Fire and Environmental Heterogeneity in Southern Temperate Forest Ecosystems: Implications for Management

1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
JE Williams ◽  
RJ Whelan ◽  
AM Gill
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Heterogeneity ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Ecological Monitoring ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Biological Productivity ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Plant Resource ◽  
Crown Scorch ◽  
Eucalypt Forests ◽  
Predictive Understanding

Fire is a natural part of most Australian landscapes and has an important influence on the biological productivity and biotic composition of many ecosystems. Although fire is commonly used as a management tool, the precise nature of the way it may influence productivity and biotic composition is often poorly understood and, as a consequence, its use is controversial. This paper considers the use of fire for the management of ecosystems. Specifically, the influences of fire on environmental heterogeneity and the effects these have on shaping biological productivity and biotic patterns are discussed. Heterogeneity that affects biotic response includes variation in biophysical attributes of landscapes such as topography, fire regimes and the spatial attributes of fire. Examples are used to address the interplay between fires, environmental heterogeneity and biological patterns: (1) the effects of frees on plant resource availability; (2) crown scorch in eucalypt forests; and (3) the effects of spatial variation (patchiness) within a fire on species composition. Heterogeneity should be considered explicitly in management because prescriptions devised elsewhere may not be able to be imported with confidence to all sites and the responses of the biota to fires may differ from available information. Ecological monitoring and research into the ecological effects of heterogeneity are required to provide a predictive understanding of natural systems and provide information to aid decisions about the use of fire as a management tool.

Transformation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen J. Esler ◽  
Anna L. Jacobsen ◽  
R. Brandon Pratt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Land Use Land Cover ◽  
Mountainous Areas ◽  
Drivers Of Change ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Natural Landscapes ◽  
Habitat Conversion ◽  
Residential Use

Extensive habitat loss and habitat conversion has occurred across all mediterranean-type climate (MTC) regions, driven by increasing human populations who have converted large tracts of land to production, transport, and residential use (land-use, land-cover change) while simultaneously introducing novel forms of disturbance to natural landscapes. Remaining habitat, often fragmented and in isolated or remote (mountainous) areas, is threatened and degraded by altered fire regimes, introduction of invasive species, nutrient enrichment, and climate change. The types and impacts of these threats vary across MTC regions, but overall these drivers of change show little signs of abatement and many have the potential to interact with MTC region natural systems in complex ways.

scholarly journals Fire regimes and environmental gradients shape vertebrate and plant distributions in temperate eucalypt forests

Ecosphere ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke T. Kelly ◽  
Angie Haslem ◽  
Greg J. Holland ◽  
Steven W. J. Leonard ◽  
Josephine MacHunter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Plant Distributions ◽  
Eucalypt Forests

Influence of prescribed burning on fruit production in Proteaceae

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 46 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. D. Penman ◽  
S. H. Penman
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Term Study ◽  
Long Term Study

Prescribed burning is applied worldwide as a forest management tool. It is broadly accepted that altered fire regimes can directly impact upon community structure and composition, but little is known about the indirect effects of altered fire regimes on the mechanisms that produce community-level changes such as changes to the reproductive output of individual plants, hence populations. We examined the reproductive output of four species of Proteaceae within a long term study site where disturbance histories for the last twenty years have been accurately recorded on 216 plots. Frequent fire was found to increase woody fruit production in Banksia marginata, but had no apparent effect on B. serrata, Hakea eriantha or H. sericea. Results of this study vary from a similar study which examined the effect of wildfires. The differences observed are likely to reflect the differing impacts of fire intensity on these species. Indirect changes in fruit production may result in changes in reproductive success of species which in turn may affect vegetation community structure and faunal habitat.

scholarly journals Contemporary Fire Regimes Provide a Critical Perspective on Restoration Needs in the Mexico-United States Borderlands

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 117862212096919
Author(s):  
Miguel L Villarreal ◽  
José M Iniguez ◽  
Aaron D Flesch ◽  
Jamie S Sanderlin ◽  
Citlali Cortés Montaño ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Private Lands ◽  
United States Mexico

The relationship between people and wildfire has always been paradoxical: fire is an essential ecological process and management tool, but can also be detrimental to life and property. Consequently, fire regimes have been modified throughout history through both intentional burning to promote benefits and active suppression to reduce risks. Reintroducing fire and its benefits back into the Sky Island mountains of the United States-Mexico borderlands has the potential to reduce adverse effects of altered fire regimes and build resilient ecosystems and human communities. To help guide regional fire restoration, we describe the frequency and severity of recent fires over a 32-year period (1985-2017) across a vast binational region in the United States-Mexico borderlands and assess variation in fire frequency and severity across climate gradients and in relation to vegetation and land tenure classes. We synthesize relevant literature on historical fire regimes within 9 major vegetation types and assess how observed contemporary fire characteristics vary from expectations based on historical patterns. Less than 28% of the study area burned during the observation period, excluding vegetation types in warmer climates that are not adapted to fire (eg, Desertscrub and Thornscrub). Average severity of recent fires was low despite some extreme outliers in cooler, wetter environments. Midway along regional temperature and precipitation gradients, approximately 64% of Pine-Oak Forests burned at least once, with fire frequencies that mainly corresponded to historical expectations on private lands in Mexico but less so on communal lands, suggesting the influence of land management. Fire frequency was higher than historical expectations in extremely cool and wet environments that support forest types such as Spruce-Fir, indicating threats to these systems possibly attributable to drought and other factors. In contrast, fires were absent or infrequent across large areas of Woodlands (~73% unburned) and Grasslands (~88% unburned) due possibly to overgrazing, which reduces abundance and continuity of fine fuels needed to carry fire. Our findings provide a new depiction of fire regimes in the Sky Islands that can help inform fire management, restoration, and regional conservation planning, fostered by local and traditional knowledge and collaboration among landowners and managers.

The population structure and density of central Australian trees and shrubs, and relationships to range condition, rabbit abundance and soil.

1985 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 130 ◽  
Author(s):  
MH Friedel
Keyword(s):  
Population Structure ◽  
Woody Plant ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Population Characteristics ◽  
Plant Resource ◽  
Range Condition ◽  
Term Change ◽  
Open Woodland ◽  
Trees And Shrubs

The regional variation in population structure and density of trees and shrubs was investigated in four central Australian pasture types: open woodland, mulga annual, calcareous shrubby grassland and bluebush nse. The possible influences of range condition, rabbit abundance, soil erosion and so11 characteristics were examined, and the likelihood of long-term change was cons~dered. Density at some woodland and mulga sites was potentially high enough to depress pasture yield. The most common "increaser"species were Casszaspp. in open woodland and mulga (Acaciaaneura) in mulga annual. None of the measured influences related closely to population structure and density, and it is argued that changed fire regimes are most likely to have led to increasing densities of trees and shrubs. Density in calcareous shrubby grasslands was related to rabbit abundance, and smaller size classes of trees and shrubs were severely depleted whererab- bits were plentiful. Continuing loss of the woody plant resource is forecast, if rabbits are not controlled. Other measured influences were not related to woody plant population characteristics. Bluebush (Maireana miroiricha) populations were considered to be relatively stable under current management of bluebush rises.

scholarly journals Elevated CO2 reduces a common soybean leaf endophyte

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Christian ◽  
Baldemar Espino Basurto ◽  
Amber Toussaint ◽  
Xinyan Xu ◽  
Elizabeth A. Ainsworth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Plant Physiology ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Fungal Endophytes ◽  
Operational Taxonomic Unit ◽  
Colony Growth ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Soybean Leaf ◽  
Predictive Understanding

Free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) experiments have elucidated how climate change affects plant physiology and production. However, we lack a predictive understanding of how climate change alters interactions between plants and endophytes, critical microbial mediators of plant physiology and ecology. We leveraged the SoyFACE facility to examine how elevated [CO2] affected soybean (Glycine max) leaf endophyte communities in the field. Endophyte community composition changed under elevated [CO2], including a decrease in the abundance of a common endophyte, Methylobacterium sp. Moreover, Methylobacterium abundance was negatively correlated with co-occurring fungal endophytes. We then assessed how Methylobacterium affected the growth of co-occurring endophytic fungi in vitro. Methylobacterium antagonized most co-occurring fungal endophytes in vitro, particularly when it was more established in culture before fungal introduction. Variation in fungal response to Methylobacterium within a single fungal operational taxonomic unit (OTU) was comparable to inter-OTU variation. Finally, fungi isolated from elevated vs. ambient [CO2] plots differed in colony growth and response to Methylobacterium, suggesting that increasing [CO2] may affect fungal traits and interactions within the microbiome. By combining in situ and in vitro studies, we show that elevated [CO2] decreases the abundance of a common bacterial endophyte that interacts strongly with co-occurring fungal endophytes. We suggest that endophyte responses to global climate change will have important but largely unexplored implications for both agricultural and natural systems.

Fire regime in a conservation reserve in Chihuahua, Mexico

2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 320-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Z Fulé ◽  
José Villanueva-Díaz ◽  
Mauro Ramos-Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Habitat Features ◽  
Cambial Growth ◽  
Sierra Madre ◽  
Fuel Accumulation ◽  
Mean Fire Interval ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
Almost All

Fire regime characteristics were reconstructed from fire-scarred trees in the Tutuaca reserve, a newly designated protected area in the Sierra Madre Occidental of western Chihuahua. The reserve was created to protect thick-billed parrot nesting habitat (large snags) and a relict forest of Chihuahua spruce (Picea chihuahuana Martínez). We collected fire-scarred samples from conifers (Pinus ayacahuite Ehrenb., Pinus durangensis Martínez, and Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) in three 25-ha sites arrayed at different watershed positions, from a low site adjacent to the spruce trees up to the watershed divide. Fire analysis periods began in 1702, 1704, or 1761 and continued through the final fire in 1955 (two sites) or 1995. All sites had frequent fire regimes (mean fire interval (MFI) 3.9–5.2 years; MFI for years in which 25% or more of the samples were scarred: 6.9–8.4 years). Almost all fires occurred before cambial growth began or early during the season of cambial growth. Fire years were significantly dry, and the years immediately preceding fire were significantly wet. After 1955, no further fires occurred at two of the three study sites, a pattern similar to that observed elsewhere in northern Mexico. The third site had fires in 1987 and 1995. The extended fire-free period in portions of the Tutuaca landscape may result in fuel accumulation and eventually in severe wildfire. For effective conservation of fire-susceptible habitat features, managers should seek to incorporate surface fire as a management tool.

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