Fire Synchrony and the Influence of Pacific Climate Variability on Wildfires in the Florida Keys, United States

Harley, Grant L.; Grissino-Mayer, Henri D.; Horn, Sally P.; Bergh, Chris

doi:10.1080/00045608.2013.843432

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…Although the relationship between historical fire and negative departures of ENSO (La Niña events) is not significant (P > 0.05), the pattern of drier-than-average conditions during fire years is convincing and similar to previous fireclimate research in the southeast , Harley et al 2014) and southwest US (e.g., Rother and Grissino-Mayer 2014). BEA provided further evidence of Pacific climate forcing of historical fire with the temporal association tests between ± phase combinations of ENSO and PDO.…”

Section: Fire-climate Relationshipssupporting

confidence: 71%

“…Nonetheless, climate has been shown to influence fire regimes in the southeast (e.g., , Stambaugh et al 2011. Harley et al (2014) found a similar temporal pattern with Pacific climate forcing (ENSO-PDO) of wildfire in a P. elliottii var. densa savanna in the Florida Keys.…”

Section: Fire-climate Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…, Harley et al. ) and southwest US (e.g., Rother and Grissino‐Mayer ). BEA provided further evidence of Pacific climate forcing of historical fire with the temporal association tests between ± phase combinations of ENSO and PDO.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The season of each fire was identified by assessing the intra-annual position of each scar within the annual growth ring. Seasons were classified as earlywood (E), transition zone between earlywood and latewood (T), latewood (L), or dormant (D) season (Huffman et al 2004, Harley et al 2014. Early wood was defined as the first half of the earlywood zone, transition wood is the last half of earlywood and the first half of latewood, and latewood is the last half of the latewood zone.…”

Section: Sample Preparation and Laboratory Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, Harley et al. ). Earlywood was defined as the first half of the earlywood zone, transition wood is the last half of earlywood and the first half of latewood, and latewood is the last half of the latewood zone.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Historical fire in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forests of south Mississippi and its relation to land use and climate

White

Harley

2016

Ecosphere

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Abstract. We characterized historical fire regimes in Pinus palustris (longleaf pine) forests of southern Mississippi with regard to global and regional coupled climate systems (e.g., El Niño-Southern Oscillation) and past human activity. The composite fire chronology spanned 1756-2013 with 132 individual scars representing 89 separate fire events. The mean fire interval was 2.9 yr, and mean intervals were significantly different between identified time periods (e.g., settlement period vs. management period). Evidence of biannual fire activity (up to three fires occurring within a 12-to 15-month period) was found coeval with a peak in livestock grazing and logging from the 1850s through the 1880s. Connections were also found between historical fire and Pacific climate variability (e.g., El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation; P < 0.05), yet the fire-climate linkage was likely at least partially masked by substantial human land use activities over the past several centuries. Coupled climate and human land use activity controlled the historical fire regime over the past ca. 240 yr. Although the many fire adaptions of P. palustris yield limitations in tree-ring-based fire history studies (e.g., thick bark), we highlight the efficacy of considering the height at which fire scars are analyzed along the bole as a way to glean a more accurate depiction of historical fire occurrence, especially in ecosystems characterized by a frequent, lowseverity fire regime. This study suggests growing-season fire prescribed at a 2-to 3-yr interval would be the first step toward simulating historical landscape conditions and fire activity, should that be the goal by land managers.

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Section: Fire-climate Relationshipssupporting

confidence: 71%

Section: Fire-climate Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 80%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sample Preparation and Laboratory Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Historical fire in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forests of south Mississippi and its relation to land use and climate

White

Harley

2016

Ecosphere

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A geographical analysis of warm season lightning/landscape interactions across Colorado, USA

Vogt

Hodanish

2016

Applied Geography

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Baldcypress false ring formation linked to summer hydroclimatic extremes in the southeastern United States

Tucker

Pearl

Elliott

et al. 2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

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We describe the utility of false rings in Taxodium distichum (i.e., baldcypress) as a proxy for hydroclimatic extreme events in three different river basins (Pascagoula, Mobile, and Choctawhatchee) that discharge into the northern Gulf of Mexico. False rings occur as a result of a change in the environmental limiting resource for tree stem growth, and in T. distichum, false ring production is usually a result of increases in mid-growing season water availability. Our results show that false ring occurrence (from 1931--2018) is similar across sites but occur in different years, suggesting that false ring production is indicative of tree response to its local environment. False ring production in T. distichum has previously been correlated with summer streamflow, the season when tropical cyclone precipitation (TCP) is highest. To assess a stand-wide response, we define high false ring (HFR) years as all years when >20% of trees produced a false ring. We show total TCP in July is the best predictor for HFR years in T. distichum, and false ring production in smaller river basins captures local TCP better than larger river basins. Additionally, HFR years coincide with summers of anomalously high precipitation, anomalously low temperatures, and a positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation. 77% of HFR years occur in seasons when there is heavy tropical cyclone activity near sample sites, building a foundation to use false ring records as robust TCP proxies with hydroclimate reconstruction potential.

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Fire Synchrony and the Influence of Pacific Climate Variability on Wildfires in the Florida Keys, United States

Cited by 6 publications

References 73 publications

Historical fire in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forests of south Mississippi and its relation to land use and climate

Historical fire in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forests of south Mississippi and its relation to land use and climate

A geographical analysis of warm season lightning/landscape interactions across Colorado, USA

Baldcypress false ring formation linked to summer hydroclimatic extremes in the southeastern United States

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