial patterns of saproxylic beetles shortly after fire in the northern boreal forest

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月13日

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  • Yan Boulanger,
  • Luc Sirois,
  • Christian Hébert

摘要

Context

Wildfires generate large, spatially heterogeneous patches in boreal forests, providing a unique opportunity to investigate the spatial pattern of saproxylic beetle colonization.

Objective

In this study, we analyzed spatial patterns of beetle assemblages within a 76,483 ha wildfire in northern Québec in 2005.

Methods

Using a spatial modeling approach (Principal Coordinate of Neighboring Matrices, PCNM), we examined how beetle abundance patterns were structured at different spatial scales and whether these patterns were explained by plot-level variables, landscape-scale burn severity, or proximity to potential source habitats.

Results

Our results showed that most common saproxylic species exhibited significant spatial structure, primarily at a very large scale (> 2 km), with additional contributions from medium and small scales. These patterns were largely explained by environmental variables, particularly landscape-level attributes such as fire severity, rather than by distance to potential source habitats. While some mycophagous species showed reduced abundance with increasing distance from a recent (2002) burn, overall, distance to unburned or previously burned areas did not strongly constrain colonization.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that early post-fire beetle colonizers possess high dispersal capacities, allowing them to track suitable habitats across large distances. At a close proximity to suitable habitats, fine-scale environmental conditions, such as local fire severity and substrate characteristics, also played an important role, especially for xylophagous and predaceous species. These findings indicate that post-fire saproxylic beetle colonization is driven by a complex interplay of large-scale environmental heterogeneity and species-specific responses to fine-scale habitat features. Our study underscores the importance of incorporating broad spatial extents when studying post-fire colonization dynamics and highlights how spatial modeling can help disentangle the relative influence of environmental structure and dispersal processes.