Evaluating the persistence of post-fire residual patches in the eastern Canadian boreal mixedwood forest

In boreal forest ecosystems, wildfire severity (i.e. the extent of fire-related tree mortality) is affected by environmental conditions and fire intensity. A burned area usually includes tree patches that partially or entirely escaped fire, called residual patches'. Although the occurrence of residual patches has been extensively documented, their persistence through time, and thus their capacity to escape several consecutive fires, has not yet been investigated. Macroscopic charcoal particles embedded in organic soils were used to reconstruct the fire history of 13 residual patches of the eastern Canadian boreal mixedwood forest. Our results display the existence of two types of residual patches: (i) patches that only escaped fire by chance, maybe because of local site or meteorological conditions unsuitable for fire spread (random patches), and (ii) patches with lower fire susceptibility, also called fire refuges' that escaped at least two consecutive fires, probably because of particular site characteristics. Fire refuges can escape fire for more than 500 years, up to several thousand years, and probably burn only during exceptionally severe fire events. Special conservation efforts could target fire refuges owing to their old age, long ecological continuity and potential specific biological diversity associated to different microhabitats.