2019
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14543
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Fire deficits have increased drought sensitivity in dry conifer forests: Fire frequency and tree‐ring carbon isotope evidence from Central Oregon

Abstract: A century of fire suppression across the Western United States has led to more crowded forests and increased competition for resources. Studies of forest thinning or stand conditions after mortality events have provided indirect evidence for how competition can promote drought stress and predispose forests to severe fire and/or bark beetle outbreaks. Here, we demonstrate linkages between fire deficits and increasing drought stress through analyses of annually resolved tree‐ring growth, fire scars, and carbon i… Show more

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Cited by 42 publications
(30 citation statements)
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“…Similarly, forest successional patches in drier environmental settings were open canopy with flashy surface fuels that favored surface fire spread, while those in cool-moist settings had more complexly layered fuels and instead favored mixed surface and crownfires, or predominantly crownfires. Fire controlled the successional patchwork and maintained much of the landscape in open-canopy conditions, which reduced sensitivity of trees to drought (Voelker et al, 2019). During cool-moist climatic periods of lower than average fire frequency, tree densities would increase and patches of nearby forest or woodland would expand, encroaching on and reclaiming areas of grass-and/or shrubland.…”
Section: Cross-connections Between Broad-and Meso-scale Landscapes Mementioning
confidence: 99%
“…Similarly, forest successional patches in drier environmental settings were open canopy with flashy surface fuels that favored surface fire spread, while those in cool-moist settings had more complexly layered fuels and instead favored mixed surface and crownfires, or predominantly crownfires. Fire controlled the successional patchwork and maintained much of the landscape in open-canopy conditions, which reduced sensitivity of trees to drought (Voelker et al, 2019). During cool-moist climatic periods of lower than average fire frequency, tree densities would increase and patches of nearby forest or woodland would expand, encroaching on and reclaiming areas of grass-and/or shrubland.…”
Section: Cross-connections Between Broad-and Meso-scale Landscapes Mementioning
confidence: 99%
“…In light of the projected grand fir expansion, we suggest that reducing fuel continuity through accelerated rates of thinning and prescribed burning, especially in sites with young fire-prone grand fir cohorts, is likely needed to reduce the extent and severity of future fires. Reducing density of young cohorts has been found to provide the added benefit of making remaining trees more resilient to drought (Voelker et al 2019).…”
Section: Management Implicationsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The suppression of wildfires has transformed frequent‐fire‐adapted forests from systems historically characterized by open understories shaded by fewer, older trees, into high stem density conditions with nearly continuous forest canopy (Hagmann et al, , ; Johnston et al, ). These shifts in ecosystem structure increase forest vulnerability to drought, as competition for water increases with tree density (Voelker et al, ). Further, the legacy of fire‐exclusion has resulted in a forest and fuels structure that increases the probability that ignitions result in high‐severity wildfires torching mature trees and significantly impacting the structure of the forest (Singleton et al, ).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%