Wildfire controls on evapotranspiration in California’s Sierra Nevada

Ma, Qin; Bales, R. C.; Rungee, Joseph; Conklin, M. H.; Collins, Brandon M.; Goulden, Michael L.

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.125364

Cited by 44 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…Our results differ from earlier studies of the impacts of high‐severity burning on forest ET in the western U.S. In these earlier studies, high fire severity resulted in low plant canopy cover and decreased ET, primarily due to decreased vegetation transpiration (Blount et al., 2020, Dore et al., 2010, Ha et al., 2015, Ma et al., 2020, Montes‐Helu et al., 2009, Poon & Kinoshita, 2018). Vegetation recovery at these high fire severity sites was slow, with persistent low cover and high soil exposure resulting in high levels of soil E but low canopy T and overall ET, sometimes lasting for 15 years or more.…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…Our study is also the first to demonstrate that post‐fire ET can be high on high‐severity fire sites with prolific post‐fire regeneration by anisohydric, sprouting shrubs, results that contrast with prior research reporting low ET after high severity forest fire (e.g. Dore et al., 2010; Ma et al., 2020; Poon & Kinoshita, 2018).…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 75%

“…Low‐severity fires kill little aboveground vegetation, whereas high‐severity fires kill nearly all aboveground vegetation, thereby reducing transpirational leaf surface area and increasing bare ground cover, soil evaporation, and surface runoff immediately after burning. High‐severity fires can reduce ET and shift the balance of evaporation and transpiration for years to decades as vegetation recovers from burning (Ma et al., 2020; Montes‐Helu et al., 2009; Poon & Kinoshita, 2018). Fire severity also influences microsite characteristics such as solar radiation, temperature and vapor pressure deficit, with concomitant impacts on site evaporation (E) (Aguilar et al., 2010; El Maayar & Chen, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Wildfire severity and vegetation recovery drive post‐fire evapotranspiration in a southwestern pine‐oak forest, Arizona, USA

Poulos

Barton

Koch

et al. 2021

Remote Sens Ecol Conserv

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Post‐fire stand water balance is a critical factor influencing tree regeneration and survival, which are often modulated by fire severity. We examined influences of the post‐fire vegetation matrix and fire severity on diurnal, seasonal, and multi‐year variation in evapotranspiration (ET) by analyzing the relationship between post‐fire vegetation and ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on the International Space Station (ECOSTRESS) ET data using multivariate and linear mixed effects modeling. Unlike many high‐severity fire sites where ET drops after burning, post‐fire ET was high at shrubland sites that burned at high fire severity in southern Arizona, USA. In this study, post‐fire ET was driven by plant species composition and tree canopy cover. ET was significantly higher in the morning and midday in densely vegetated post‐fire shrublands than pine‐dominated forests that remained 5–7 years after wildfire. Our results demonstrate that plant functional traits such as resprouting and desiccation tolerance drive post‐fire ET patterns, and they are likely to continue to play critical roles in shaping post‐fire plant communities and forest water cycling under future environmental change.

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Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 75%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Wildfire severity and vegetation recovery drive post‐fire evapotranspiration in a southwestern pine‐oak forest, Arizona, USA

Poulos

Barton

Koch

et al. 2021

Remote Sens Ecol Conserv

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“…This provides an opportunity to carry out water-balance assessments at multiple scales. One important application for this analysis is estimating changes in evapotranspiration, and thus potential runoff following disturbance (Bales et al, 2018a;Roche et al, 2018;Ma et al, 2020) or forest thinning (Saksa et al, 2017;Roche et al, 2020). It should have further application for predictions in ungauged basins (Immerzeel and Droogers, 2008;Zhang et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evapotranspiration and Runoff Patterns Across California's Sierra Nevada

Rungee

Goulden

et al. 2021

Front. Water

Self Cite

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Spatially resolved annual evapotranspiration was calculated across the 14 main river basins draining into California's Central Valley, USA, using a statistical model that combined satellite greenness, gridded precipitation, and flux-tower measurements. Annual evapotranspiration across the study area averaged 529 mm. Average basin-scale annual precipitation minus evapotranspiration was in good agreement with annual runoff, with deviations in wet and dry years suggesting withdrawal or recharge of subsurface water storage. Evapotranspiration peaked at lower elevations in the colder, northern basins, and at higher elevations in the southern high-Sierra basins, closely tracking the 12.3°C mean temperature isocline. Precipitation and evapotranspiration are closely balanced across much of the study region, and small shifts in either will cause disproportionate changes in water storage and runoff. The majority of runoff was generated below the rain-snow transition in northern basins, and originated in snow-dominated elevations in the southern basins. Climate warming that increases growing season length will increase evapotranspiration and reduce runoff across all elevations in the north, but only at higher elevations in the south. Feedback mechanisms in these steep mountain basins, plus over-year subsurface storage, with their steep precipitation and temperature gradients, provide important buffering of the water balance to change. Leave-one-out cross validation revealed that the statistical model for annual evapotranspiration is sensitive to the number and distribution of measurement sites, implying that additional strategically located flux towers would improve evapotranspiration predictions. Leave-one-out with individual years was less sensitive, implying that longer records are less important. This statistical top-down modeling of evapotranspiration provides an important complement to constraining water-balance measurements with gridded precipitation and unimpaired runoff, with applications such as quantifying water balance following forest die-off, management or wildfire.

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“…Fine-scale treeless openings, highly variable in shape and abundance (Figures 5 and 6), provided numerous functions, including nutrient cycling and fostering biodiversity, in addition to influencing the delivery of fire to adjacent areas (North et al 2005b, Larson and Churchill 2012, Churchill et al 2017, Matonis and Binkley 2018, LeFevre et al 2020. Changes to spatial patterns of landscape and forest structure (Figures 5 and 6) also influence aspects of the hydrologic cycle (e.g., evapotranspiration, soil water dynamics, snow interception, snow water equivalent, and snow melt timing), which can substantially reduce water available to downstream ecosystems (Boisramé et al 2017b, Schneider et al 2019, Singer et al 2019, Ma et al 2020, Rakhmatulina et al 2021.…”

Section: Accepted Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for widespread changes in the structure, composition, and fire regimes of western North American forests

Hagmann

Hessburg

Prichard

et al. 2021

Ecological Applications

218

140

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Implementation of wildfire-and climate-adaptation strategies in seasonally dry forests of western North America is impeded by numerous constraints and uncertainties. After more than a century of resource and land use change, some question the need for proactive management, particularly given novel social, ecological, and climatic conditions. To address this question, we first provide a framework for assessing changes in landscape conditions and fire regimes. Using this framework, we then evaluate evidence of change and lack of change in contemporary conditions relative to those maintained by active fire regimes, i.e., those uninterrupted by a century or more of human-induced fire exclusion. The cumulative results of more than a century of research document a persistent and substantial fire deficit and widespread alterations to ecological structures and functions. These changes are not necessarily apparent at all spatial scales or in all dimensions of fire regimes and forest and nonforest conditions. Nonetheless, loss of the once abundant influence of low-and moderate-KEYWORDS

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Wildfire controls on evapotranspiration in California’s Sierra Nevada

Cited by 44 publications

References 97 publications

Wildfire severity and vegetation recovery drive post‐fire evapotranspiration in a southwestern pine‐oak forest, Arizona, USA

Wildfire severity and vegetation recovery drive post‐fire evapotranspiration in a southwestern pine‐oak forest, Arizona, USA

Evapotranspiration and Runoff Patterns Across California's Sierra Nevada

Evidence for widespread changes in the structure, composition, and fire regimes of western North American forests

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