Climate Contributors to Forest Mosaics: Ecological Persistence Following Wildfire

Kolden, Crystal A.; Abatzoglou, John T.; Lutz, James A.; Cansler, C. Alina; Kane, Jonathan T.; Wagtendonk, Jan W. van; Key, Carl H.

doi:10.3955/046.089.0305

Cited by 43 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…Kolden et al. () showed that coarser‐scaled climate metrics can explain some variability in spatial patterning of fire refugia as a whole, but did not examine weather and topographic distinctions we assess here. Our results, derived from information pooled from multiple fires, provide evidence of sensitivity of refugia to daily variability in fire weather.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Topographic and fire weather controls of fire refugia in forested ecosystems of northwestern North America

Haire²,

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Fire refugia, sometimes referred to as fire islands, shadows, skips, residuals, or fire remnants, are an important element of the burn mosaic, but we lack a quantitative framework that links observations of fire refugia from different environmental contexts. Here, we develop and test a conceptual model for how predictability of fire refugia varies according to topographic complexity and fire weather conditions. Refugia were quantified as areas unburned or burned at comparatively low severity based on remotely sensed burn severity data. We assessed the relationship between refugia and a suite of terrain-related explanatory metrics by fitting a collection of boosted regression tree models. The models were developed for seven study fires that burned in conifer-dominated forested landscapes of the Western Cordillera of Canada between 2001 and 2014. We fit nine models, each for distinct levels of fire weather and terrain ruggedness. Our framework revealed that the predictability and abundance of fire refugia varied among these environmental settings. We observed highest predictability under moderate fire weather conditions and moderate terrain ruggedness (ROC-AUC = 0.77), and lowest predictability in flatter landscapes and under high fire weather conditions (ROC-AUC = 0.63-0.68). Catchment slope, local aspect, relative position, topographic wetness, topographic convergence, and local slope all contributed to discriminating where refugia occur but the relative importance of these topographic controls differed among environments. Our framework allows us to characterize the predictability of contemporary fire refugia across multiple environmental settings and provides important insights for ecosystem resilience, wildfire management, conservation planning, and climate change adaptation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Topographic and fire weather controls of fire refugia in forested ecosystems of northwestern North America

Haire²,

et al. 2016

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“…Figure 6 presents a basic model of carbon fluxes immediately following wildfire and provides a computational framework for post-fire carbon loss accounting using fire severity data. With this model, changes in carbon pools are calculated on a per-pixel basis, with pixels inferred as unburned (about 20% to 25% of the area within the fire perimeter), being assumed to have unchanged carbon pools [78][79][80][81][82][83]. Results from our carbon-fire history analysis-which showed only slight differences in carbon densities inside vs. outside fire perimeters-also support this notion of a mixed severity regime, where fire does not result in significant overall loss of carbon because large-diameter tree mortality is low.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, these results do not suggest either a large or statistically significant effect of low-to moderate-severity fire. A more comprehensive assessment of the effects of fire on the landscape will require a consideration of fire severity [32,75], the proportionate area within a fire perimeter that remained unburned [78,79,82,83], and details on pre-fire and post-fire carbon accumulation rates [41,46,76]. .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire and the Distribution and Uncertainty of Carbon Sequestered as Aboveground Tree Biomass in Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

Lutz

Matchett

Tarnay³

et al. 2017

Land

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Abstract:Fire is one of the principal agents changing forest carbon stocks and landscape level distributions of carbon, but few studies have addressed how accurate carbon accounting of fire-killed trees is or can be. We used a large number of forested plots (1646), detailed selection of species-specific and location-specific allometric equations, vegetation type maps with high levels of accuracy, and Monte Carlo simulation to model the amount and uncertainty of aboveground tree carbon present in tree species (hereafter, carbon) within Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks. We estimated aboveground carbon in trees within Yosemite National Park to be 25 Tg of carbon (C) (confidence interval (CI): 23-27 Tg C), and in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park to be 20 Tg C (CI: 18-21 Tg C). Low-severity and moderate-severity fire had little or no effect on the amount of carbon sequestered in trees at the landscape scale, and high-severity fire did not immediately consume much carbon. Although many of our data inputs were more accurate than those used in similar studies in other locations, the total uncertainty of carbon estimates was still greater than ±10%, mostly due to potential uncertainties in landscape-scale vegetation type mismatches and trees larger than the ranges of existing allometric equations. If carbon inventories are to be meaningfully used in policy, there is an urgent need for more accurate landscape classification methods, improvement in allometric equations for tree species, and better understanding of the uncertainties inherent in existing carbon accounting methods.

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“…For landscapes where wildfire is a stressor, resilience is the maintenance or restoration of critical processes that support key ecosystem goods and services, with some occurrence and intensity of fire often required to achieve resilience [72]. This may include frequent fire to facilitate carbon uptake and sustain selective timber harvest in systems with frequent low severity fire [73,74], patches of stand replacing fire that support key biodiversity markers [75], or unburned patches within the fire matrix that both act as refugia and preserve soil and hillslope integrity to maintain downstream water quality [60,76].…”

Section: Measuring Landscape Resilience To Wildfirementioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Landscape Vulnerability to Wildfire in the USA

2016

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Wildfire is an ever present, natural process shaping landscapes. Having the ability to accurately measure and predict wildfire occurrence and impacts to ecosystem goods and services, both retrospectively and prospectively, is critical for adaptive management of landscapes. Landscape vulnerability is a concept widely utilized in the ecosystem management literature that has not been explicitly defined, particularly with regard to wildfire. Vulnerability more broadly is defined by three primary components: exposure to the stressor, sensitivity to a range of stressor variability, and resilience following exposure. In this synthesis, we define vulnerability in the context of wildfire. We first identify the components of a guiding framework for a vulnerability assessment with respect to wildfire. We then address retrospective assessments of wildfire vulnerability and the data that have been developed and utilized to complete these assessments. Finally, we review the modeling efforts that allow for predictive and probabilistic assessment of future vulnerability. Throughout the synthesis, we highlight gaps in the research, data availability, and models used to complete vulnerability assessments.

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Climate Contributors to Forest Mosaics: Ecological Persistence Following Wildfire

Cited by 43 publications

References 84 publications

Topographic and fire weather controls of fire refugia in forested ecosystems of northwestern North America

Topographic and fire weather controls of fire refugia in forested ecosystems of northwestern North America

Fire and the Distribution and Uncertainty of Carbon Sequestered as Aboveground Tree Biomass in Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

Assessing Landscape Vulnerability to Wildfire in the USA

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