Fire Ecology & Effects
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This study found that live fuel, on average, was the most important factor driving high-severity fire among ecoregions (average relative influence = 53.1%) and was the most important factor in 14 of 19 ecoregions. Fire weather was the second most important factor among ecoregions (average relative influence = 22.9%) and was the most important factor in five ecoregions. Climate (13.7%) and topography (10.3%) were less influential. The study also predicted the probability of high-severity fire, were a fire to occur, using recent (2016) satellite imagery to characterize live fuel for a subset of ecoregions in which the model skill was deemed acceptable (n = 13). These ‘wall-to-wall’ gridded ecoregional maps provide relevant and up-to-date information for scientists and managers who are tasked with managing fuel and wildland fire.
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Study results indicate that burning during fescue establishment can prevent proliferation, but burning two years later when fescue had reached peak abundance was ineffective. All three burn treatments that suppressed fescue subsequently enhanced C4 grass production. Researchers suggest that rangeland managers be aware of the potential for sixweeks fescue germination and establishment during warm, wet winters that follow drought years, and consider the use of dormant-season prescribed fire to adaptively reduce negative impacts on forage production.
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This study found that area burned during the 30-year period, number of fires each year, and fire size followed a strong geographic pattern: Northern Intermountain > Southern Intermountain > Southern Rocky Mountain > Central Rocky Mountain. Area burned within piñon and juniper land cover types increased significantly during the 30-year period across the study area overall and for each geographic region, except the Southern Intermountain. Fire rotations were within reported historical ranges for sagebrush ecosystems and decreased over time. Also, fire number or fire size increased for the Southern Rocky Mountain and Southern Intermountain geographic regions. Across the study area, spatio-temporal patterns in fire regimes for piñon and juniper land cover types were similar to those for other land cover types. Careful monitoring of longer term trends in fire activity and the interacting effects of invasive annual grasses, bark beetles, and climate change is needed to access the dynamics of piñon and juniper land cover types and evaluate the efficacy of management treatments in piñon and juniper land cover types.
This project and it’s associated resources, can be accessed here.
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While news headlines were quick to capture the “cost” of firefighting, suppression represents only a fraction of the true cost of wildfire. There are huge impacts to air quality and health, school athletics, travel and tourism, employment and the economy, transportation, and iconic Oregon economic sectors such as the state’s wine and timber industries. No single state agency is charged with documenting these costs, so the Oregon Forest Resources Institute set out to gather what information is currently available, from media reports, individual interviews and hard-nosed research.
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Abstracts of Recent Papers on Range Management in the West. Prepared by Charlie Clements, Rangeland Scientist, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Reno, NV.
This webinar describes:
- The long-term (17-26 year) post-fire accumulation in fuel loads and resultant potential fire behavior where historical prefire and immediate postfire data exists in Wyoming and Basin big sagebrush communities.
- Fuel loads accumulation and structure along a time-since-fire. chronosequence in Wyoming, mountain, and low sagebrush ecosystems
- The fuels and reburn potential in once and twice burned Basin big sagebrush plant communities.
- Plant community change 17 years post fire in Wyoming big sagebrush ecosystems.
Presented by: Lisa Ellsworth, Oregon State University.
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This document includes scientist contributions and group recommendations that came from the Great Basin Wildfire Forum held at the University of Nevada in September of 2007. In the first section, the editors provide background and overview of the major issues of the Great Basin as they relate to the wildfire forum discussions. The next section is an edited version of the individual contributions of the scientists based on their oral presentations and written contributions.
Course Description: Functional responses and adaptations of individual species to their environment, emphasizing the physiological mechanisms that influence the interactions between organisms and the major environmental factors (e.g., solar radiation, energy balance, temperature, water and nutrients, climate), and how this affects the interactions among species and their growth and survival (e.g., competition, herbivory, and allelopathy). Interactive computer-based learning materials are used extensively.
Prerequisites: A course in general ecology (e.g., Ecology NR 321), general botany or plant physiology, or permission.
Recommended preparation: Review of plant physiology
Computer compatibility: The course learning materials are compatible only with computers that are 100% compatible with the Windows operating system and the browser, Internet Explorer.
Course Description: Fundamental principles of the science of ecology. Major topics covered by the course include the physical environment, how organisms interact with each other and their environment, evolutionary processes, population dynamics, communities, energy flow and ecosystems, human influences on ecosystems, and the integration and scaling of ecological processes through systems ecology. Computer-based materials are used extensively for guided independent learning of ecology.
Prerequisites: Introductory biology, or permission.
Recommended preparation: Introductory botany and zoology, and a good working knowledge of Windows-based computer systems.
Computer compatibility: The course learning materials are compatible only with computers that are 100% compatible with the Windows operating system and the browser, Internet Explorer.