Vulnerability of urban park forests to fire related species losses

The vulnerability to fire related species losses of ten large (≥ 400 ha) urban park forests located in the coastal northeastern United States was examined by comparing which fire adapted and fire sensitive native and invasive tree species are present in the forests. Fire adaptation was found for 55% of the ninety-three native species and 47% of the fifteen invasive species. The ten parks are vulnerable to fire related species losses because nearly half of the species are fire sensitive. Species presence in parks reveals the possible effect of past fires because fire adapted species are evenly distributed across the range of presence in one to ten parks while two-thirds of the fire sensitive species are present in only one to five parks. Fire adapted native species presence among parks is not related to the geographic proximity of the parks but could be related to soil type and planting and management history.