The iconic American chestnut (Castanea dentata) once spanned a large portion of eastern North America before its functional extinction in the early 20th century due primarily to non‐native fungal pathogens. The pronounced loss of this species likely resulted in an abrupt alteration of many ecological processes, including fire. The potential to resurrect this species through resistance breeding or other methods holds promise, but more information on the fire ecology of American chestnut may provide helpful information to assist restoration. Here we summarize the existing direct and indirect research on the fire history and fire ecology within the former range of American chestnut. We found multiple lines of evidence to suggest fire was frequent throughout much of its historical range. A broadscale analysis of historical fire frequency revealed that 88% of the American chestnut range had a mean fire return interval of 20 yr or less, corresponding to finer‐scale fire history and forest structure studies. In much of the historical range of American chestnut, the stand structure was much more open, fire scar studies of associated species were very frequent (mean fire return interval ranged between 1.9 and 19.8 yr), and, in many cases, charcoal abundance and American chestnut pollen were positively related. This evidence coupled with American chestnut’s suite of traits associated with tolerance of frequent fire, such as highly flammable litter, tall stature, rapid growth, and resprouting ability, reinforce concepts that fire was historically an important component of many woodlands and forests containing American chestnut. While these lines of evidence are strongly suggestive, we provide potential areas of further inquiry to expand and refine our understanding of American chestnut fire ecology.

中文翻译：

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重新考虑标志性美国栗子的火生态

标志性的美国栗（Castanea dentata）曾经跨越北美东部的大部分地区，直到20世纪初其功能绝种，主要是由于非本地真菌病原体引起的。该物种的明显丧失可能导致包括火在内的许多生态过程的突然改变。通过抗性育种或其他方法复活该物种的潜力备受期待，但是有关美国栗木火生态的更多信息可能会提供有助于恢复的有用信息。在这里，我们总结了在美国栗子的前身范围内有关火灾历史和火灾生态的现有直接和间接研究。我们发现多种证据表明火灾在整个历史范围内都是频繁发生的。对历史火灾频率的大规模分析表明，美国板栗范围的88％的平均回火间隔为20年或更短，这对应于更精细的火灾历史和森林结构研究。在美洲栗的大部分历史范围内，林分结构更加开放，对相关物种的火疤研究非常频繁（平均回火间隔在1.9至19.8年之间），在许多情况下，木炭丰度和美洲栗花粉呈正相关。这一证据与美国栗树的一系列特征相结合，具有耐频繁燃烧的特性，例如高度易燃的垃圾，高大的身材，快速的成长和发芽能力，这进一步强化了人们认为，火灾在历史上是许多包含美国栗子的林地和森林的重要组成部分。