Water balance and topography predict fire and forest structure patterns

Kane, Van R.; Lutz, James A.; Cansler, C. Alina; Povak, Nicholas A.; Churchill, Derek J.; Smith, Douglas; Kane, Jonathan T.; North, Malcolm P.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2014.10.038

Cited by 136 publications

(110 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…The predominant direction of fire spread from west-to-east during Day 1, during which time fire moved uphill (at higher speed and intensity) on west-facing slopes, may have resulted in greater refugia occurrence on south and east slopes, as well. Our observations of refugial environments complement recent findings regarding the importance of topographically-mediated fuel moisture on burn severity in dry forests elsewhere [63,64].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Characterizing Spatial Neighborhoods of Refugia Following Large Fires in Northern New Mexico USA

Haire¹,

Miller

2017

Land

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Abstract:The spatial patterns resulting from large fires include refugial habitats that support surviving legacies and promote ecosystem recovery. To better understand the diverse ecological functions of refugia on burn mosaics, we used remotely sensed data to quantify neighborhood patterns of areas relatively unchanged following the 2011 Las Conchas fire. Spatial patterns of refugia measured within 10-ha moving windows varied across a gradient from areas of high density, clustered in space, to sparsely populated neighborhoods that occurred in the background matrix. The scaling of these patterns was related to the underlying structure of topography measured by slope, aspect and potential soil wetness, and spatially varying climate. Using a nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis of species cover data collected post-Las Conchas, we found that trees and forest associates were present across the refugial gradient, but communities also exhibited a range of species compositions and potential functions. Spatial patterns of refugia quantified for three previous burns (La Mesa 1977, Dome 1996, Cerro Grande 2000 were dynamic between fire events, but most refugia persisted through at least two fires. Efforts to maintain burn heterogeneity and its ecological functions can begin with identifying where refugia are likely to occur, using terrain-based microclimate models, burn severity models and available field data.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Characterizing Spatial Neighborhoods of Refugia Following Large Fires in Northern New Mexico USA

Haire¹,

Miller

2017

Land

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“…Partitioning the landscape into basic topographic settings, such as valley-bottoms, ridgetops, and southand north-facing slopes, can be an aid in distributing forest treatments to patch boundaries that are more logical than those based largely on proximity to roads (North et al 2009(North et al , 2012b. Spatially mapped climatic water balance metrics (e.g., actual evapotranspiration and deficit) can be used to further refine and quantify topographic conditions into useful ranges for site potential and species composition determinations, and to guide climate adaptation (e.g., see Stephenson 1998;Dobrowski et al 2011;Churchill et al 2013;Kane et al 2015). Below, we provide a general approach for using topography in a landscape prescription using archetypal forest conditions as example landscapes.…”

Section: Implicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Restoring fire-prone Inland Pacific landscapes: seven core principles

et al. 2015

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Context More than a century of forest and fire management of Inland Pacific landscapes has transformed their successional and disturbance dynamics. Regional connectivity of many terrestrial and aquatic habitats is fragmented, flows of some ecological and physical processes have been altered in space and time, and the frequency, size and intensity of many disturbances that configure these habitats have been altered. Current efforts to address these impacts yield a small footprint in comparison to wildfires and insect outbreaks. Moreover, many current projects emphasize thinning and fuels reduction within individual forest stands, while overlooking large-scale habitat connectivity and disturbance flow issues. Methods We provide a framework for landscape restoration, offering seven principles. We discuss their implication for management, and illustrate their application with examples. Results Historical forests were spatially heterogeneous at multiple scales. Heterogeneity was the result of variability and interactions among native ecological -015-0218-0 patterns and processes, including successional and disturbance processes regulated by climatic and topographic drivers. Native flora and fauna were adapted to these conditions, which conferred a measure of resilience to variability in climate and recurrent contagious disturbances. Conclusions To restore key characteristics of this resilience to current landscapes, planning and management are needed at ecoregion, local landscape, successional patch, and tree neighborhood scales. Restoration that works effectively across ownerships and allocations will require active thinking about landscapes as socio-ecological systems that provide services to people within the finite capacities of ecosystems. We focus attention on landscape-level prescriptions as foundational to restoration planning and execution.Landscape Ecol (2015) 30:1805-1835 DOI 10.1007/s10980

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“…They use regionally downscaled estimates of temperature, precipitation, and soil water-holding capacity to calculate annual actual evapotranspiration (AET) and annual climatic water deficit (Deficit), the difference between potential evapotranspiration (PET) and AET. AET and Deficit have been shown to be good predictors of species presence/absence and growth rates, forest structure, and fire effects (Littell et al, 2008(Littell et al, , 2009Lutz et al, 2010;Kane et al, 2015). Use of these reference conditions provides a way of adapting information from pre-settlement era conditions by factoring in future climate change projections.…”

Section: Adapting Stand Density To Future Climatic Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tamm Review: Management of mixed-severity fire regime forests in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California

Hessburg

Spies

Perry

et al. 2016

Forest Ecology and Management

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a b s t r a c tIncreasingly, objectives for forests with moderate-or mixed-severity fire regimes are to restore successionally diverse landscapes that are resistant and resilient to current and future stressors. Maintaining native species and characteristic processes requires this successional diversity, but methods to achieve it are poorly explained in the literature. In the Inland Pacific US, large, old, early seral trees were a key historical feature of many young and old forest successional patches, especially where fires frequently occurred. Large, old trees are naturally fire-tolerant, but today are often threatened by dense understory cohorts that create fuel ladders that alter likely post-fire successional pathways. Reducing these understories can contribute to resistance by creating conditions where canopy trees will survive disturbances and climatic stressors; these survivors are important seed sources, soil protectors, and critical habitat elements. Historical timber harvesting has skewed tree size and age class distributions, created hard edges, and altered native patch sizes. Manipulating these altered forests to promote development of larger patches of older, larger, and more widely-spaced trees with diverse understories will increase landscape resistance to severe fires, and enhance wildlife habitat for underrepresented conditions.Closed-canopy, multi-layered patches that develop in hot, dry summer environments are vulnerable to droughts, and they increase landscape vulnerability to insect outbreaks and severe wildfires. These same patches provide habitat for species such as the northern spotted owl, which has benefited from increased habitat area. Regional and local planning will be critical for gauging risks, evaluating trade-offs, and restoring dynamics that can support these and other species. The goal will be to manage for heterogeneous landscapes that include variably-sized patches of (1) young, middle-aged, and old, closedcanopy forests growing in upper montane, northerly aspect, and valley bottom settings, (2) a similar diversity of open-canopy, fire-tolerant patches growing on ridgetops, southerly aspects, and lower montane settings, and (3) significant montane chaparral and grassland areas. Tools to achieve this goal http://dx

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Water balance and topography predict fire and forest structure patterns

Cited by 136 publications

References 72 publications

Characterizing Spatial Neighborhoods of Refugia Following Large Fires in Northern New Mexico USA

Characterizing Spatial Neighborhoods of Refugia Following Large Fires in Northern New Mexico USA

Restoring fire-prone Inland Pacific landscapes: seven core principles

Tamm Review: Management of mixed-severity fire regime forests in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California

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