Sensitivity Analysis of a Fire Spread Model in Chaparral Landscape
Author: R.E. Clark, A.S. Hope, S. Tarantola, D. Gatelli, P.E. Dennison, M.A. Moritz
Pages: 1-13
Due to a unique combination of environmental conditions, the chaparral shrublands of southern California are prone to large, intense wildland fires. There is ongoing work in the fire research community to establish whether fuel accumulation or weather conditions are the determining factor in the prevalence of large chaparral fires. This study introduces a framework for contributing a modeling perspective to understanding these alternative hypotheses. Read More.
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Analysis of Fire-related Vegetation Patterns in the Huachuca Mountains, Arizona, USA, and Sierra los Ajos, Sonora, Mexico
Author: Miguel L. Villarreal, Stephen R. Yool
Pages: 14-33
There is general interest among fire ecologists to integrate observed fire regimes into long term fire management. The United States-Mexico borderlands provide unique research opportunities to study effects of contrasting forest management activities on forest structure and pattern. To increase understanding of the range of forest stand conditions in borderland ecosystems, we compared tree crown patterns from two forests near the US-Mexico border that are managed under contrasting fire policies and have contrasting fire histories. Read More.
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Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Lightning Strikes in California in Relation To Large-scale Weather Patterns
Author: Jan W. van Wagtendonk, Daniel R. Cayan
Pages: 34-56
We evaluated American three-toed woodpecker (Picoides dorsalis) response to spatial heterogeneity of burn severity and prey availability over multiple scales at the 56 000 ha Hayman Fire (2002) located in the Colorado Front Range. In 2003 and 2004, we quantified the response of three-toed woodpeckers to burn severity, beetle occurrence, and tree size at three levels: home-range scale (36 ha), foraging patches (~1 ha), and trees within foraging patches. Read More.
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Using Bark Char Codes to Predict Post-fire Cambium Mortality
Author: Sharon M. Hood, Danny R. Cluck, Sheri L. Smith, Kevin C. Ryan
Pages: 57-73
Cambium injury is an important factor in post-fire tree survival. Measurements that quantify the degree of bark charring on tree stems after fire are often used as surrogates for direct cambium injury because they are relatively easy to assign and are non-destructive. However, bark char codes based on these measurements have been inadequately tested to determine how well they relate to live or dead cambium. Read More.
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Measuring the Rate of Spread of Chaparral Prescribed Fires in Northern California
Author: Scott L. Stephens, David R. Weise, Danny L. Fry, Robert J. Keiffer, Jim Dawson, Eunmo Koo, Jennifer Potts, Patrick J. Pagni
Pages: 74-86
Prescribed fire is a common method used to produce desired ecological effects in chaparral by mimicking the natural role of fire. Since prescribed fires are usually conducted in moderate fuel and weather conditions, models that accurately predict fire behavior and effects under these scenarios are important for management. In this study, explosive audio devices and steel stakes were used to record the location of the flaming front during seven prescribed fires in mature, chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum) dominated chaparral in northern California. Read More.
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Seed Invasion Filters and Forest Fire Severity
Author: Tom R. Cottrell, Paul F. Hessburg, Jonathan A. Betz
Pages: 87-100
Forest seed dispersal is altered after fire. Using seed traps, we studied impacts of fire severity on timing of seed dispersal, total seed rain, and seed rain richness in patches of high and low severity fire and unburned Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) forests in the Fischer and Tyee fire complexes in the eastern Washington Cascades. Unburned plots had the lowest average seed production. Read More.
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Nitrogen Isotopic Composition and Elemental Concentration of Tree-rings May Help Map the Extent of Historic Fire Events
Author: Andrew R. Bukata, T. Kurtis Kyser, Tom A. Al
Pages: 101-107
Elemental and nitrogen isotopic compositions of tree-rings adjacent to a fire-scar in a white birch (Betula papyrifera) are compared to those away from the scar in the same tree, and to those of nearby non-scarred yellow birches (Betula alleghaniensis) and white birches. Read More.
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