Pub Date : 2024-03-08DOI: 10.1186/s42408-024-00253-3
Michael C. Stambaugh, Joseph M. Marschall, Erin R. Abadir, Richard P. Guyette, Daniel C. Dey
Currently, no multiple century fire scar records have been constructed in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, USA, a region where historical vegetation ranged from prairies and oak-dominated woodlands in the south to conifer-northern hardwood forests and swamps to the north. The western portion of the Huron-Manistee National Forests is located within this strong vegetation transition (i.e., “Tension Zone”) and, based on this study, has well-preserved remnant red pine trees dating back to at least the late 1400s with fire scars dating back to 1523. From fire scar records constructed at four study sites, we documented historical fires as having a wide range of fire intervals and seasonalities. A general timeline of fire activity changes in this region can be described as relatively frequent fire in the pre- and early-European contact eras, variable and generally less fire from this point forward until the period of major logging activities after which fire frequency was significantly increased. Historical fires were associated with drought in the year of fire. Some broad synchronies of fire occurrence existed among sites such as 3 of 4 sites recording fires in years 1717, 1774, and 1829. Interestingly, these years were not exceptionally dry nor among the driest fire years. Future development of fire scar records will likely improve spatio-temporal characterization of regional fire regimes including understanding of human-climate-fire dynamics.
{"title":"Historical fire regimes from red pines (Pinus resinosa Ait.) across the Tension Zone in the Lower Peninsula, Michigan USA","authors":"Michael C. Stambaugh, Joseph M. Marschall, Erin R. Abadir, Richard P. Guyette, Daniel C. Dey","doi":"10.1186/s42408-024-00253-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00253-3","url":null,"abstract":"Currently, no multiple century fire scar records have been constructed in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, USA, a region where historical vegetation ranged from prairies and oak-dominated woodlands in the south to conifer-northern hardwood forests and swamps to the north. The western portion of the Huron-Manistee National Forests is located within this strong vegetation transition (i.e., “Tension Zone”) and, based on this study, has well-preserved remnant red pine trees dating back to at least the late 1400s with fire scars dating back to 1523. From fire scar records constructed at four study sites, we documented historical fires as having a wide range of fire intervals and seasonalities. A general timeline of fire activity changes in this region can be described as relatively frequent fire in the pre- and early-European contact eras, variable and generally less fire from this point forward until the period of major logging activities after which fire frequency was significantly increased. Historical fires were associated with drought in the year of fire. Some broad synchronies of fire occurrence existed among sites such as 3 of 4 sites recording fires in years 1717, 1774, and 1829. Interestingly, these years were not exceptionally dry nor among the driest fire years. Future development of fire scar records will likely improve spatio-temporal characterization of regional fire regimes including understanding of human-climate-fire dynamics.","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140070887","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}
Forest fires are a recurring issue in many parts of the world, including India. These fires can have various causes, including human activities (such as agricultural burning, campfires, or discarded cigarettes) and natural factors (such as lightning). The present study presents a comprehensive and advanced methodology for assessing wildfire susceptibility by integrating diverse environmental variables and leveraging cutting-edge machine learning techniques across Gujarat State, India. The primary goal of the study is to utilize Google Earth Engine to compare locations in Gujarat, India, before and after forest fires. High-resolution satellite data were used to assess the amount and types of changes caused by forest fires. The present study meticulously analyzes various environmental variables, i.e., slope orientation, elevation, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), drainage density, precipitation, and temperature to understand landscape characteristics and assess wildfire susceptibility. In addition, a sophisticated random forest regression model is used to predict land surface temperature based on a set of environmental parameters. The maps that result depict the geographical distribution of normalized burn ratio and difference normalized burn ratio and land surface temperature forecasts, providing valuable insights into spatial patterns and trends. The findings of this work show that an automated temporal analysis utilizing Google Earth Engine may be used successfully over a wide range of land cover types, providing critical data for future monitoring of such threats. The impact of forest fires can be severe, leading to the loss of biodiversity, damage to ecosystems, and threats to human settlements.
{"title":"Assessment of forest fire severity and land surface temperature using Google Earth Engine: a case study of Gujarat State, India","authors":"Keval H. Jodhani, Haard Patel, Utsav Soni, Rishabh Patel, Bhairavi Valodara, Nitesh Gupta, Anant Patel, Padam jee Omar","doi":"10.1186/s42408-024-00254-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00254-2","url":null,"abstract":"Forest fires are a recurring issue in many parts of the world, including India. These fires can have various causes, including human activities (such as agricultural burning, campfires, or discarded cigarettes) and natural factors (such as lightning). The present study presents a comprehensive and advanced methodology for assessing wildfire susceptibility by integrating diverse environmental variables and leveraging cutting-edge machine learning techniques across Gujarat State, India. The primary goal of the study is to utilize Google Earth Engine to compare locations in Gujarat, India, before and after forest fires. High-resolution satellite data were used to assess the amount and types of changes caused by forest fires. The present study meticulously analyzes various environmental variables, i.e., slope orientation, elevation, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), drainage density, precipitation, and temperature to understand landscape characteristics and assess wildfire susceptibility. In addition, a sophisticated random forest regression model is used to predict land surface temperature based on a set of environmental parameters. The maps that result depict the geographical distribution of normalized burn ratio and difference normalized burn ratio and land surface temperature forecasts, providing valuable insights into spatial patterns and trends. The findings of this work show that an automated temporal analysis utilizing Google Earth Engine may be used successfully over a wide range of land cover types, providing critical data for future monitoring of such threats. The impact of forest fires can be severe, leading to the loss of biodiversity, damage to ecosystems, and threats to human settlements.","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140055747","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 : 2024-02-28DOI: 10.1186/s42408-024-00252-4
Martin C. Holdrege, Daniel R. Schlaepfer, Kyle A. Palmquist, Michele Crist, Kevin E. Doherty, William K. Lauenroth, Thomas E. Remington, Karin Riley, Karen C. Short, John C. Tull, Lief A. Wiechman, John B. Bradford
Wildfire is a major proximate cause of historical and ongoing losses of intact big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) plant communities and declines in sagebrush obligate wildlife species. In recent decades, fire return intervals have shortened and area burned has increased in some areas, and habitat degradation is occurring where post-fire re-establishment of sagebrush is hindered by invasive annual grasses. In coming decades, the changing climate may accelerate these wildfire and invasive feedbacks, although projecting future wildfire dynamics requires a better understanding of long-term wildfire drivers across the big sagebrush region. Here, we integrated wildfire observations with climate and vegetation data to derive a statistical model for the entire big sagebrush region that represents how annual wildfire probability is influenced by climate and fine fuel characteristics. Wildfire frequency varied significantly across the sagebrush region, and our statistical model represented much of that variation. Biomass of annual and perennial grasses and forbs, which we used as proxies for fine fuels, influenced wildfire probability. Wildfire probability was highest in areas with high annual forb and grass biomass, which is consistent with the well-documented phenomenon of increased wildfire following annual grass invasion. The effects of annuals on wildfire probability were strongest in places with dry summers. Wildfire probability varied with the biomass of perennial grasses and forbs and was highest at intermediate biomass levels. Climate, which varies substantially across the sagebrush region, was also predictive of wildfire probability, and predictions were highest in areas with a low proportion of precipitation received in summer, intermediate precipitation, and high temperature. We developed a carefully validated model that contains relatively simple and biologically plausible relationships, with the goal of adequate performance under novel conditions so that useful projections of average annual wildfire probability can be made given general changes in conditions. Previous studies on the impacts of vegetation and climate on wildfire probability in sagebrush ecosystems have generally used more complex machine learning approaches and have usually been applicable to only portions of the sagebrush region. Therefore, our model complements existing work and forms an additional tool for understanding future wildfire and ecological dynamics across the sagebrush region.
{"title":"Wildfire probability estimated from recent climate and fine fuels across the big sagebrush region","authors":"Martin C. Holdrege, Daniel R. Schlaepfer, Kyle A. Palmquist, Michele Crist, Kevin E. Doherty, William K. Lauenroth, Thomas E. Remington, Karin Riley, Karen C. Short, John C. Tull, Lief A. Wiechman, John B. Bradford","doi":"10.1186/s42408-024-00252-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00252-4","url":null,"abstract":"Wildfire is a major proximate cause of historical and ongoing losses of intact big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) plant communities and declines in sagebrush obligate wildlife species. In recent decades, fire return intervals have shortened and area burned has increased in some areas, and habitat degradation is occurring where post-fire re-establishment of sagebrush is hindered by invasive annual grasses. In coming decades, the changing climate may accelerate these wildfire and invasive feedbacks, although projecting future wildfire dynamics requires a better understanding of long-term wildfire drivers across the big sagebrush region. Here, we integrated wildfire observations with climate and vegetation data to derive a statistical model for the entire big sagebrush region that represents how annual wildfire probability is influenced by climate and fine fuel characteristics. Wildfire frequency varied significantly across the sagebrush region, and our statistical model represented much of that variation. Biomass of annual and perennial grasses and forbs, which we used as proxies for fine fuels, influenced wildfire probability. Wildfire probability was highest in areas with high annual forb and grass biomass, which is consistent with the well-documented phenomenon of increased wildfire following annual grass invasion. The effects of annuals on wildfire probability were strongest in places with dry summers. Wildfire probability varied with the biomass of perennial grasses and forbs and was highest at intermediate biomass levels. Climate, which varies substantially across the sagebrush region, was also predictive of wildfire probability, and predictions were highest in areas with a low proportion of precipitation received in summer, intermediate precipitation, and high temperature. We developed a carefully validated model that contains relatively simple and biologically plausible relationships, with the goal of adequate performance under novel conditions so that useful projections of average annual wildfire probability can be made given general changes in conditions. Previous studies on the impacts of vegetation and climate on wildfire probability in sagebrush ecosystems have generally used more complex machine learning approaches and have usually been applicable to only portions of the sagebrush region. Therefore, our model complements existing work and forms an additional tool for understanding future wildfire and ecological dynamics across the sagebrush region. ","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140005070","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 : 2024-02-15DOI: 10.1186/s42408-024-00250-6
Octavio Toy-Opazo, Andrés Fuentes-Ramirez, Valeria Palma-Soto, Rafael A. Garcia, Kirk A. Moloney, Rodrigo Demarco, Andrés Fuentes-Castillo
Vegetation plays a crucial role in the ignition, propagation, and severity of fire, and understanding the relationship between plants and fire through flammability attributes has become a useful tool that is increasingly used in studies on fire dynamics worldwide. However, in the southern cone of South America, rather few studies have systematically and specifically addressed the flammability of vegetation, and yet fewer have compared native and non-native species. Given the increasing interest in knowing the flammability characteristics of vegetation, this review aims to assess the potential differences in flammability between native and non-native plant species that inhabit the southern cone and to identify the main methodologies and experiments used to analyze vegetation flammability. Twenty-eight species were identified, 18 native to the region and 10 non-native. Additionally, 64 experimental tests were revised to evaluate plant flammability. It was found that Cryptocarya alba, Acacia dealbata, Eucalyptus globulus, and Pinus ponderosa are the species with a high flammability index. By contrast, the species Araucaria araucana, Austrocedrus chilensis, Embothrium coccineum, and Persea lingue showed low flammability. The methodologies used to evaluate vegetation flammability were highly variable, with the use of epiradiators being the most frequent. Our review indicates that the geographic origin of vegetation (native vs. non-native in South America) is not a decisive factor in determining species-level differences in flammability. Other relevant factors that contribute with the degree of plant flammability include fuel moisture, the morphology of the species, and its internal chemical compounds. We highlight the necessity of continuing the study of plant flammability and advance in the standardization of protocols and measurements, using uniform criteria and increasing comparative studies between species, particularly in the southern cone of South America where catastrophic wildfires are increasing.
{"title":"Flammability features of native and non-native woody species from the southernmost ecosystems: a review","authors":"Octavio Toy-Opazo, Andrés Fuentes-Ramirez, Valeria Palma-Soto, Rafael A. Garcia, Kirk A. Moloney, Rodrigo Demarco, Andrés Fuentes-Castillo","doi":"10.1186/s42408-024-00250-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00250-6","url":null,"abstract":"Vegetation plays a crucial role in the ignition, propagation, and severity of fire, and understanding the relationship between plants and fire through flammability attributes has become a useful tool that is increasingly used in studies on fire dynamics worldwide. However, in the southern cone of South America, rather few studies have systematically and specifically addressed the flammability of vegetation, and yet fewer have compared native and non-native species. Given the increasing interest in knowing the flammability characteristics of vegetation, this review aims to assess the potential differences in flammability between native and non-native plant species that inhabit the southern cone and to identify the main methodologies and experiments used to analyze vegetation flammability. Twenty-eight species were identified, 18 native to the region and 10 non-native. Additionally, 64 experimental tests were revised to evaluate plant flammability. It was found that Cryptocarya alba, Acacia dealbata, Eucalyptus globulus, and Pinus ponderosa are the species with a high flammability index. By contrast, the species Araucaria araucana, Austrocedrus chilensis, Embothrium coccineum, and Persea lingue showed low flammability. The methodologies used to evaluate vegetation flammability were highly variable, with the use of epiradiators being the most frequent. Our review indicates that the geographic origin of vegetation (native vs. non-native in South America) is not a decisive factor in determining species-level differences in flammability. Other relevant factors that contribute with the degree of plant flammability include fuel moisture, the morphology of the species, and its internal chemical compounds. We highlight the necessity of continuing the study of plant flammability and advance in the standardization of protocols and measurements, using uniform criteria and increasing comparative studies between species, particularly in the southern cone of South America where catastrophic wildfires are increasing.","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139764288","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 : 2024-02-13DOI: 10.1186/s42408-024-00251-5
Byron B. Lamont, Geoffrey E. Burrows, Juli G. Pausas
Our analyses of data in Luna et al. (Fire Ecology 19:52, 2023) do not support the proposal that dormancy release of the hard seeds in 12 species of Cistaceae is a “two-step process” involving high summer temperatures followed by fire-type heat. The reverse is true: subjection to a month of daily alternating temperatures of 50/20 °C (summer heat) is more likely to induce dormancy among initially soft seeds or secondary dormancy among those softened by fire heat or reduce the ability of fire heat to soften the seeds. The need to inspect seeds for the presence of an open “water gap” following various heat treatments, and using more realistic summer temperatures in future studies, is clear.
{"title":"Fire-type heat increases the germination of Cistaceae seeds in contrast to summer heat","authors":"Byron B. Lamont, Geoffrey E. Burrows, Juli G. Pausas","doi":"10.1186/s42408-024-00251-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00251-5","url":null,"abstract":"Our analyses of data in Luna et al. (Fire Ecology 19:52, 2023) do not support the proposal that dormancy release of the hard seeds in 12 species of Cistaceae is a “two-step process” involving high summer temperatures followed by fire-type heat. The reverse is true: subjection to a month of daily alternating temperatures of 50/20 °C (summer heat) is more likely to induce dormancy among initially soft seeds or secondary dormancy among those softened by fire heat or reduce the ability of fire heat to soften the seeds. The need to inspect seeds for the presence of an open “water gap” following various heat treatments, and using more realistic summer temperatures in future studies, is clear.","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139764237","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 : 2024-02-08DOI: 10.1186/s42408-023-00237-9
Sayedeh Sara Sayedi, Benjamin W. Abbott, Boris Vannière, Bérangère Leys, Daniele Colombaroli, Graciela Gil Romera, Michał Słowiński, Julie C. Aleman, Olivier Blarquez, Angelica Feurdean, Kendrick Brown, Tuomas Aakala, Teija Alenius, Kathryn Allen, Maja Andric, Yves Bergeron, Siria Biagioni, Richard Bradshaw, Laurent Bremond, Elodie Brisset, Joseph Brooks, Sandra O. Brugger, Thomas Brussel, Haidee Cadd, Eleonora Cagliero, Christopher Carcaillet, Vachel Carter, Filipe X. Catry, Antoine Champreux, Emeline Chaste, Raphaël Daniel Chavardès, Melissa Chipman, Marco Conedera, Simon Connor, Mark Constantine, Colin Courtney Mustaphi, Abraham N. Dabengwa, William Daniels, Erik De Boer, Elisabeth Dietze, Joan Estrany, Paulo Fernandes, Walter Finsinger, Suzette G. A. Flantua, Paul Fox-Hughes, Dorian M. Gaboriau, Eugenia M.Gayo, Martin. P. Girardin, Jeffrey Glenn, Ramesh Glückler, Catalina González-Arango, Mariangelica Groves, Douglas S. Hamilton, Rebecca Jenner Hamilton, Stijn Hantson, K...
The global human footprint has fundamentally altered wildfire regimes, creating serious consequences for human health, biodiversity, and climate. However, it remains difficult to project how long-term interactions among land use, management, and climate change will affect fire behavior, representing a key knowledge gap for sustainable management. We used expert assessment to combine opinions about past and future fire regimes from 99 wildfire researchers. We asked for quantitative and qualitative assessments of the frequency, type, and implications of fire regime change from the beginning of the Holocene through the year 2300. Respondents indicated some direct human influence on wildfire since at least ~ 12,000 years BP, though natural climate variability remained the dominant driver of fire regime change until around 5,000 years BP, for most study regions. Responses suggested a ten-fold increase in the frequency of fire regime change during the last 250 years compared with the rest of the Holocene, corresponding first with the intensification and extensification of land use and later with anthropogenic climate change. Looking to the future, fire regimes were predicted to intensify, with increases in frequency, severity, and size in all biomes except grassland ecosystems. Fire regimes showed different climate sensitivities across biomes, but the likelihood of fire regime change increased with higher warming scenarios for all biomes. Biodiversity, carbon storage, and other ecosystem services were predicted to decrease for most biomes under higher emission scenarios. We present recommendations for adaptation and mitigation under emerging fire regimes, while recognizing that management options are constrained under higher emission scenarios. The influence of humans on wildfire regimes has increased over the last two centuries. The perspective gained from past fires should be considered in land and fire management strategies, but novel fire behavior is likely given the unprecedented human disruption of plant communities, climate, and other factors. Future fire regimes are likely to degrade key ecosystem services, unless climate change is aggressively mitigated. Expert assessment complements empirical data and modeling, providing a broader perspective of fire science to inform decision making and future research priorities.
{"title":"Assessing changes in global fire regimes","authors":"Sayedeh Sara Sayedi, Benjamin W. Abbott, Boris Vannière, Bérangère Leys, Daniele Colombaroli, Graciela Gil Romera, Michał Słowiński, Julie C. Aleman, Olivier Blarquez, Angelica Feurdean, Kendrick Brown, Tuomas Aakala, Teija Alenius, Kathryn Allen, Maja Andric, Yves Bergeron, Siria Biagioni, Richard Bradshaw, Laurent Bremond, Elodie Brisset, Joseph Brooks, Sandra O. Brugger, Thomas Brussel, Haidee Cadd, Eleonora Cagliero, Christopher Carcaillet, Vachel Carter, Filipe X. Catry, Antoine Champreux, Emeline Chaste, Raphaël Daniel Chavardès, Melissa Chipman, Marco Conedera, Simon Connor, Mark Constantine, Colin Courtney Mustaphi, Abraham N. Dabengwa, William Daniels, Erik De Boer, Elisabeth Dietze, Joan Estrany, Paulo Fernandes, Walter Finsinger, Suzette G. A. Flantua, Paul Fox-Hughes, Dorian M. Gaboriau, Eugenia M.Gayo, Martin. P. Girardin, Jeffrey Glenn, Ramesh Glückler, Catalina González-Arango, Mariangelica Groves, Douglas S. Hamilton, Rebecca Jenner Hamilton, Stijn Hantson, K...","doi":"10.1186/s42408-023-00237-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-023-00237-9","url":null,"abstract":"The global human footprint has fundamentally altered wildfire regimes, creating serious consequences for human health, biodiversity, and climate. However, it remains difficult to project how long-term interactions among land use, management, and climate change will affect fire behavior, representing a key knowledge gap for sustainable management. We used expert assessment to combine opinions about past and future fire regimes from 99 wildfire researchers. We asked for quantitative and qualitative assessments of the frequency, type, and implications of fire regime change from the beginning of the Holocene through the year 2300. Respondents indicated some direct human influence on wildfire since at least ~ 12,000 years BP, though natural climate variability remained the dominant driver of fire regime change until around 5,000 years BP, for most study regions. Responses suggested a ten-fold increase in the frequency of fire regime change during the last 250 years compared with the rest of the Holocene, corresponding first with the intensification and extensification of land use and later with anthropogenic climate change. Looking to the future, fire regimes were predicted to intensify, with increases in frequency, severity, and size in all biomes except grassland ecosystems. Fire regimes showed different climate sensitivities across biomes, but the likelihood of fire regime change increased with higher warming scenarios for all biomes. Biodiversity, carbon storage, and other ecosystem services were predicted to decrease for most biomes under higher emission scenarios. We present recommendations for adaptation and mitigation under emerging fire regimes, while recognizing that management options are constrained under higher emission scenarios. The influence of humans on wildfire regimes has increased over the last two centuries. The perspective gained from past fires should be considered in land and fire management strategies, but novel fire behavior is likely given the unprecedented human disruption of plant communities, climate, and other factors. Future fire regimes are likely to degrade key ecosystem services, unless climate change is aggressively mitigated. Expert assessment complements empirical data and modeling, providing a broader perspective of fire science to inform decision making and future research priorities.","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139764287","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 : 2024-02-08DOI: 10.1186/s42408-023-00226-y
Pablo Souza-Alonso, Beatriz Omil, Alexandre Sotelino, David García-Romero, Eugenio Otero-Urtaza, Mar Lorenzo Moledo, Otilia Reyes, Juan Carlos Rodríguez, Javier Madrigal, Daniel Moya, Juan Ramón Molina, Francisco Rodriguez y Silva, Agustín Merino
Forest fires represent a severe threat to Mediterranean ecosystems and are considered one of the major environmental and socioeconomic problems of the region. The project Plantando cara al fuego (PCF, Spain) is designed to transfer knowledge and to improve the training of new generations in forest fire management. The project is based on the application of service-learning (S-L), an educational methodology that combines learning and community service. Conceived as a compendium of S-L initiatives, the PCF project is composed of several S-L projects with the objective of reducing the problem of forest fires. The individual projects are developed at the regional/local level, each one involving different social agents such as researchers, students (from different disciplines), schools, multidisciplinary professionals, NGOs, or the administration. Participants received an initial training in S-L to design projects focused on different aspects of forest fires (environmental awareness, outreach/communication, fire prevention or post-fire restoration). These applied projects are formally integrated in the learning process via curriculum, which serve to teach and reinforce transversal skills and allow students to get involved and work to solve real problems. In general, the response of the participants was highly favorable, since the projects served to create an atmosphere that facilitates learning, interaction between participants, the application of theoretical class contents, knowledge transfer, or the exchange of good teaching practices. The summary of the PCF project presented in this work serves as a practical guide describing the activities, participants, and the necessary steps involved in the design, development, and evaluation of S-L projects to address environmental problems. In this case, the S-L was adapted to a specific context (i.e., the problem of forest fires) to which it had never been previously applied, but this methodology is versatile and can be applied to different environmental issues.
森林火灾是对地中海生态系统的严重威胁，被认为是该地区主要的环境和社会经济问题之一。Plantando cara al fuego（PCF，西班牙）项目旨在传授知识，加强对新一代的森林火灾管理培训。该项目以服务学习（S-L）的应用为基础，这是一种将学习与社区服务相结合的教育方法。PCF 项目是 S-L 活动的汇编，由多个 S-L 项目组成，目的是减少森林火灾问题。每个项目都是在地区/地方层面开展的，涉及不同的社会主体，如研究人员、学生（来自不同学科）、学校、多学科专业人员、非政府组织或行政部门。参与者接受了 S-L 的初步培训，以设计侧重于森林火灾不同方面（环境意识、宣传/沟通、火灾预防或火灾后恢复）的项目。这些应用项目通过课程正式纳入学习过程，用于教授和强化横向技能，并让学生参与其中，努力解决实际问题。总体而言，参与者的反应非常好，因为这些项目有助于营造一种氛围，促进学习、参与者之间的互动、理论课内容的应用、知识传授或良好教学实践的交流。本作品中介绍的 PCF 项目摘要可作为实用指南，描述解决环境问题的 S-L 项目的设计、开发和评估所涉及的活动、参与者和必要步骤。在这一案例中，S-L 被调整以适应以前从未应用过的特定环境（即森林火灾问题），但这一方法是多用途的，可应用于不同的环境问题。
{"title":"Service-learning to improve training, knowledge transfer, and awareness in forest fire management","authors":"Pablo Souza-Alonso, Beatriz Omil, Alexandre Sotelino, David García-Romero, Eugenio Otero-Urtaza, Mar Lorenzo Moledo, Otilia Reyes, Juan Carlos Rodríguez, Javier Madrigal, Daniel Moya, Juan Ramón Molina, Francisco Rodriguez y Silva, Agustín Merino","doi":"10.1186/s42408-023-00226-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-023-00226-y","url":null,"abstract":"Forest fires represent a severe threat to Mediterranean ecosystems and are considered one of the major environmental and socioeconomic problems of the region. The project Plantando cara al fuego (PCF, Spain) is designed to transfer knowledge and to improve the training of new generations in forest fire management. The project is based on the application of service-learning (S-L), an educational methodology that combines learning and community service. Conceived as a compendium of S-L initiatives, the PCF project is composed of several S-L projects with the objective of reducing the problem of forest fires. The individual projects are developed at the regional/local level, each one involving different social agents such as researchers, students (from different disciplines), schools, multidisciplinary professionals, NGOs, or the administration. Participants received an initial training in S-L to design projects focused on different aspects of forest fires (environmental awareness, outreach/communication, fire prevention or post-fire restoration). These applied projects are formally integrated in the learning process via curriculum, which serve to teach and reinforce transversal skills and allow students to get involved and work to solve real problems. In general, the response of the participants was highly favorable, since the projects served to create an atmosphere that facilitates learning, interaction between participants, the application of theoretical class contents, knowledge transfer, or the exchange of good teaching practices. The summary of the PCF project presented in this work serves as a practical guide describing the activities, participants, and the necessary steps involved in the design, development, and evaluation of S-L projects to address environmental problems. In this case, the S-L was adapted to a specific context (i.e., the problem of forest fires) to which it had never been previously applied, but this methodology is versatile and can be applied to different environmental issues.","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139764129","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 : 2024-02-07DOI: 10.1186/s42408-023-00241-z
Emily G. Brodie, Eric E. Knapp, Wesley R. Brooks, Stacy A. Drury, Martin W. Ritchie
The capacity of forest fuel treatments to moderate the behavior and severity of subsequent wildfires depends on weather and fuel conditions at the time of burning. However, in-depth evaluations of how treatments perform are limited because encounters between wildfires and areas with extensive pre-fire data are rare. Here, we took advantage of a 1200-ha randomized and replicated experiment that burned almost entirely in a subsequent wildfire under a wide range of weather conditions. We compared the impacts of four fuel treatments on fire severity, including two thin-only, a thin-burn, a burn-only, and an untreated control. We evaluated four fire severity metrics—tree mortality, average bole char height, percent crown volume consumed (PCVC), and percent crown volume affected (PCVA)—and leveraged data from pre-fire surface and canopy fuels to better understand the mechanisms driving differences in wildfire severity among treatments and how they changed with fire weather. We found strong mitigating effects of treatments on fire behavior and tree mortality, despite 20 years having elapsed since mechanical thinning and 10 years since the second entry of prescribed fire. The thin-burn treatment resulted in the lowest fire severity across all four metrics and the untreated control the highest. All four fire severity metrics were positively associated with pre-fire canopy and surface fuel loads, with the exception that PCVC (a fire severity metric related to crown fire behavior) was not associated with surface fuel load. The fire weather conditions under which fuel treatment was most effective varied among fire severity metrics. Fuel treatment benefit was maximized at intermediate burning index values for tree mortality, intermediate to high burning index values for PCVA, and high burning index for bole char height and PCVC. We conclude that reducing canopy bulk density via mechanical thinning treatments can help to limit crown fire behavior for 20 years or more. However, reducing surface fuels is necessary to limit scorching and the total crown impacts associated with tree mortality. Further, while fuel treatment effectiveness may decline under the most severe fire weather conditions for fire severity metrics associated with tree mortality, it is maximized under severe fire weather conditions for fire severity metrics associated with crown fire behavior (bole charring and torching). Our results provide strong evidence for the use of fuel treatments to mitigate fire behavior and resulting fire severity even under extreme fire weather conditions.
{"title":"Forest thinning and prescribed burning treatments reduce wildfire severity and buffer the impacts of severe fire weather","authors":"Emily G. Brodie, Eric E. Knapp, Wesley R. Brooks, Stacy A. Drury, Martin W. Ritchie","doi":"10.1186/s42408-023-00241-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-023-00241-z","url":null,"abstract":"The capacity of forest fuel treatments to moderate the behavior and severity of subsequent wildfires depends on weather and fuel conditions at the time of burning. However, in-depth evaluations of how treatments perform are limited because encounters between wildfires and areas with extensive pre-fire data are rare. Here, we took advantage of a 1200-ha randomized and replicated experiment that burned almost entirely in a subsequent wildfire under a wide range of weather conditions. We compared the impacts of four fuel treatments on fire severity, including two thin-only, a thin-burn, a burn-only, and an untreated control. We evaluated four fire severity metrics—tree mortality, average bole char height, percent crown volume consumed (PCVC), and percent crown volume affected (PCVA)—and leveraged data from pre-fire surface and canopy fuels to better understand the mechanisms driving differences in wildfire severity among treatments and how they changed with fire weather. We found strong mitigating effects of treatments on fire behavior and tree mortality, despite 20 years having elapsed since mechanical thinning and 10 years since the second entry of prescribed fire. The thin-burn treatment resulted in the lowest fire severity across all four metrics and the untreated control the highest. All four fire severity metrics were positively associated with pre-fire canopy and surface fuel loads, with the exception that PCVC (a fire severity metric related to crown fire behavior) was not associated with surface fuel load. The fire weather conditions under which fuel treatment was most effective varied among fire severity metrics. Fuel treatment benefit was maximized at intermediate burning index values for tree mortality, intermediate to high burning index values for PCVA, and high burning index for bole char height and PCVC. We conclude that reducing canopy bulk density via mechanical thinning treatments can help to limit crown fire behavior for 20 years or more. However, reducing surface fuels is necessary to limit scorching and the total crown impacts associated with tree mortality. Further, while fuel treatment effectiveness may decline under the most severe fire weather conditions for fire severity metrics associated with tree mortality, it is maximized under severe fire weather conditions for fire severity metrics associated with crown fire behavior (bole charring and torching). Our results provide strong evidence for the use of fuel treatments to mitigate fire behavior and resulting fire severity even under extreme fire weather conditions.","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139764191","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 : 2024-02-05DOI: 10.1186/s42408-023-00235-x
M. Bryan Held, Miranda Rose Ragland, Sage Wood, Amelia Pearson, Seth Wayne Pearson, Olivia Chenevert, Rachel Marie Granberg, Robin Michelle Verble
Wildland firefighters are likely to experience heightened risks to safety, health, and overall well-being as changing climates increase the frequency and intensity of exposure to natural hazards. Working at the intersection of natural resource management and emergency response, wildland firefighters have multidimensional careers that often incorporate elements from disparate fields to accomplish the tasks of suppressing and preventing wildfires. Thus, they have distinctly different job duties than other firefighters (e.g., structural firefighters) and experience environmental health risks that are unique to their work. We conducted a systematic scoping review of scientific literature that addresses wildland firefighter environmental health. Our goal was to identify studies that specifically addressed wildland firefighters (as opposed to firefighters in a broader sense), geographic and demographic trends, sample sizes, patterns in analysis, and common categories of research. Most studies have clustered in a few highly developed countries, and in the United States within California and Idaho. Many studies fail to consider the impact that demographic factors may have on their results. The number of studies published annually is increasing and themes are broadening to include social and psychological topics; however, most authors in the field have published an average of < 3 articles. We identify three areas that we believe are imminent priorities for researchers and policymakers, including a lack of diversity in study geography and demography, a need for more complex and interactive analyses of exposure, and prioritization of wildland firefighters in research funding and focus.
{"title":"Environmental health of wildland firefighters: a scoping review","authors":"M. Bryan Held, Miranda Rose Ragland, Sage Wood, Amelia Pearson, Seth Wayne Pearson, Olivia Chenevert, Rachel Marie Granberg, Robin Michelle Verble","doi":"10.1186/s42408-023-00235-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-023-00235-x","url":null,"abstract":"Wildland firefighters are likely to experience heightened risks to safety, health, and overall well-being as changing climates increase the frequency and intensity of exposure to natural hazards. Working at the intersection of natural resource management and emergency response, wildland firefighters have multidimensional careers that often incorporate elements from disparate fields to accomplish the tasks of suppressing and preventing wildfires. Thus, they have distinctly different job duties than other firefighters (e.g., structural firefighters) and experience environmental health risks that are unique to their work. We conducted a systematic scoping review of scientific literature that addresses wildland firefighter environmental health. Our goal was to identify studies that specifically addressed wildland firefighters (as opposed to firefighters in a broader sense), geographic and demographic trends, sample sizes, patterns in analysis, and common categories of research. Most studies have clustered in a few highly developed countries, and in the United States within California and Idaho. Many studies fail to consider the impact that demographic factors may have on their results. The number of studies published annually is increasing and themes are broadening to include social and psychological topics; however, most authors in the field have published an average of < 3 articles. We identify three areas that we believe are imminent priorities for researchers and policymakers, including a lack of diversity in study geography and demography, a need for more complex and interactive analyses of exposure, and prioritization of wildland firefighters in research funding and focus.","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139689004","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 : 2024-01-30DOI: 10.1186/s42408-024-00248-0
Kerryn Little, Laura J Graham, Mike Flannigan, Claire M Belcher, Nicholas Kettridge
Cross-landscape fuel moisture content is highly variable but not considered in existing fire danger assessments. Capturing fuel moisture complexity and its associated controls is critical for understanding wildfire behavior and danger in emerging fire-prone environments that are influenced by local heterogeneity. This is particularly true for temperate heathland and peatland landscapes that exhibit spatial differences in the vulnerability of their globally important carbon stores to wildfire. Here we quantified the range of variability in the live and dead fuel moisture of Calluna vulgaris across a temperate fire-prone landscape through an intensive fuel moisture sampling campaign conducted in the North Yorkshire Moors, UK. We also evaluated the landscape (soil texture, canopy age, aspect, and slope) and micrometeorological (temperature, relative humidity, vapor pressure deficit, and windspeed) drivers of landscape fuel moisture variability for temperate heathlands and peatlands for the first time. We observed high cross-landscape fuel moisture variation, which created a spatial discontinuity in the availability of live fuels for wildfire spread (fuel moisture < 65%) and vulnerability of the organic layer to smoldering combustion (fuel moisture < 250%). This heterogeneity was most important in spring, which is also the peak wildfire season in these temperate ecosystems. Landscape and micrometeorological factors explained up to 72% of spatial fuel moisture variation and were season- and fuel-layer-dependent. Landscape factors predominantly controlled spatial fuel moisture content beyond modifying local micrometeorology. Accounting for direct landscape–fuel moisture relationships could improve fuel moisture estimates, as existing estimates derived solely from micrometeorological observations will exclude the underlying influence of landscape characteristics. We hypothesize that differences in soil texture, canopy age, and aspect play important roles across the fuel layers examined, with the main differences in processes arising between live, dead, and surface/ground fuels. We also highlight the critical role of fuel phenology in assessing landscape fuel moisture variations in temperate environments. Understanding the mechanisms driving fuel moisture variability opens opportunities to develop locally robust fuel models for input into wildfire danger rating systems, adding versatility to wildfire danger assessments as a management tool.
{"title":"Landscape controls on fuel moisture variability in fire-prone heathland and peatland landscapes","authors":"Kerryn Little, Laura J Graham, Mike Flannigan, Claire M Belcher, Nicholas Kettridge","doi":"10.1186/s42408-024-00248-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00248-0","url":null,"abstract":"Cross-landscape fuel moisture content is highly variable but not considered in existing fire danger assessments. Capturing fuel moisture complexity and its associated controls is critical for understanding wildfire behavior and danger in emerging fire-prone environments that are influenced by local heterogeneity. This is particularly true for temperate heathland and peatland landscapes that exhibit spatial differences in the vulnerability of their globally important carbon stores to wildfire. Here we quantified the range of variability in the live and dead fuel moisture of Calluna vulgaris across a temperate fire-prone landscape through an intensive fuel moisture sampling campaign conducted in the North Yorkshire Moors, UK. We also evaluated the landscape (soil texture, canopy age, aspect, and slope) and micrometeorological (temperature, relative humidity, vapor pressure deficit, and windspeed) drivers of landscape fuel moisture variability for temperate heathlands and peatlands for the first time. We observed high cross-landscape fuel moisture variation, which created a spatial discontinuity in the availability of live fuels for wildfire spread (fuel moisture < 65%) and vulnerability of the organic layer to smoldering combustion (fuel moisture < 250%). This heterogeneity was most important in spring, which is also the peak wildfire season in these temperate ecosystems. Landscape and micrometeorological factors explained up to 72% of spatial fuel moisture variation and were season- and fuel-layer-dependent. Landscape factors predominantly controlled spatial fuel moisture content beyond modifying local micrometeorology. Accounting for direct landscape–fuel moisture relationships could improve fuel moisture estimates, as existing estimates derived solely from micrometeorological observations will exclude the underlying influence of landscape characteristics. We hypothesize that differences in soil texture, canopy age, and aspect play important roles across the fuel layers examined, with the main differences in processes arising between live, dead, and surface/ground fuels. We also highlight the critical role of fuel phenology in assessing landscape fuel moisture variations in temperate environments. Understanding the mechanisms driving fuel moisture variability opens opportunities to develop locally robust fuel models for input into wildfire danger rating systems, adding versatility to wildfire danger assessments as a management tool.","PeriodicalId":12273,"journal":{"name":"Fire Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2024-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139578437","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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