Fortifying the forest: thinning and burning increase resistance to a bark beetle outbreak and promote forest resilience

Hood, Sharon M.; Baker, Stephen P.; Sala, Anna

doi:10.1002/eap.1363

Cited by 101 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 113 publications

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“…Total (all species combined) and ponderosa pine (PIPO) basal area, trees per acre, ponderosa pine SDI and relative stand density, and ponderosa pine QMD in unthinned and thinned stands, and mean differences (unthinned ؊ thinned) before a mountain pine beetle outbreak. and can be influenced by other factors such as fire (Gaylord et al 2007, Hood et al 2016. Thinning changes the stand microenvironment, making it less favorable for insect populations by possibly augmenting mortality and negatively impacting chemical communication and dispersal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Large-Scale Thinnings, Ponderosa Pine, and Mountain Pine Beetle in the Black Hills, USA

Negrón¹,

Allen²,

Ambourn

et al. 2017

Forest Science

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Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) (MPB), can cause extensive ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) mortality in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming, USA. Lower tree densities have been associated with reduced MPB-caused tree mortality, but few studies have reported on large-scale thinning and most data come from small plots that may not be representative of a large area. We quantified MPB-caused tree mortality in 21 pairs of commercially thinned and unthinned stands across the Black Hills. Both pre-and postoutbreak, unthinned stands had higher ponderosa pine basal area, tree density, and stand density index. Quadratic mean diameter was larger in thinned stands, both pre-and postoutbreak. Percent ponderosa pine basal area and tree density killed by MPB in unthinned stands were 38.2 Ϯ 7.0 and 34.4 Ϯ 6.9% compared with 3.9 Ϯ 3.2 and 3.6 Ϯ 2.9% in thinned stands, respectively. All stands were thinned within 2 years of exposure to MPB, suggesting a rapid effect from thinning treatments in mitigating tree mortality attributed to MPB. Stand density reductions through silviculture across a large geographical area can abate MPB-caused tree mortality.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…High stand densities can compromise tree vigor and defensive mechanisms (Larsson et al 1983, Mitchell et al 1983, Waring and Pitman 1985, Hood et al 2016). In Arizona, Kolb et al (1998) examined various insect resistance mechanisms in thinned ponderosa pine stands.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large-Scale Thinnings, Ponderosa Pine, and Mountain Pine Beetle in the Black Hills, USA

Negrón¹,

Allen²,

Ambourn

et al. 2017

Forest Science

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“…Fuel reduction treatments, whereby surface and canopy fuels are removed through mechanical thinning and/or prescribed fire, are a standard management tool to reduce fire risk and restore the vegetative structure of ecosystems that have been degraded by past management and fire suppression [2,3]. Fuel treatments can moderate subsequent fire behavior [4,5], mitigate fire severity [6,7], and increase forest resilience to subsequent disturbances [8,9]. At the stand level, fuel treatment effects vary according to treatment type, size, and age [10], while their spatial arrangement and rate of implementation can affect outcomes at the landscape level [11,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Fuel Treatment Effectiveness: Characterizing Interactions between Fire and Treatments in the US

Barnett

Parks

Miller

et al. 2016

Forests

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Abstract:In the United States, fuel reduction treatments are a standard land management tool to restore the structure and composition of forests that have been degraded by past management. Although treatments can have multiple purposes, their principal objective is to create landscape conditions where wildland fire can be safely managed to help achieve long-term land management goals. One critique is that fuel treatment benefits are unlikely to transpire due to the low probability that treated areas will be burned by a subsequent fire within a treatment's lifespan, but little quantitative information exists to corroborate this argument. We summarized the frequency, extent, and geographic variation of fire and fuel treatment interactions on federal lands within the conterminous United States (CONUS). We also assessed how the encounters between fuel treatments and fires varied with treatment size, treatment age, and number of times treated. Overall, 6.8% of treatment units evaluated were encountered by a subsequent fire during the study period, though this rate varied among ecoregions across the CONUS. Larger treatment units were more likely to be encountered by a fire, and treatment units were most frequently burned within one year of the most recent treatment, the latter of which is likely because of ongoing maintenance of existing treatments. Our results highlight the need to identify and prioritize additional opportunities to reduce fuel loading and fire risk on the millions of hectares of federal lands in the CONUS that are in need of restoration.

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“…Her notable works include furthering the understanding of the mechanisms behind drought-induced mortality of trees [89,90], furthering the understanding of carbon and non-structural-carbohydrate dynamics within trees [91,92], and understanding how fire alters nitrogen dynamics in ponderosa pine stands [93]. Her recent works have included furthering the understanding of genetic effects in tree survival [94] and assessing the ability of fires and thinning to help increase resistance to beetle attacks [95,96] Tina L. Bell is an associate professor at the University of Sydney. Dr. Bell's research focuses on fire ecology, soil-plant interactions, and smoke.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Her notable works include research to evaluate post-fire conifer mortality [90,94,268]. Her recent works have continued to build on post-fire tree mortality [269], assessing the ability of fires and thinning to help increase resistance to beetle attacks [95,96], as well as assessing the long-term impacts of fuel treatments [270]. …”

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confidence: 99%

Recognizing Women Leaders in Fire Science

Smith

Kolden

Prichard

et al. 2018

Fire

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Across the breadth of fire science disciplines, women are leaders in fire research and development. We want to acknowledge some of these leaders to promote diversity across our disciplines. In Fire, we are also happy to announce a new Special Collection, through which we will continue to acknowledge current and future Diversity Leaders in Fire Science by inviting contributions from the leaders in this editorial, among others.Keywords: leadership; women in science The Need to Recognize Women Leaders in Fire ScienceIn 1965, Alice Rossi asked a fundamental question: "Why so few women in science?" [1]. It has long been recognized that women are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) disciplines, with a substantial dialogue in the literature as to the impacts of such underrepresentation. As representation has increased, the debate now focuses on additional questions of equity in leadership, funding, advancement, and mechanisms of support for female scientists. These questions are embedded in three foundational concepts: (1) all scientists, regardless of gender, deserve equal access to opportunities; (2) the smartest and most talented people (regardless of gender) should be conducting scientific research, such that the most critical breakthroughs and contributions are realized; and (3) to understand and solve complex fire science problems, a broad diversity of perspectives, modes of problem attack, and epistemologies are needed [2]. We also acknowledge the need to recognize other underrepresented voices in the fire science community, such as indigenous and racial minorities, individuals with disabilities, and the LGBTQIA community, who all bring different ways of doing and knowing to science.The reader may understandably ask: Why this journal? In fire science, there is a distinct and critical need to increase the recognition of women. Natural hazards research more broadly has widely recognized that women are more vulnerable to natural disasters, and female scientists in other natural hazard disciplines have brought an important perspective to the research that facilitates understanding and reducing such gender disparities. An equivalent gender dialogue does not yet exist in wildfire science but will be necessary to reduce vulnerabilities (e.g., smoke impacts on health, post-traumatic stress disorder following evacuation) and also understand the unique perspectives women have on wildfire as an ecological process. For example, women globally bear much of the childrearing duties; a key fire science question one might ask is whether acceptance of prescribed fire by communities is gendered based on perceptions of impacts to children? The reader may also question the mixed genders of the authors of this editorial. Many proponents of increased recognition of women in science have highlighted that a major part of the problem has been that not enough male allies stand up publicly for their female colleagues, in part because some are embarrassed, fearful, or even feel, and are so...

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Fortifying the forest: thinning and burning increase resistance to a bark beetle outbreak and promote forest resilience

Cited by 101 publications

References 113 publications

Large-Scale Thinnings, Ponderosa Pine, and Mountain Pine Beetle in the Black Hills, USA

Large-Scale Thinnings, Ponderosa Pine, and Mountain Pine Beetle in the Black Hills, USA

Beyond Fuel Treatment Effectiveness: Characterizing Interactions between Fire and Treatments in the US

Recognizing Women Leaders in Fire Science

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