Pub Date : 2024-04-04DOI: 10.1186/s42408-024-00263-1
John Craycroft, Callie Schweitzer
For at least four decades, practitioners have recognized advantages of aerial versus ground ignition for maximizing the effectiveness of prescribed fires. For example, larger areas can be ignited in less time, or ignition energy may be variously targeted over an area in accordance with the uneven distribution of fuels. The maturation of wireless communication, geopositioning systems, and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has enhanced those advantages, and UAS approaches also provide further advantages relative to helicopter ignitions, such as reduced risk to human safety, lower operating costs, and higher operational flexibility. In a long running study at the Bankhead National Forest in northcentral Alabama, prescribed fire has been used for nearly 20 years. Most of the burns have been hand-ignited via drip torches, while some have been aerially ignited via helicopter. In March 2022, for the first time, a UAS was used to ignite prescribed fires across a landscape that included a long-term research stand. This field note relates comparisons of both fire behavior and fuel consumption metrics for the UAS-ignited burn versus previous burns on the same stand, and versus burns of other research stands in the same year. The UAS-ignited prescribed fire experienced burn effects similar to those from ground-ignited prescribed fires on the same stand in previous years, as well as those from ground-ignited prescribed fires on other stands in the same year. This post hoc analysis suggests that UAS ignition approaches may be sufficient for achieving prescribed burn goals, thereby enabling practitioners to realize the advantages offered by that ignition mode.
{"title":"Case study of UAS ignition of prescribed fire in a mixedwood on the William B. Bankhead National Forest, Alabama","authors":"John Craycroft, Callie Schweitzer","doi":"10.1186/s42408-024-00263-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00263-1","url":null,"abstract":"For at least four decades, practitioners have recognized advantages of aerial versus ground ignition for maximizing the effectiveness of prescribed fires. For example, larger areas can be ignited in less time, or ignition energy may be variously targeted over an area in accordance with the uneven distribution of fuels. The maturation of wireless communication, geopositioning systems, and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has enhanced those advantages, and UAS approaches also provide further advantages relative to helicopter ignitions, such as reduced risk to human safety, lower operating costs, and higher operational flexibility. In a long running study at the Bankhead National Forest in northcentral Alabama, prescribed fire has been used for nearly 20 years. Most of the burns have been hand-ignited via drip torches, while some have been aerially ignited via helicopter. In March 2022, for the first time, a UAS was used to ignite prescribed fires across a landscape that included a long-term research stand. This field note relates comparisons of both fire behavior and fuel consumption metrics for the UAS-ignited burn versus previous burns on the same stand, and versus burns of other research stands in the same year. The UAS-ignited prescribed fire experienced burn effects similar to those from ground-ignited prescribed fires on the same stand in previous years, as well as those from ground-ignited prescribed fires on other stands in the same year. This post hoc analysis suggests that UAS ignition approaches may be sufficient for achieving prescribed burn goals, thereby enabling practitioners to realize the advantages offered by that ignition mode.","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140572065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-02DOI: 10.1186/s42408-024-00266-y
M. Germino, Samuel “Jake” Price, Susan J. Prichard
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Pub Date : 2024-03-27DOI: 10.1186/s42408-024-00260-4
Jeanne C. Chambers, Eva K. Strand, Lisa M. Ellsworth, Claire M. Tortorelli, Alexandra K. Urza, Michele R. Crist, Richard F. Miller, Matthew C. Reeves, Karen C. Short, Claire L. Williams
Sagebrush ecosystems are experiencing increases in wildfire extent and severity. Most research on vegetation treatments that reduce fuels and fire risk has been short term (2–3 years) and focused on ecological responses. We review causes of altered fire regimes and summarize literature on the longer-term effects of treatments that modify (1) shrub fuels, (2) pinyon and juniper canopy fuels, and (3) fine herbaceous fuels. We describe treatment effects on fuels, fire behavior, ecological resilience, and resistance to invasive annual grasses. Our review revealed tradeoffs in woody fuel treatments between reducing canopy fuels vs. increasing understory herbaceous vegetation (fuels) and fire behavior. In pinyon-juniper expansion areas, all treatments decreased crown fire risk. Prescribed fire and cut and broadcast burn treatments reduced woody fuels long-term but had higher risk of invasion. Mechanical treatments left understory vegetation intact and increased native perennial plants. However, cut and leave treatments increased downed woody fuel and high-intensity wildfire risk, while cut and pile burn and mastication caused localized disturbances and annual grass invasion. Ecological outcomes depended on ecological resilience; sites with warm and dry conditions or depleted perennial native herbaceous species experienced lower recovery and resistance to invasive annual grasses. In invasive annual grass dominated areas, high-intensity targeted grazing reduced fine fuels but required retreatment or seeding; in intact ecosystems with relatively low shrub cover, dormant season targeted grazing reduced fine fuel and thus fire spread. Preemergent herbicides reduced annual grasses with differing effects in warm and dry vs. cool and moist environments. The information largely exists to make informed decisions on treatments to mitigate effects of wildfire and improve ecological resilience at local, project scales. Primary considerations are the short- vs long-term tradeoffs in fuels and fire behavior and thus fire severity and the likely ecological response.
{"title":"Review of fuel treatment effects on fuels, fire behavior and ecological resilience in sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems in the Western U.S.","authors":"Jeanne C. Chambers, Eva K. Strand, Lisa M. Ellsworth, Claire M. Tortorelli, Alexandra K. Urza, Michele R. Crist, Richard F. Miller, Matthew C. Reeves, Karen C. Short, Claire L. Williams","doi":"10.1186/s42408-024-00260-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00260-4","url":null,"abstract":"Sagebrush ecosystems are experiencing increases in wildfire extent and severity. Most research on vegetation treatments that reduce fuels and fire risk has been short term (2–3 years) and focused on ecological responses. We review causes of altered fire regimes and summarize literature on the longer-term effects of treatments that modify (1) shrub fuels, (2) pinyon and juniper canopy fuels, and (3) fine herbaceous fuels. We describe treatment effects on fuels, fire behavior, ecological resilience, and resistance to invasive annual grasses. Our review revealed tradeoffs in woody fuel treatments between reducing canopy fuels vs. increasing understory herbaceous vegetation (fuels) and fire behavior. In pinyon-juniper expansion areas, all treatments decreased crown fire risk. Prescribed fire and cut and broadcast burn treatments reduced woody fuels long-term but had higher risk of invasion. Mechanical treatments left understory vegetation intact and increased native perennial plants. However, cut and leave treatments increased downed woody fuel and high-intensity wildfire risk, while cut and pile burn and mastication caused localized disturbances and annual grass invasion. Ecological outcomes depended on ecological resilience; sites with warm and dry conditions or depleted perennial native herbaceous species experienced lower recovery and resistance to invasive annual grasses. In invasive annual grass dominated areas, high-intensity targeted grazing reduced fine fuels but required retreatment or seeding; in intact ecosystems with relatively low shrub cover, dormant season targeted grazing reduced fine fuel and thus fire spread. Preemergent herbicides reduced annual grasses with differing effects in warm and dry vs. cool and moist environments. The information largely exists to make informed decisions on treatments to mitigate effects of wildfire and improve ecological resilience at local, project scales. Primary considerations are the short- vs long-term tradeoffs in fuels and fire behavior and thus fire severity and the likely ecological response.\u0000","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140312599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
After publication of the original article (Arrogante-Funes et al. 2024), it came to the authors’ attention that there was some missing information in the Acknowledgements and Funding information sections, which have been highlighted below in bold:
Acknowledgements
This research was conducted within the framework of Spanish National Project RTI2018 097538 B I00. In addition, Fátima Arrogante Funes was supported by a predoctoral scholarship (FPI) from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (PRE2019 089208). The authors would like to thank the European project FirEurisk for its support, funded by the European Union. Grant agreement ID: 101003890.
Funding
The Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades has supported this research (grant no. RTI2018 097538 B I00) (grant no. PRE2019 089208). This research was supported by the FirEUrisk project, funded by the European Union (Grant agreement ID: 101003890).
The original article has been updated
Arrogante-Funes, F., I. Aguado, and E. Chuvieco. 2024. Global impacts of fire regimes on wildland bird diversity. Fire Ecol 20: 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00259-x.
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Authors and Affiliations
Environmental Remote Sensing Research Group, Department of Geology, Geography and Environment, Universidad de Alcala, Colegios 2, 28801, Alcalá de Henares, Spain
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Inmaculada AguadoView author publications
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Emilio ChuviecoView author publications
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Corresponding author
Correspondence to Fátima Arrogante‑Funes.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless
更正：Fire Ecol 20, 25 (2024)https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00259-xAfter 原文（Arrogante-Funes et al. 2024）发表后，作者注意到 "致谢 "和 "资助信息 "部分遗漏了一些信息，现以粗体标出如下：致谢本研究在西班牙国家项目 RTI2018 097538 B I00 的框架内进行。此外，法蒂玛-阿罗甘特-富内斯（Fátima Arrogante Funes）还获得了西班牙科学、创新和大学部（PRE2019 089208）博士前期奖学金（FPI）的资助。作者感谢欧盟资助的欧洲项目 FirEurisk 的支持。资助协议编号：101003890：101003890.FundingThe Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades has supported this research (grant no. RTI2018 097538 B I00) (grant no. PRE2019 089208).本研究得到了欧盟资助的 FirEUrisk 项目的支持（资助协议编号：101003890）。原文已更新Arrogante-Funes, F., I. Aguado, and E. Chuvieco.2024.火灾机制对野生鸟类多样性的全球影响。Fire Ecol 20: 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00259-x.文章谷歌学者下载参考文献作者和工作单位环境遥感研究小组，地质、地理和环境系，阿尔卡拉大学，Colegios 2, 28801, Alcalá de Henares, SpainFátima Arrogante-Funes, Inmaculada Aguado &；Emilio Chuvieco作者Fátima Arrogante-Funes查看作者发表的文章您也可以在PubMed Google Scholar中搜索该作者Inmaculada Aguado查看作者发表的文章您也可以在PubMed Google Scholar中搜索该作者Emilio Chuvieco查看作者发表的文章您也可以在PubMed Google Scholar中搜索该作者通讯作者Fátima Arrogante-Funes。开放存取 本文采用知识共享署名 4.0 国际许可协议进行许可，该协议允许以任何媒介或格式使用、共享、改编、分发和复制本文，但必须注明原作者和出处，提供知识共享许可协议的链接，并说明是否进行了修改。本文中的图片或其他第三方材料均包含在文章的知识共享许可协议中，除非在材料的署名栏中另有说明。如果材料未包含在文章的知识共享许可协议中，且您打算使用的材料不符合法律规定或超出许可使用范围，您需要直接从版权所有者处获得许可。要查看该许可的副本，请访问 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Reprints and permissionsCite this articleArrogante-Funes, F., Aguado, I. & Chuvieco, E. Correction：Fire Ecol 20, 31 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00269-9Download citationPublished: 21 March 2024DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00269-9Share this articleAnyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:Get shareable linkSorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative.
{"title":"Correction: Global impacts of fire regimes on wildland bird diversity","authors":"Fátima Arrogante‑Funes, Inmaculada Aguado, Emilio Chuvieco","doi":"10.1186/s42408-024-00269-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00269-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p>\u0000<b>Correction: Fire Ecol 20, 25 (2024)</b>\u0000</p><p>\u0000<b>https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00259-x</b>\u0000</p><br/><p>After publication of the original article (Arrogante-Funes et al. 2024), it came to the authors’ attention that there was some missing information in the Acknowledgements and Funding information sections, which have been highlighted below in bold:</p><p>\u0000<b>Acknowledgements</b>\u0000</p><p>This research was conducted within the framework of Spanish National Project RTI2018 097538 B I00. In addition, Fátima Arrogante Funes was supported by a predoctoral scholarship (FPI) from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (PRE2019 089208). <b>The authors would like to thank the European project FirEurisk for its support, funded by the European Union. Grant agreement ID: 101003890</b>.</p><p>\u0000<b>Funding</b>\u0000</p><p>The Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades has supported this research (grant no. RTI2018 097538 B I00) (grant no. PRE2019 089208). <b>This research was supported by the FirEUrisk project, funded by the European Union (Grant agreement ID: 101003890).</b>\u0000</p><p>The original article has been updated\u0000</p><ul data-track-component=\"outbound reference\"><li><p>Arrogante-Funes, F., I. Aguado, and E. Chuvieco. 2024. Global impacts of fire regimes on wildland bird diversity. <i>Fire Ecol</i> 20: 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00259-x.</p><p>Article Google Scholar </p></li></ul><p>Download references<svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" height=\"16\" role=\"img\" width=\"16\"><use xlink:href=\"#icon-eds-i-download-medium\" xmlns:xlink=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\"></use></svg></p><h3>Authors and Affiliations</h3><ol><li><p>Environmental Remote Sensing Research Group, Department of Geology, Geography and Environment, Universidad de Alcala, Colegios 2, 28801, Alcalá de Henares, Spain</p><p>Fátima Arrogante‑Funes, Inmaculada Aguado & Emilio Chuvieco</p></li></ol><span>Authors</span><ol><li><span>Fátima Arrogante‑Funes</span>View author publications<p>You can also search for this author in <span>PubMed<span> </span>Google Scholar</span></p></li><li><span>Inmaculada Aguado</span>View author publications<p>You can also search for this author in <span>PubMed<span> </span>Google Scholar</span></p></li><li><span>Emilio Chuvieco</span>View author publications<p>You can also search for this author in <span>PubMed<span> </span>Google Scholar</span></p></li></ol><h3>Corresponding author</h3><p>Correspondence to Fátima Arrogante‑Funes.</p><p><b>Open Access</b> This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless ","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140202724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-03-20DOI: 10.1186/s42408-024-00258-y
Arun Regmi, Jesse K. Kreye, Melissa M. Kreye
Fire is an important ecological process that shapes structures and compositions in many ecosystems worldwide. Changes in climate, land use, and long-term fire exclusion have altered historic fire regimes often leading to more intense and severe wildfires and loss of biodiversity. There is an increasing interest by resource managers to reintroduce fire in historically fire-dependent ecosystems while enhancing the provision of ecosystem services. Restoring fire, however, is complicated by a diverse mix of public and private land ownerships in regions like the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic US, where private lands make up the majority (~ 70%) but prescribed burning is less common. To help inform policies that promote prescribed burning on private lands, we conducted a regional survey of forest landowners regarding their perspectives and willingness to pay (WTP) for prescribed fire as a management tool. We also used spatial hotspot analysis to detect regional variations in landowner opinions. Respondents had limited knowledge and experience with burning overall, but many also perceived fire as a low-risk tool and were trusting of burning professionals. Most landowners (64%) expressed interest in a variety of prescribed fire programs to help achieve management outcomes. Preferred outcomes include protecting forest health, controlling invasive species, and wildlife habitat. Also significant in explaining landowner choices were economic (e.g., cost of burning), governance (e.g., state coordination, cost-share assistance, and access to consultants), and demographic factors. According to two models, the mean WTP for the prescribed fire was $10 ha−1 and $40 ha−1 ($4 ac−1 and $16 ac−1) but could be as high as $220 ha−1 ($89 ac−1) for specific outcomes and programs. Spatial analysis revealed a north–south gradient in landowner opinions across the region, with opinions about burning more positive in the south. Pennsylvania landowners were unique within our study in that they placed the highest economic value on prescribed fire, despite having limited knowledge and experience. There is significant support by landowners to use prescribed fire to achieve management objectives on private lands in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region. Pennsylvania landowners, in particular, were strongly motivated to use prescribed fire; however, knowledge and experience are severely limited. Education, technical support, financial assistance, and access to professionals will be important for helping landowners use prescribed fire to achieve management objectives.
{"title":"Forest landowner values and perspectives of prescribed fire in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region of the United States","authors":"Arun Regmi, Jesse K. Kreye, Melissa M. Kreye","doi":"10.1186/s42408-024-00258-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00258-y","url":null,"abstract":"Fire is an important ecological process that shapes structures and compositions in many ecosystems worldwide. Changes in climate, land use, and long-term fire exclusion have altered historic fire regimes often leading to more intense and severe wildfires and loss of biodiversity. There is an increasing interest by resource managers to reintroduce fire in historically fire-dependent ecosystems while enhancing the provision of ecosystem services. Restoring fire, however, is complicated by a diverse mix of public and private land ownerships in regions like the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic US, where private lands make up the majority (~ 70%) but prescribed burning is less common. To help inform policies that promote prescribed burning on private lands, we conducted a regional survey of forest landowners regarding their perspectives and willingness to pay (WTP) for prescribed fire as a management tool. We also used spatial hotspot analysis to detect regional variations in landowner opinions. Respondents had limited knowledge and experience with burning overall, but many also perceived fire as a low-risk tool and were trusting of burning professionals. Most landowners (64%) expressed interest in a variety of prescribed fire programs to help achieve management outcomes. Preferred outcomes include protecting forest health, controlling invasive species, and wildlife habitat. Also significant in explaining landowner choices were economic (e.g., cost of burning), governance (e.g., state coordination, cost-share assistance, and access to consultants), and demographic factors. According to two models, the mean WTP for the prescribed fire was $10 ha−1 and $40 ha−1 ($4 ac−1 and $16 ac−1) but could be as high as $220 ha−1 ($89 ac−1) for specific outcomes and programs. Spatial analysis revealed a north–south gradient in landowner opinions across the region, with opinions about burning more positive in the south. Pennsylvania landowners were unique within our study in that they placed the highest economic value on prescribed fire, despite having limited knowledge and experience. There is significant support by landowners to use prescribed fire to achieve management objectives on private lands in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region. Pennsylvania landowners, in particular, were strongly motivated to use prescribed fire; however, knowledge and experience are severely limited. Education, technical support, financial assistance, and access to professionals will be important for helping landowners use prescribed fire to achieve management objectives.","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140166784","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-03-18DOI: 10.1186/s42408-024-00262-2
Izak P. J. Smit, Johan A. Baard, Brian W. van Wilgen
Fire regimes in South African fynbos shrublands have been quantified in the western (winter rainfall) and central (aseasonal rainfall) parts. They have not been quantified at their eastern extremity (summer rainfall), where fynbos transitions to grassland and is embedded in other fire-resistant vegetation types. We assessed fire regimes at the eastern extremity of the fynbos biome and discussed the ecological and management implications of our findings. Using remote sensing, we assessed fires over 21 years in a 350,000-ha study area at the eastern edge of the fynbos biome. Only 9% of the study area burned, almost exclusively in mixed grassland-fynbos vegetation. The largest proportion (44% of the total area burnt) burnt in late winter and early spring, but fires occurred throughout the year. Fires only occurred in 39% of the mixed grassland-fynbos vegetation. Of the mixed grassland-fynbos vegetation that did burn, 44%, 11%, 26%, and 19% experienced one, two, three, and four fires, respectively. Areas with multiple fires had return intervals ranging from 3 to 15 years, with 76% of the area with multiple fires burning every 4 to 6 years. Most large fires were preceded by two relatively dry months, when fuels were drier and more flammable. The mixed grassland-fynbos vegetation at the eastern extremity of the fynbos biome is surrounded by fire-resistant vegetation and exhibits a varied fire regime, with different parts experiencing frequent, infrequent, or no fire over 21 years. Fires were largely aseasonal, occurring throughout the year, although data over more years may reveal that a greater proportion of fires will occur in winter, when grasses are cured and rainfall is low, as well as after relatively long (> 2 months) periods of below-average rainfall. As most fires would burn out safely against fire-resistant vegetation, we conclude that lightning-ignited fires should be allowed to spread unhindered to approximate a natural and heterogeneous fire regime, provided that no neighboring properties or infrastructure are threatened. The response of the biota to fires is not well understood for this transition area, and further research is needed.
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Pub Date : 2024-03-15DOI: 10.1186/s42408-024-00261-3
Elliott T. Conrad, W. Matt Jolly, Tegan P. Brown, Samuel C. Hillman
Accurate estimates of available live crown fuel loads are critical for understanding potential wildland fire behavior. Existing crown fire behavior models assume that available crown fuels are limited to all tree foliage and half of the fine branches less than 6 mm in diameter (1 h fuel). They also assume that this relationship is independent of the branchwood moisture content. Despite their widespread use, these assumptions have never been tested, and our understanding of the physiochemical properties that govern live crown flammability and consumption remains limited. To test these assumptions, we sampled branches from 11 common Intermountain West USA conifers and determined the corrected available fuel estimates using physiochemical measurements, diameter subsize class distributions, and a bench-scale consumption experiment. Additional branches were air-dried to explore interaction between moisture content and consumption. Corrected available live crown fuel was compared to existing models across species and then used to determine potential differences in crown fire energy release. Across the 11 common conifers, distinct patterns of sub 1 h fuel distributions were strong predictors of whether the existing available live crown fuel models overestimated, approximately correctly estimated, or underestimated available live fuel. Fine branchwood distributions generally fell into three archetypes: fine skewed, normally distributed, and coarse skewed. Based on our corrected estimates, existing models overestimated the potential canopy energy by 34% for an average-sized western larch and underestimated it by 18.8% for western hemlock. The critical fine branchwood consumption diameter varied with species and moisture content. Larger proportions of fine branches were consumed as the branchwood dried, and nearly all the 1 h fuel was consumed when the branches were completely dry. These results suggest that available live canopy fuel load estimates should consider species and moisture content to accurately assess and map fuel loads across landscapes. This work has implications for forest and fire management in conifer-dominated forests throughout western North America, and in other similar forests worldwide.
准确估算可用的活树冠燃料负荷对于了解潜在的野地火灾行为至关重要。现有的树冠火灾行为模型假定可用的树冠燃料仅限于所有树叶和直径小于 6 毫米的一半细枝（1 h 燃料）。它们还假设这种关系与枝木含水量无关。尽管这些假设被广泛使用，但从未经过测试，我们对控制活树冠可燃性和消耗的理化特性的了解仍然有限。为了验证这些假设，我们从 11 种常见的美国西部山间针叶树的树枝上取样，并利用理化测量、直径亚尺寸等级分布和台架规模的消耗实验确定了修正后的可用燃料估算值。还对其他树枝进行了风干，以探索水分含量与消耗量之间的相互作用。修正后的活树冠可用燃料与各树种的现有模型进行了比较，然后用于确定树冠火灾能量释放的潜在差异。在 11 种常见针叶树中，1 h 以下燃料分布的不同模式是现有可用活冠燃料模型高估、近似正确估计或低估可用活燃料的有力预测因素。细枝木分布一般分为三种原型：细斜分布、正态分布和粗斜分布。根据我们的修正估计，现有模型对平均大小的西部落叶松的树冠潜在能量高估了 34%，对西部铁杉则低估了 18.8%。临界细枝木消耗直径因树种和含水率而异。随着枝干的干燥，细枝被消耗的比例越来越大，当枝干完全干燥时，几乎所有的 1 h 燃料都被消耗掉了。这些结果表明，现有的活树冠燃料负荷估算应考虑树种和含水量，以准确评估和绘制整个地貌的燃料负荷图。这项工作对北美西部针叶林为主的森林以及全球其他类似森林的森林和火灾管理具有重要意义。
{"title":"Branching out: species-specific canopy architecture limits live crown fuel consumption in Intermountain West USA conifers","authors":"Elliott T. Conrad, W. Matt Jolly, Tegan P. Brown, Samuel C. Hillman","doi":"10.1186/s42408-024-00261-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00261-3","url":null,"abstract":"Accurate estimates of available live crown fuel loads are critical for understanding potential wildland fire behavior. Existing crown fire behavior models assume that available crown fuels are limited to all tree foliage and half of the fine branches less than 6 mm in diameter (1 h fuel). They also assume that this relationship is independent of the branchwood moisture content. Despite their widespread use, these assumptions have never been tested, and our understanding of the physiochemical properties that govern live crown flammability and consumption remains limited. To test these assumptions, we sampled branches from 11 common Intermountain West USA conifers and determined the corrected available fuel estimates using physiochemical measurements, diameter subsize class distributions, and a bench-scale consumption experiment. Additional branches were air-dried to explore interaction between moisture content and consumption. Corrected available live crown fuel was compared to existing models across species and then used to determine potential differences in crown fire energy release. Across the 11 common conifers, distinct patterns of sub 1 h fuel distributions were strong predictors of whether the existing available live crown fuel models overestimated, approximately correctly estimated, or underestimated available live fuel. Fine branchwood distributions generally fell into three archetypes: fine skewed, normally distributed, and coarse skewed. Based on our corrected estimates, existing models overestimated the potential canopy energy by 34% for an average-sized western larch and underestimated it by 18.8% for western hemlock. The critical fine branchwood consumption diameter varied with species and moisture content. Larger proportions of fine branches were consumed as the branchwood dried, and nearly all the 1 h fuel was consumed when the branches were completely dry. These results suggest that available live canopy fuel load estimates should consider species and moisture content to accurately assess and map fuel loads across landscapes. This work has implications for forest and fire management in conifer-dominated forests throughout western North America, and in other similar forests worldwide.","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140155012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Panxi region in China is among the areas that are most severely impacted by forest fires. Despite this, there is currently a lack of comprehensive and systematic research on the spatial and temporal distribution patterns, as well as the drivers, of forest fires in the region. To reveal bio-geo-climatic and anthropogenic influences, this study investigated the temporal and spatial characteristics of forest fires and migration patterns of the center of gravity of forest fires in Panxi. A parametric optimal geographical detection model was utilized to quantify the influence of various individual factors and their combinations on the spatial patterns of forest fire occurrence in the whole Panxi region and sub-region, by analyzing the forest fire dataset from 2004 to 2020. From 2004 to 2020, the Panxi region experienced an upward trend in the number of forest fires and the area burned. However, the trends were not consistent over the entire period. Between 2004 and 2014, both the number of fires and the area burned showed fluctuations and an overall increase. In contrast, between 2015 and 2020, there was a significant decrease in the number of fires, while the area burned showed a continued upward trend. The study identified abrupt changes in the frequency of forest fires and burned areas, primarily in 2007 and 2016. Spatially, forest fires in Panxi exhibited a positive correlation and local clustering. The river valley basin and hilly regions displayed a higher incidence of forest fires, which were concentrated mainly along the hill edges. In the whole area of Panxi, climatic factors have a predominant influence on forest fire occurrences. Specifically, evaporation, maximum temperature, average temperature, number of days without rain, and minimum temperature demonstrated the strongest explanatory power. Furthermore, this relationship was found to be reinforced when combined with topographical, human activities, and vegetation factors. The spatial variation of drought within each sub-district has a stronger explanatory power for the distribution characteristics of forest fires in the region than at the Panxi-wide scale. The factor with the maximum interaction in most regions was the dual factor of rainfall and drought. The study’s findings validate the applicability of geographic probes for identifying the drivers of fire occurrence and enhance our understanding of the drivers and their combined effects on the spatial context of the fire-incident study area.
{"title":"Spatial and temporal patterns and driving factors of forest fires based on an optimal parameter-based geographic detector in the Panxi region, Southwest China","authors":"Jia Liu, Yukuan Wang, Haiyan Guo, Yafeng Lu, Yuanxin Xu, Yu Sun, Weiwei Gan, Rui Sun, Zhengyang Li","doi":"10.1186/s42408-024-00257-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00257-z","url":null,"abstract":"The Panxi region in China is among the areas that are most severely impacted by forest fires. Despite this, there is currently a lack of comprehensive and systematic research on the spatial and temporal distribution patterns, as well as the drivers, of forest fires in the region. To reveal bio-geo-climatic and anthropogenic influences, this study investigated the temporal and spatial characteristics of forest fires and migration patterns of the center of gravity of forest fires in Panxi. A parametric optimal geographical detection model was utilized to quantify the influence of various individual factors and their combinations on the spatial patterns of forest fire occurrence in the whole Panxi region and sub-region, by analyzing the forest fire dataset from 2004 to 2020. From 2004 to 2020, the Panxi region experienced an upward trend in the number of forest fires and the area burned. However, the trends were not consistent over the entire period. Between 2004 and 2014, both the number of fires and the area burned showed fluctuations and an overall increase. In contrast, between 2015 and 2020, there was a significant decrease in the number of fires, while the area burned showed a continued upward trend. The study identified abrupt changes in the frequency of forest fires and burned areas, primarily in 2007 and 2016. Spatially, forest fires in Panxi exhibited a positive correlation and local clustering. The river valley basin and hilly regions displayed a higher incidence of forest fires, which were concentrated mainly along the hill edges. In the whole area of Panxi, climatic factors have a predominant influence on forest fire occurrences. Specifically, evaporation, maximum temperature, average temperature, number of days without rain, and minimum temperature demonstrated the strongest explanatory power. Furthermore, this relationship was found to be reinforced when combined with topographical, human activities, and vegetation factors. The spatial variation of drought within each sub-district has a stronger explanatory power for the distribution characteristics of forest fires in the region than at the Panxi-wide scale. The factor with the maximum interaction in most regions was the dual factor of rainfall and drought. The study’s findings validate the applicability of geographic probes for identifying the drivers of fire occurrence and enhance our understanding of the drivers and their combined effects on the spatial context of the fire-incident study area.","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140155370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-03-14DOI: 10.1186/s42408-024-00256-0
Roxane Andersen, Paula Fernandez-Garcia, Alice Martin-Walker, Daniela Klein, Chris Marshall, David J. Large, Robert Hughes, Mark H. Hancock
In 2019, a wildfire impacted an area of blanket bog and wet heath > 60 km2 in the Flow Country peatlands of northern Scotland, a site of global significance. Unusually the footprint of the wildfire included discrete areas of degraded, restored, and near-natural blanket bogs. Following the wildfire, we surveyed vegetation in 387 quadrats in burnt and unburnt areas. The study aimed to determine whether and how proximity to human-made drains and microtopography affected fire-vegetation interactions and included older wildfire sites and unburnt control sites for context. Overall, our study suggests that the 2019 Flow Country wildfire caused mostly superficial burning; except in the most degraded area, which burned more severely and where we recorded more profound impacts on the vegetation. We found higher cover of litter, which in turn led to increased localized fire damage in quadrats close to drains compared with quadrats away from the influence of drains. We also found greater fire impacts (e.g., proportions of moss burnt and Sphagnum discoloration) on hummocks, particularly where they were higher relative to the hollows. Overall, vegetation both near and away from drains largely resembled nearby unburnt sites within 20 years. Overall, our study suggests that the 2019 Flow Country wildfire caused mostly superficial burning, except in the most degraded areas. Vegetation communities of blanket bogs associated with conservation and restoration areas in the region appear to be largely resilient to occasional, low severity wildfires. This implies that management interventions that maintain wet conditions in peatlands have the potential to help reduce the risks of severe wildfires.
{"title":"Blanket bog vegetation response to wildfire and drainage suggests resilience to low severity, infrequent burning","authors":"Roxane Andersen, Paula Fernandez-Garcia, Alice Martin-Walker, Daniela Klein, Chris Marshall, David J. Large, Robert Hughes, Mark H. Hancock","doi":"10.1186/s42408-024-00256-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00256-0","url":null,"abstract":"In 2019, a wildfire impacted an area of blanket bog and wet heath > 60 km2 in the Flow Country peatlands of northern Scotland, a site of global significance. Unusually the footprint of the wildfire included discrete areas of degraded, restored, and near-natural blanket bogs. Following the wildfire, we surveyed vegetation in 387 quadrats in burnt and unburnt areas. The study aimed to determine whether and how proximity to human-made drains and microtopography affected fire-vegetation interactions and included older wildfire sites and unburnt control sites for context. Overall, our study suggests that the 2019 Flow Country wildfire caused mostly superficial burning; except in the most degraded area, which burned more severely and where we recorded more profound impacts on the vegetation. We found higher cover of litter, which in turn led to increased localized fire damage in quadrats close to drains compared with quadrats away from the influence of drains. We also found greater fire impacts (e.g., proportions of moss burnt and Sphagnum discoloration) on hummocks, particularly where they were higher relative to the hollows. Overall, vegetation both near and away from drains largely resembled nearby unburnt sites within 20 years. Overall, our study suggests that the 2019 Flow Country wildfire caused mostly superficial burning, except in the most degraded areas. Vegetation communities of blanket bogs associated with conservation and restoration areas in the region appear to be largely resilient to occasional, low severity wildfires. This implies that management interventions that maintain wet conditions in peatlands have the potential to help reduce the risks of severe wildfires.","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140129835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fire is a natural disturbance that significantly impacts ecosystems and plays a crucial role in the distribution and preservation of biota worldwide. The effects of fires on bird diversity can be both positive, as they can create new habitats, and negative, as they can reduce nesting success. To fully understand the ecological implications of wildfires, we need to understand the spatial distribution of wildland bird diversity and fire regimes and how fire regimes affect wildland bird diversity ecosystems. Using data collected at a global scale, we examined effects of time-averaged fire regimes on the spatial diversity of wildland bird species. Initially, we used the MaxEnt algorithm to model the potential distribution of 1,115 wildland bird species over a 20-year period. We also processed satellite observations of burned areas (FIRECCI51) during the same period to estimate fire regime characteristics, including the average proportion of burnt vegetation, interannual variability in the burnt area, and fire intensity. Finally, the association between wild bird diversity and fire variables in each biome was determined through Spearman, Bonferroni, and Kruskal-Wallis statistics. Our findings revealed that (I) the most affected wildland bird communities are those found in tropical ecosystems, where the majority of fires occur; (II) high fire intensity values and a substantial proportion of burned vegetation have a positive impact on maintaining a diverse population of wildland birds in biomes characterized by savannah or grassland covers, as seen in temperate or tropical zones. Conversely, low fire intensity values and a smaller proportion of burned vegetation also promote greater diversity of wildland birds in boreal or temperate zones, and (III) in Mediterranean ecosystems, a clear association between wildland bird diversity and wildfires could not be established. This research could help identify areas that are ecologically vulnerable to wildfires. It could also be useful in guiding regional studies aligned with developing sustainable landscape management practices and conserving priority ecological zones in tropical ecosystems.
{"title":"Global impacts of fire regimes on wildland bird diversity","authors":"Fátima Arrogante-Funes, Inmaculada Aguado, Emilio Chuvieco","doi":"10.1186/s42408-024-00259-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00259-x","url":null,"abstract":"Fire is a natural disturbance that significantly impacts ecosystems and plays a crucial role in the distribution and preservation of biota worldwide. The effects of fires on bird diversity can be both positive, as they can create new habitats, and negative, as they can reduce nesting success. To fully understand the ecological implications of wildfires, we need to understand the spatial distribution of wildland bird diversity and fire regimes and how fire regimes affect wildland bird diversity ecosystems. Using data collected at a global scale, we examined effects of time-averaged fire regimes on the spatial diversity of wildland bird species. Initially, we used the MaxEnt algorithm to model the potential distribution of 1,115 wildland bird species over a 20-year period. We also processed satellite observations of burned areas (FIRECCI51) during the same period to estimate fire regime characteristics, including the average proportion of burnt vegetation, interannual variability in the burnt area, and fire intensity. Finally, the association between wild bird diversity and fire variables in each biome was determined through Spearman, Bonferroni, and Kruskal-Wallis statistics. Our findings revealed that (I) the most affected wildland bird communities are those found in tropical ecosystems, where the majority of fires occur; (II) high fire intensity values and a substantial proportion of burned vegetation have a positive impact on maintaining a diverse population of wildland birds in biomes characterized by savannah or grassland covers, as seen in temperate or tropical zones. Conversely, low fire intensity values and a smaller proportion of burned vegetation also promote greater diversity of wildland birds in boreal or temperate zones, and (III) in Mediterranean ecosystems, a clear association between wildland bird diversity and wildfires could not be established. This research could help identify areas that are ecologically vulnerable to wildfires. It could also be useful in guiding regional studies aligned with developing sustainable landscape management practices and conserving priority ecological zones in tropical ecosystems.","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140124541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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