Long-term succession of closed boreal forests at their range limit in eastern North America shows resilience to fire and climate disturbances

The distribution of vegetation zones in northeastern North America forms a gradual transition from closed to open forests, and to tundra. Closed forests near the open forest/tundra boundary generally correspond to residual patches of a once larger forest community. Whether these forest patches have survived as untouched, fire-free communities or as resilient communities during the Holocene remains unknown. To answer to this question, we...