scholarly journals Fire Frequency Affects Structure and Composition of Xeric Forests of Eastern Oklahoma

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 370-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse A. Burton ◽  
Stephen W. Hallgren ◽  
Michael W. Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Xeric Forests

The morphology of experimentally produced charcoal distinguishes fuel types in the Arctic tundra

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 1091-1096 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor MB Pereboom ◽  
Richard S Vachula ◽  
Yongsong Huang ◽  
James Russell
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Tundra ◽  
Global Carbon Cycle ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Fuel Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
Primary Means ◽  
Forested Ecosystems ◽  
Global Carbon ◽  
Tundra Ecosystems

Wildfires in the Arctic tundra have become increasingly frequent in recent years and have important implications for tundra ecosystems and for the global carbon cycle. Lake sediment–based records are the primary means of understanding the climatic influences on tundra fires. Sedimentary charcoal has been used to infer climate-driven changes in tundra fire frequency but thus far cannot differentiate characteristics of the vegetation burnt during fire events. In forested ecosystems, charcoal morphologies have been used to distinguish changes in fuel type consumed by wildfires of the past; however, no such approach has been developed for tundra ecosystems. We show experimentally that charcoal morphologies can be used to differentiate graminoid (mean = 6.77; standard deviation (SD) = 0.23) and shrub (mean = 2.42; SD = 1.86) biomass burnt in tundra fire records. This study is a first step needed to construct more nuanced tundra wildfire histories and to understand how wildfire will impact the region as vegetation and fire change in the future.

scholarly journals Demographic Effects of Severe Fire in Montane Shrubland on Tasmania’s Central Plateau

Fire ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
Judy A. Foulkes ◽  
Lynda D. Prior ◽  
Steven W. J. Leonard ◽  
David M. J. S. Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Woody Species ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Seedling Regeneration ◽  
Central Plateau ◽  
Conservation Area ◽  
Severe Fire ◽  
Representative Area

Australian montane sclerophyll shrubland vegetation is widely considered to be resilient to infrequent severe fire, but this may not be the case in Tasmania. Here, we report on the vegetative and seedling regeneration response of a Tasmanian non-coniferous woody montane shrubland following a severe fire, which burned much of the Great Pine Tier in the Central Plateau Conservation Area during the 2018–2019 fire season when a historically anomalously large area was burned in central Tasmania. Our field survey of a representative area burned by severe crown fire revealed that more than 99% of the shrubland plants were top-killed, with only 5% of the burnt plants resprouting one year following the fire. Such a low resprouting rate means the resilience of the shrubland depends on seedling regeneration from aerial and soil seedbanks or colonization from plants outside the burned area. Woody species’ seedling densities were variable but generally low (25 m−2). The low number of resprouters, and reliance on seedlings for recovery, suggest the shrubland may not be as resilient to fire as mainland Australian montane shrubland, particularly given a warming climate and likely increase in fire frequency.

scholarly journals Fire frequency, state change and hysteresis in tallgrass prairie

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott L. Collins ◽  
Jesse B. Nippert ◽  
John M. Blair ◽  
John M. Briggs ◽  
Pamela Blackmore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tallgrass Prairie ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
State Change ◽  
Frequency State

Wildfires in the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains and their relationship to mid-tropospheric anomalies

1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1213-1222 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.A. Johnson ◽  
D.R. Wowchuk
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Fuel Moisture ◽  
Large Fire ◽  
Canadian Rocky Mountains ◽  
Area Burned ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Moisture Conditions

In this paper we present evidence for a large-scale (synoptic-scale) meteorological mechanism controlling the fire frequency in the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains. This large-scale control may explain the similarity in average fire frequencies and timing of change in average fire frequencies for the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains. Over the last 86 years the size distribution of fires (annual area burned) in the southern Canadian Rockies was distinctly bimodal, with a separation between small- and large-fire years at approximately 10–25 ha annual area burned. During the last 35 years, large-fire years had significantly lower fuel moisture conditions and many mid-tropospheric surface-blocking events (high-pressure upper level ridges) during July and August (the period of greatest fire activity). Small-fire years in this period exhibited significantly higher fuel moisture conditions and fewer persistent mid-tropospheric surface-blocking events during July and August. Mid-tropospheric surface-blocking events during large-fire years were teleconnected (spatially and temporally correlated in 50 kPa heights) to upper level troughs in the North Pacific and eastern North America. This relationship takes the form of the positive mode of the Pacific North America pattern.

scholarly journals Exploring the Future of Fuel Loads in Tasmania, Australia: Shifts in Vegetation in Response to Changing Fire Weather, Productivity, and Fire Frequency

Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Harris ◽  
Tomas Remenyi ◽  
Paul Fox-Hughes ◽  
Peter Love ◽  
Nathaniel Bindoff
Keyword(s):  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Fuel Loads ◽  
The Future

Fire regime shift linked to increased forest density in a piñon–juniper savanna landscape

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellis Q. Margolis
Keyword(s):  
Regime Shift ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Tree Density ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
In Fire

Piñon–juniper (PJ) fire regimes are generally characterised as infrequent high-severity. However, PJ ecosystems vary across a large geographic and bio-climatic range and little is known about one of the principal PJ functional types, PJ savannas. It is logical that (1) grass in PJ savannas could support frequent, low-severity fire and (2) exclusion of frequent fire could explain increased tree density in PJ savannas. To assess these hypotheses I used dendroecological methods to reconstruct fire history and forest structure in a PJ-dominated savanna. Evidence of high-severity fire was not observed. From 112 fire-scarred trees I reconstructed 87 fire years (1547–1899). Mean fire interval was 7.8 years for fires recorded at ≥2 sites. Tree establishment was negatively correlated with fire frequency (r=–0.74) and peak PJ establishment was synchronous with dry (unfavourable) conditions and a regime shift (decline) in fire frequency in the late 1800s. The collapse of the grass-fuelled, frequent, surface fire regime in this PJ savanna was likely the primary driver of current high tree density (mean=881treesha–1) that is >600% of the historical estimate. Variability in bio-climatic conditions likely drive variability in fire regimes across the wide range of PJ ecosystems.

Exploiting Poisson additivity to predict fire frequency from maps of fire weather and land cover in boreal forests of Québec, Canada

Ecography ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 200-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Marchal ◽  
Steve G. Cumming ◽  
Eliot J. B. McIntire
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Fire Weather

scholarly journals Changes in the woody component of an East African savanna during 25 years

1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 545-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudius A. D. M. Van De Vijver ◽  
Charles A. Foley ◽  
Han Olff
Keyword(s):  
Woody Species ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Tree Density ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
East African ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Northern Tanzania ◽  
Total Tree ◽  
Large Decline

Changes in density, structure and species composition of the woody component of the two predominant savanna types in Tarangire National Park, northern Tanzania, during a period of 25 y were investigated. The park is known for its large, increasing elephant numbers and high frequency of fires. In 1996 a study on woody species density, composition and age structure, which was first performed in 1971, was repeated, using the same transects and method. Access to the original data of 1971 allowed for a full comparison of the changes and an investigation whether these could be related to changes in elephant numbers and fire frequency. The total tree density declined during the 25 y, but the decline was not evenly distributed over the different height classes. Although the density of trees taller than 5 m declined significantly, the greatest decline occurred in the density of trees shorter than 1 m. The density of trees in the intermediate height class of 1–5 m did not decline. Although damage to trees by elephants increased during the 25-y period, c. 25% showed no browse damage and, except for some severely damaged trees, elephant damage was not found to reduce tree vigour. Elephants affected the size distribution of the savanna woody component much more than the density, while the data suggest no significant effect of fire on changes in tree density. The large decline in density of small trees was attributed to a severe drought in 1993. Based on large numbers of elephants during the past decades and on relatively low elephant impact on the total tree density, the present study suggests that the current elephant number of 2300 can be sustained in the park without causing detrimental effects, provided that their current range is maintained.

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