Simulated Fire Behavior and Fine-Scale Forest Structure Following Conifer Removal in Aspen-Conifer Forests in the Lake Tahoe Basin, USA

Ziegler, Justin P.; Hoffman, Chad; Collins, Brandon M.; Long, Jonathan W.; Dagley, Christa M.; Mell, William E.

doi:10.3390/fire3030051

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Heterogeneity in both the canopy and subcanopy helped forests resist high‐severity reburn, while heterogeneity in the subcanopy had a similar affect for early seral vegetation. Variability in stand structure can moderate fire behaviour by disrupting vegetation continuity (Parsons et al., 2017; Ziegler et al., 2020). In the understorey, higher cover was associated with greater probability of high‐severity fire.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This hypothesis suggests maximum resistance to high‐severity fire may be achieved in burned forests characterized by moderate levels of cover and heterogeneous canopy and subcanopy, made up of fire‐resistant tree species and a sparse understorey. Plausible mechanisms for this dynamic include suppression of understorey growth due to the moderately dense overstorey, reduction in surface‐level airflow due to the presence of subcanopy vegetation and promotion of higher fuel moisture at the forest floor due to shading from the overstorey and subcanopy (Bigelow & North, 2012; Estes et al., 2012; Ziegler et al., 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecological resilience and vegetation transition in the face of two successive large wildfires

et al. 2021

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1. Wildfire can both promote and erode resilience to future disturbances in fireadapted ecosystems. Through a combination of past fire exclusion and climate change, fire patterns and successional trajectories are shifting with potentially negative consequences for forest resilience. In particular, high-severity shortinterval reburns can lead to permanent transitions from forested to persistent non-forested ecosystems.2. To test conditions under which wildfires promote resilience or initiate vegetation transitions we leveraged high-resolution LiDAR data, field data and a natural experiment where two uncharacteristically severe wildfires burned the same area in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. Specifically, we evaluate what factors influence resistance to high-severity reburn and whether early forest recovery is evident following vegetation transition.3. Our findings indicate that topography and vegetative structure influenced resistance to high-severity effects of a second wildfire and that environmental heterogeneity played an important role. Forests that survived the initial burn were most resistant to subsequent high-severity fire when they were characterized by relatively dense but heterogeneous upper strata and a sparse understorey, located in variable and mesic terrain and burned under milder fire weather conditions.Early seral vegetation was most likely to resist repeat high-severity fire and potentially continue post-fire forest recovery when it was located in variable and mesic terrain and was characterized by relatively sparse understorey vegetation and a heterogeneous subcanopy. Some early seral areas that reburned at lower severity showed signs of conifer forest recovery. Vegetation structure and composition of areas that repeatedly burned at high severity are consistent with a transition to persistent shrubland or hardwood forests.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological resilience and vegetation transition in the face of two successive large wildfires

et al. 2021

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“…Physical fire models have been used to study the influence of fuel on fire spread [83][84][85]. Physical fire models continue to improve through the inclusion of additional data describing physical processes and become cheaper and faster to run [86][87][88][89].…”

Section: Bulk Density Metricsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fuel Drivers of Fire Behaviour in Coastal Mallee Shrublands

Telfer,

Reinke,

Jones

et al. 2024

Fire

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Coastal mallee shrubland wildfires present challenges for accurately predicting fire spread sustainability and rate of spread. In this study, we assess the fuel drivers contributing to coastal mallee shrubland fires. A review of shrubland fire behaviour models and fuel metrics was conducted to determine the current practice of assessing shrubland fuels. This was followed by workshops designed to elicit which fuel structural metrics are key drivers of fire behaviour in coastal mallee shrublands. We found that height is the most commonly used fuel metric in shrubland fire models due to the ease of collection in situ or as a surrogate for more complex fuel structures. Expert workshop results suggest that cover and connectivity metrics are key to modelling fire behaviour in coastal mallee shrublands. While height and cover are frequently used in fire models, we conclude that connectivity metrics would offer additional insights into fuel drivers in mallee shrublands. Future research into coastal mallee fire behaviour should include the measurements of fuel height, cover, and horizontal and vertical connectivity.

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“…Our parameterization mimicked related WFDS studies, e.g. Ziegler et al, (2021Ziegler et al, ( , 2020Ziegler et al, ( , 2017. Table 1 details the forest structure following each cutting scenario.…”

Section: Design Of Fire Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Investigation of Crown Fuels Arrangements on Wildfire Behavior Following Fuels Treatments

Ziegler¹,

Hoffman²,

Parsons³

et al. 2022

Advances in Forest Fire Research 2022

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Conventional fuels treatments often simplify forest structure in an attempt to optimize fire hazard reduction. Conversely, forest restoration treatments, aimed at achieving ecological multiple objectives in addition to fire hazard reduction, purposefully retain complex forest structures. The comparative advantage of conventional fuels versus restoration treatments may depend on the severity of the burning environment, residual tree stocking and surface fuel loads. Here, we performed a suite of simulations with the Wildland-urban interface Fire Dynamics Simulator to compare stand-level fire behavior between silvicultural cuttings that either emphasized or reduced forest structural complexity under a range of residual basal areas, surface fuel loads, and burning conditions. These cuttings included distance-based retention, variable retention, and random cuttings, optionally with thinning from below. Rate of spread did increase under more severe burning conditions, and slightly increased after thinning from below or after variable retention cuttings due to the creation of openings. Canopy consumption was lowest when thinning from below and highest after variable retention. While all treatments reduced fire behavior, the differences we observed support the advantage of using conventional fuels treatments where fire hazard reduction is of primary importance. Additionally, the effects of residual basal area, surface fuel load, and burning conditions highlight the multivariate considerations required when planning fuels treatments and assessing performance at stand or landscape scales.

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Simulated Fire Behavior and Fine-Scale Forest Structure Following Conifer Removal in Aspen-Conifer Forests in the Lake Tahoe Basin, USA

Cited by 7 publications

References 44 publications

Ecological resilience and vegetation transition in the face of two successive large wildfires

Ecological resilience and vegetation transition in the face of two successive large wildfires

Fuel Drivers of Fire Behaviour in Coastal Mallee Shrublands

Numerical Investigation of Crown Fuels Arrangements on Wildfire Behavior Following Fuels Treatments

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