Data from: Wildfire catalyzes upward range expansion of trembling aspen in southern Rocky Mountain beetle-killed forests

In this study, we assessed whether recent wildfires and spruce beetle outbreaks promoted upward range expansion of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado. We assessed aerial imagery for presence/absence of aspen in the study area and ground truthed a subset of these points to compare the aerial imagery analysis with field records of aspen. From these data we determined the upper elevational limit of aspen in the study area before fire. We then conducted field surveys at and above the upper elevational limit of aspen in burned and unburned, but beetle killed areas and collected data on stand structure, surface cover, seedling density and microsite conditions associated with seedlings.

本研究旨在评估近期野火与云杉小蠹虫暴发是否推动了科罗拉多州南部圣胡安山脉中颤杨（Populus tremuloides）的海拔分布范围向上扩张。本研究通过航空影像评估研究区域内颤杨的存在与否，并对其中部分样点开展地面验证，以对比航空影像分析结果与颤杨的野外实测记录。基于上述数据，我们确定了火灾发生前研究区域内颤杨的海拔上限。随后，我们在火灾过火区、未过火但已遭小蠹虫致死的区域内，以及颤杨海拔上限以上区域开展野外调查，并收集了林分结构、地表覆盖、幼苗密度以及与幼苗相关的微生境条件等数据。