The Contemporary Scale and Context of Wildfire in Hawai‘i

Trauernicht, Clay; Pickett, Elizabeth; Giardina, Christian P.; Litton, Creighton M.; Cordell, Susan; Beavers, Andrew

doi:10.2984/69.4.1

Cited by 63 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Many other ecosystems in Hawai'i are highly vulnerable to changes in water availability (Loope and Giambelluca, 1998;Crausbay et al, 2014), making even short-term rainfall trends extremely important ecologically. The recent drying has likely contributed to the increasing wildfire occurrence across Hawai'i (Trauernicht et al, 2015), which threatens not only natural and cultural resources but also human populations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial trend analysis of Hawaiian rainfall from 1920 to 2012

Frazier

Giambelluca

2016

Intl Journal of Climatology

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Spatial patterns of rainfall in Hawai‘i are among the most diverse in the world. As the global climate warms, it is important to understand observed rainfall variations to provide context for future changes. This is especially important for isolated oceanic islands where freshwater resources are limited, and understanding the potential impacts of climate change on the supply of freshwater is critical. Utilizing a high‐resolution gridded data set of monthly and annual rainfall for Hawai‘i from January 1920 to December 2012, seasonal and annual trends were calculated for every 250‐m pixel across the state and mapped to produce spatially continuous trend maps. To assess the stability of these trends, a running trend analysis was performed on 34 selected stations. From 1920 to 2012, over 90% of the state experienced drying trends, with Hawai‘i Island, and in particular the western part of the island, experiencing the largest significant long‐term declines in annual and dry season rainfall. The running trend analysis highlighted the multi‐decadal variability present in these trends, and revealed that the only region in the state with persistent annual and dry season trends through the study period is the western part of Hawai‘i Island; for most other regions, the drying trends were not significant until the most recent part of the record was included. These results support previous studies that indicate drying across the state over recent decades, and reveal the timing of upward and downward trends as well as important spatial details for natural resource management in Hawai‘i.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial trend analysis of Hawaiian rainfall from 1920 to 2012

Frazier

Giambelluca

2016

Intl Journal of Climatology

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“…According to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, only five populations are known to remain on O'ahu (Mansker ; Oahu Army Natural Resources Program ). A major threat to this species, as well as all Hawaiian dry forest species, has been the increasing rate and extent of wildfires caused by the expansion of invasive grasses in dry forest habitat (Ammondt et al ; Ellsworth et al ; Trauernicht et al ). In particular, a major fire in the Waialua region of the Wai'anae mountains in August 2007 devastated much of O'ahu's dry forest habitat leading to the decline in approximately 70% of H. brackenridgei mokuleianus individuals (Oahu Army Natural Resources Program ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, only five populations are known to remain on O'ahu (Mansker 2002; Oahu Army Natural Resources Program 2010). A major threat to this species, as well as all Hawaiian dry forest species, has been the increasing rate and extent of wildfires caused by the expansion of invasive grasses in dry forest habitat (Ammondt et al 2013;Ellsworth et al 2015;Trauernicht et al 2015…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management implications for the reintroduction of the endangered Hawaiian state flowerHibiscus brackenridgei

Rovzar

Gillespie

Shirman

et al. 2017

Restoration Ecology

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Dry forests of Hawai'i are one of the most endangered forest types worldwide with 45% of all native tree and shrub species listed as federally threatened or endangered. Supplementation and reintroduction of endangered dry forest species are necessary to maintain viable population sizes. The goal of this research was to reintroduce Hibiscus brackenridgei mokuleianus, the state flower of Hawai'i and a federally endangered species, into its historical range on O'ahu. We determined the environmental variables contributing to plant survival and growth, assessed the effectiveness of a reintroduction program with minimal management, and evaluated the potential for habitat suitability models to assist in selection of optimal sites for reintroduction. Forty‐five individuals were grown from cuttings and transplanted in two regions: Ka'ena Point (2 sites, 10 individuals each site) and along Kealia Trail (5 sites, 5 individuals each site). Survival and height measurements were taken four times over the course of 25 months. There was 35% survival at Ka'ena Point and 76% survival at Kealia Trail and an average plant growth of 70.5 cm (±30.1 cm) and 121.6 cm (±61.7 cm), respectively. Ka'ena Point had significantly lower survival (p > 0.001) and growth rates (p > 0.001) than Kealia Trail. Plants survived best at sites with steep slopes and high soil moisture and grew the most in sites with steeper slopes, higher soil moisture, and lower soil bulk density. These findings provide insight into environmental variables which should be considered prior to planting as well as the intensity of site management.

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“…Almost nothing is known about how contemporary wildfire affects plant communities in the Pacific outside of Hawai'i (Hughes et al 1991;D'Antonio and Vitousek 1992;Hughes and Vitousek 1993;Freifelder et al 1998;D'Antonio et al 2000D'Antonio et al , 2001Ainsworth and Kauffman 2009, 2013Angelo and Daehler 2013;Ellsworth et al 2014), with a few studies in New Caledonia (McCoy et al 1999), western Polynesia (Hjerpe et al 2001;Elmqvist et al 2002;Franklin 2007) and Guam (Athens and Ward 2004). Furthermore, human-caused wildfires are increasingly occurring on Pacific islands in the modern era (Trauernicht et al 2015), and islands are especially susceptible to anthropogenic disturbances (Keppel et al 2014). In this paper, we use a novel dataset to examine the effects of wildfires on low-elevation and already heavily-invaded vegetation communities in the Society Islands, French Polynesia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of anthropogenic wildfire in low-elevation Pacific island vegetation communities in French Polynesia

Newman

Winkler

Hembry

2017

Preprint

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Summary for the non-specialist reader: Wildfire at low elevations in remote Pacific islands is poorly characterized but likely all anthropogenic in origin. We show that wildfire in already heavily invaded low-elevation plant communities can lower native plant species richness, while increasing the relative abundance of non-native species. Wildfire also reduces the differences in plant communities among sites, and may exacerbate invasive species problems on Pacific islands by selecting for non-native, fire-adapted species over native ones.

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The Contemporary Scale and Context of Wildfire in Hawai‘i

Cited by 63 publications

References 56 publications

Spatial trend analysis of Hawaiian rainfall from 1920 to 2012

Spatial trend analysis of Hawaiian rainfall from 1920 to 2012

Management implications for the reintroduction of the endangered Hawaiian state flowerHibiscus brackenridgei

Effects of anthropogenic wildfire in low-elevation Pacific island vegetation communities in French Polynesia

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