Wildfire Risk and Hazardous Fuel Reduction Treatments Along the US-Mexico Border: A Review of the Science (1986-2019)

Laushman, Katherine M.; Munson, Seth M.; Villarreal, Miguel L.

doi:10.1177/1178622120950272

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 193 publications

(151 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Alternatively, efforts could be made to influence biotic change with the goal of conserving important elements of current ecosystems that engender species and functional diversity across all taxa. Interventions such as strategic forest thinning, prescribed fire, protection of refugia for sensitive species, and restoration planting have shown promise in achieving these goals (Laushman et al., 2020; Strom & Fulé, 2007; Villarreal et al., 2020), but could be enhanced by more comprehensive scientific and social–ecological underpinnings (Coop et al., 2020; Falk et al., 2019; Gregg & Marshall, 2020; McWethy et al., 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire and topography drive woody plant diversity in a Sky Island mountain range in the Southwest USA

Barton

Poulos

2021

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim Drastic changes in fire regimes are altering plant communities, inspiring ecologists to better understand the relationship between fire and plant species diversity. We examined the impact of a 90,000‐ha wildfire on woody plant species diversity in an arid mountain range in southern Arizona, USA. We tested recent fire‐diversity hypotheses by addressing the impacts on diversity of fire severity, fire variability, historical fire regimes, and topography. Location Chiricahua National Monument, Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona, USA, part of the Sky Islands of the US–Mexico borderlands. Taxon Woody plant species. Methods We sampled woody plant diversity in 138 plots before (2002–2003) and after (2017–2018) the 2011 Horseshoe Two Fire in three vegetation types and across fire severity and topographic gradients. We calculated gamma, alpha, and beta diversity and examined changes over time in burned versus unburned plots and the shapes of the relationships of diversity with fire severity and topography. Results Alpha species richness declined, and beta and gamma diversity increased in burned but not unburned plots. Fire‐induced enhancement of gamma diversity was confined to low fire severity plots. Alpha diversity did not exhibit a clear continuous relationship with fire severity. Beta diversity was enhanced by variation in fire severity among plots and increased with fire severity up to very high severity, where it declined slightly. Main Conclusions The results reject the intermediate disturbance hypothesis for alpha diversity but weakly support it for gamma diversity. Spatial variation in fire severity promoted variation among plant assemblages, supporting the pyrodiversity hypothesis. Long‐term drought probably amplified fire‐driven diversity changes. Despite the apparent benign impact of the fire on diversity, the replacement of two large conifer species with a suite of drought‐tolerant shrubs signals the potential loss of functional diversity, a pattern that may warrant restoration efforts to retain these important compositional elements.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire and topography drive woody plant diversity in a Sky Island mountain range in the Southwest USA

Barton

Poulos

2021

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Various local-scale fuels reduction treatments have been applied in parts of the borderlands region over the past 3 decades, but have shown mixed success in mitigating future wildfire risk and improving ecosystem resilience. 15 Lack of funding for large-scale fuels management and regulatory issues complicate implementation of landscape-scale, multijurisdictional fuels treatments in both Mexico and the United States. 16,17 The region has complex land ownership and land tenure patterns with varying land uses, management objectives, and human population densities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary Fire Regimes Provide a Critical Perspective on Restoration Needs in the Mexico-United States Borderlands

Villarreal

Iniguez

Flesch

et al. 2020

Air, Soil and Water Research

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The relationship between people and wildfire has always been paradoxical: fire is an essential ecological process and management tool, but can also be detrimental to life and property. Consequently, fire regimes have been modified throughout history through both intentional burning to promote benefits and active suppression to reduce risks. Reintroducing fire and its benefits back into the Sky Island mountains of the United States-Mexico borderlands has the potential to reduce adverse effects of altered fire regimes and build resilient ecosystems and human communities. To help guide regional fire restoration, we describe the frequency and severity of recent fires over a 32-year period (1985-2017) across a vast binational region in the United States-Mexico borderlands and assess variation in fire frequency and severity across climate gradients and in relation to vegetation and land tenure classes. We synthesize relevant literature on historical fire regimes within 9 major vegetation types and assess how observed contemporary fire characteristics vary from expectations based on historical patterns. Less than 28% of the study area burned during the observation period, excluding vegetation types in warmer climates that are not adapted to fire (eg, Desertscrub and Thornscrub). Average severity of recent fires was low despite some extreme outliers in cooler, wetter environments. Midway along regional temperature and precipitation gradients, approximately 64% of Pine-Oak Forests burned at least once, with fire frequencies that mainly corresponded to historical expectations on private lands in Mexico but less so on communal lands, suggesting the influence of land management. Fire frequency was higher than historical expectations in extremely cool and wet environments that support forest types such as Spruce-Fir, indicating threats to these systems possibly attributable to drought and other factors. In contrast, fires were absent or infrequent across large areas of Woodlands (~73% unburned) and Grasslands (~88% unburned) due possibly to overgrazing, which reduces abundance and continuity of fine fuels needed to carry fire. Our findings provide a new depiction of fire regimes in the Sky Islands that can help inform fire management, restoration, and regional conservation planning, fostered by local and traditional knowledge and collaboration among landowners and managers.

show abstract

“…Alternatively, efforts could be made to direct future biotic change with the goal of conserving important elements of current ecosystems that engender species and functional diversity across all taxa. Interventions such as strategic forest thinning, prescribed fire, protection of refugia for sensitive species, and restoration planting have shown promise in achieving these goals (Strom & Fulé, 2007;Laushman et al, 2020;Villareal et al, 2020), but could be greatly enhanced by more comprehensive scientific and social-ecological underpinnings (Falk et al, 2019;McWethy et al, 2019;Coop et al, 2020). TABLE 1.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire and topography drive woody plant diversity in a Sky Island mountain range in the Southwest USA

Barton

Poulos

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim: Drastic changes in fire regimes are altering plant communities, inspiring ecologists to better understand the relationship between fire and plant species diversity. We examined the impact of a 2011 megafire on woody plant species diversity in an arid mountain range in southern Arizona, USA. We tested recent fire-diversity hypotheses by addressing the impact of the fire severity, fire variability, historic fire regimes, and topography on diversity. Location: Chiricahua National Monument, Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona. USA., part of the Sky Islands of the US-Mexico borderlands. Taxon: Woody plant species. Methods: We sampled woody plant diversity in 138 plots before (2002-2003) and after (2017-2018) the 2011 Horseshoe Two Megafire in three vegetation types and across fire severity and topographic gradients. We calculated gamma, beta, and alpha diversity and examined changes over time in burned vs. unburned plots and the shapes of the relationships of diversity with fire severity and topography. Results: Alpha species richness declined and beta and gamma diversity increased in burned but not unburned plots. Fire-induced enhancement of gamma diversity was confined to low fire severity plots. Alpha diversity did not exhibit a clear continuous relationship with fire severity. Beta diversity was enhanced by fire severity variation among plots and increased with fire severity up to very high diversity, where it declined slightly. Main Conclusions: The results reject the intermediate disturbance hypothesis for alpha diversity but weakly support it for gamma diversity. Spatial variation in fire severity promoted variation among plant assemblages, supporting the pyrodiversity hypothesis. Long-term drought probably amplified fire-driven diversity changes. Despite the apparent benign impact of the fire on diversity, the replacement of two large conifer species with shrubs signals the potential loss of functional diversity, emphasizing the importance of intervention to direct the transition to a novel vegetation mosaic.

show abstract

Wildfire Risk and Hazardous Fuel Reduction Treatments Along the US-Mexico Border: A Review of the Science (1986-2019)

Cited by 10 publications

References 193 publications

Wildfire and topography drive woody plant diversity in a Sky Island mountain range in the Southwest USA

Wildfire and topography drive woody plant diversity in a Sky Island mountain range in the Southwest USA

Contemporary Fire Regimes Provide a Critical Perspective on Restoration Needs in the Mexico-United States Borderlands

Wildfire and topography drive woody plant diversity in a Sky Island mountain range in the Southwest USA

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About