Table 3 Common eastern North American tree genera classified by temperature, shade tolerance, and pyrogenicity (adapted from Nowacki and Abrams (2015)). Average annual range temperatures (in parentheses) derived from the Tree Atlas database (Prasad et al. 2007–ongoing) were used to define temperature classes for species (cold ≤ 6.6 °C; cool = 6.7–10.7 °C; warm = 10.8–14.0 °C). Range temperatures for genera were averaged from component species. Pollen representation in sediment samples is based on Prentice and Webb III (1986). Pyrophilic genera are also classified as drought tolerant (including moderately drought tolerant, indicated with DT
Latin name | Common name | Temperature | Shade tolerance | Fire-drought tolerance | Pollen representation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abies | Fir | Cold (4.4) | Tolerant | Pyrophobic | Low |
Acer | Maple | Cool (9.6) | Tolerant | Pyrophobic | Low |
Betula | Birch | Cold (8.8) | Intolerant | Pyrophobic | High |
Carya | Hickory | Warm (13.0) | Intermediate | Pyrophilic-DT | Intermediate |
Castanea | Chestnut | Cool (9.8) | Intermediate | Pyrophilic-DT | Unknown |
Fagus | Beech | Warm (11.0) | Tolerant | Pyrophobic | Intermediate |
Fraxinus | Ash | Cool (8.9) | Intermediate | Pyrophobic | Low |
Larix | Larch | Cold (4.6) | Intolerant | Pyrophobic | Low |
Picea | Spruce | Cold (4.5) | Tolerant | Pyrophobic | Low |
Pinus (mostly strobus type) | Pine | Cold (5.8) | Intolerant | Pyrophilic-DT | High |
Populus | Aspen | Cold (6.8) | Intolerant | Pyrophilic-DT | Low |
Quercus | Oak | Warm (12.3) | Intermediate | Pyrophilic-DT | High |
Thuja | Cedar | Cold (4.5) | Tolerant | Pyrophobic | Low |
Tilia | Basswood | Cool (8.0) | Tolerant | Pyrophobic | Low |
Tsuga | Hemlock | Cool (7.3) | Tolerant | Pyrophobic | Intermediate |
Ulmus | Elm | Warm (11.7) | Intermediate | Pyrophobic | High |