Primary succession predominates in the active floodplain. The trajectory of succession is sensitive to environment, propagule availability, legacies associated with pre-fire vegetation, and disturbance severity. At six turning points in the floodplain succession and three turning points in the upland succession, three replicates of experimental plots were established to follow the natural changes occurring in ecosystem structure and function. We selected "turning points" in the succession sequences where critical changes in ecosystem structure are accompanied by functional changes, which have far-reaching effects on ecosystem development. The Tanana River is the largest tributary of the Yukon River, and is bordered by the Alaska Range to the south and the Yukon-Tanana Upland physiographic province to the north.
The LTER research program at BCEF tests hypotheses in two successional sequences: primary succession on the floodplain of the Tanana River (six successional stages with three replicates per stage) and secondary succession following wildfire in upland forests (four successional stages). In 1987, BCEF joined the LTER program to address successional processes in the boreal forest of Interior Alaska.
It includes a mosaic of forested and non-forested vegetation types corresponding to four broad topographic zones: upland hills and ridges, lowland toeslopes and valley bottoms, old Tanana River terraces, and the active floodplain.Ī wide array of research has been conducted in the BCEF since the 1950s (e.g., effects of red squirrel foraging on white spruce cone and seed production, nutrient relationships in birch and black spruce stands, monitoring of insect and pathogen outbreaks). The Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest (BCEF) was established in 1963 and consists of typical vegetation and landforms in Interior Alaska. Caribou-Poker Creeks Research Watershed.
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