Fire Effects and Fire Ecology

Displaying 51 - 60 of 276

Acorn woodpecker movements and social networks change with wildfire smoke

Year of Publication

2023

Publication Type

Climate change has contributed to increased wildfires. Wildfire smoke exposes wildlife to hazards and mortality from particulate matter on a scale larger than the area impacted by fire.

Higher burn severity stimulates postfire vegetation and carbon recovery in California

Year of Publication

2023

Publication Type

Journal Article

As the climate continues to warm, the severity of wildfires is increasing. However, the potential impact of higher burn severity on ecosystem resilience and regional carbon balance is still not clear. There are ongoing debates regarding whether increased burn severity stimulates or delays postfire vegetation and carbon recovery.

Terrestrial carbon dynamics in an era of increasing wildfire

Year of Publication

2023

Publication Type

Journal Article

In an increasingly flammable world, wildfire is altering the terrestrial carbon balance. However, the degree to which novel wildfire regimes disrupt biological function remains unclear. Here, we synthesize the current understanding of above- and belowground processes that govern carbon loss and recovery across diverse ecosystems.

Fire refugia are robust across Western US forested ecoregions, 1986–2021

Year of Publication

2023

Publication Type

Journal Article

In the Western US, area burned and fire size have increased due to the influences of climate change, long-term fire suppression leading to higher fuel loads, and increased ignitions. However, evidence is less conclusive about increases in fire severity within these growing wildfire extents.

Quantifying the smoke-related public health trade-offs of forest management

Year of Publication

2023

Publication Type

Journal Article

Prescribed burning can mitigate extreme wildfire risk and reduce total smoke emissions. Yet prescribed burns’ emissions may also contribute to smoke exposures in nearby communities. Incorporating public health considerations into forest management planning efforts may help reduce prescribed burn-related exposure impacts.

Old reserves and ancient buds fuel regrowth of coast redwood after catastrophic fire

Year of Publication

2023

Publication Type

Journal Article

For long-lived organisms, investment in insurance strategies such as reserve energy storage can enable resilience to resource deficits, stress or catastrophic disturbance. Recent fire in California damaged coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) groves, consuming all foliage on some of the tallest and oldest trees on Earth.

Exceptional variability in historical fire regimes across a western Cascades landscape, Oregon, USA

Year of Publication

2023

Publication Type

Journal Article

Detailed information about the historical range of variability in wildfire activity informs adaptation to future climate and disturbance regimes. Here, we describe one of the first annually resolved reconstructions of historical (1500–1900 ce) fire occurrence in coast Douglas-fir dominated forests of the west slope of the Cascade Range in western Oregon.

Climate influences on future fire severity: a synthesis of climate-fire interactions and impacts on fire regimes, high-severity fire, and forests in the western United States

Year of Publication

2023

Publication Type

Journal Article

Background Increases in fire activity and changes in fire regimes have been documented in recent decades across the western United States. Climate change is expected to continue to exacerbate impacts to forested ecosystems by increasing the frequency, size, and severity of wildfires across the western United States (US).

Fire needs annual grasses more than annual grasses need fire

Year of Publication

2023

Publication Type

Journal Article

Sagebrush ecosystems of western North America are experiencing widespread loss and degradation by invasive annual grasses. Positive feedbacks between fire and annual grasses are often invoked to explain the rapid pace of these changes, yet annual grasses also appear capable of achieving dominance among vegetation communities that have not burned for many decades.

Predicting snag fall in an old-growth forest after fire

Year of Publication

2023

Publication Type

Journal Article

Snags, standing dead trees, are becoming more abundant in forests as tree mortality rates continue to increase due to fire, drought, and bark beetles. Snags provide habitat for birds and small mammals, and when they fall to the ground, the resulting logs provide additional wildlife habitat and affect nutrient cycling, fuel loads, and fire behavior.

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