The Landscape Ecology of Fire (eBook)

Lara-Karena Kellogg 6
Foreword 8
Preface 10
Acknowledgments 14
Contents 16
Part I Concepts and Theory 22
1.2 An Energetic Framework for Understanding Landscape Fire 27
1.2.1 Self-Limiting Properties of Landscape Fire 33
1.2.2 Self-Reinforcing Properties of Landscape Fire 34
1.2.3 Top-down Vs. Bottom-up Controls 35
1.2.4 Landscapes and the Middle-Number Domain 36
1.3 Some Implications 40
1.4 Conclusions 41
References 41
2.2 Scale and Contagious Disturbance 47
2.3 Extrapolating Across Scales 48
2.4 Scaling Laws and Fire Regimes 49
2.4.1 Fire Size Distributions 50
2.4.2 Fire Frequency 51
2.4.3 Fire Hazard 52
2.4.4 Correlated Spatial Patterns 54
2.4.5 Mechanisms 55
2.5 Example: Power Laws and Spatial Patterns in Low-Severity Fire Regimes 56
2.5.1 Neutral Model for Fire History 59
2.5.2 Prediction of Sørensen’s Distance 60
2.6 Conclusions and Implications 64
References 65
Chapter 3: Native Fire Regimes and Landscape Resilience 69
3.1 Introduction 69
3.2 Landscape Resilience 70
3.3 Fire Regime Characterization 71
3.4 Fire Regime Variation and Resilience 73
3.5 Fences and Corridors 75
3.6 Fire Size Distributions and Power Laws 76
3.7 Theories on the Origin of Power Laws 77
3.8 Example Ecosystems 79
3.9 Fire Size Distributions in Chaparral Ecosystems 80
3.9.1 Exposed vs. Sheltered from Extreme Fire Weather 81
3.9.2 Landscape Resilience in Chaparral 83
3.10 Fire Size Distributions in Ecoregions of California 84
3.10.1 Distribution Fitting 85
3.10.2 Evaluating Top-down and Bottom-up Controls 88
3.10.3 Characteristics of California Fires 90
3.10.4 Selecting an Optimal Ecoregion Scale 91
3.10.5 Distribution Fits for California Fires 92
3.11 The Meso-Scale Process Domain and a Role for Topography 94
3.12 From Whence Come the Distributions? 97
3.13 Concluding Thoughts 99
References 100
Part II Climate Context 105
Chapter 4: Climate and Spatial Patterns of Wildfirein North America 106
4.1 Introduction 106
4.2 Mechanisms of Top-down Control 108
4.2.1 Ignition Events 108
4.2.2 Fire Spread 110
4.2.3 Fuel Moisture 112
4.2.4 Fuels Production 113
4.3 Patterns of Top-down Control 115
4.3.1 The El Niño Southern Oscillation 115
4.3.2 The Pacific Decadal Oscillation 119
4.3.3 The Northern Hemisphere Annual Mode 121
4.3.4 The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation 122
4.4 Fire in the Future 122
4.5 Summary and Conclusions 124
References 125
Chapter 5: Climatic Water Balance and Regional Fire Years in the Pacific Northwest, USA: Linking Regional Climate and Fire at Landscape Scales 133
5.1 Introduction 133
5.2 Methods: Identifying Relationships between Water Balance and Area Burned 136
5.2.1 Data Analysis 140
5.3 Results 140
5.4 Discussion 147
5.4.1 Linking Water Balance and Fire at Finer Scales 150
5.4.2 Implications for Future Landscapes and Modeling 152
References 153
Part III Landscape Fire Dynamics and Interactions 156
Chapter 6: Pyrogeography and Biogeochemical Resilience 157
6.1 Introduction 157
6.2 Fire Biogeochemistry 158
6.3 Pyrogeography 161
6.4 Biogeochemical Resilience 162
6.5 Example: The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem 165
6.6 Looking Forward: Biogeochemical Resilience and the Landscape Ecology of Fire 168
6.6.1 Identify the Conditions under Which Interactions of Post-fire Biogeochemistry and Vegetation Shift Systems to Alternate States 168
6.6.2 Compare Models with Empirical Data from Multiple Scales of Space and Time 169
6.6.3 Use Concepts of Equilibrium to Explore Conditions that Promote Resilience 169
6.6.4 Establish a General Framework for Biogeochemical Resilience across a Variety of Ecosystems and Disturbance Regimes, and Over a Broader Range of BiogeochemicalFluxes 170
References 171
Chapter 7: Reconstructing Landscape Pattern of Historical Fires and Fire Regimes 178
7.1 Introduction 178
7.2 Methods: Reconstructing Spatial Pattern of Fire 181
7.2.1 Fire Scars 181
7.2.2 Spatial Interpolation Techniques 183
7.2.2.1 Thiessen Polygons 184
7.2.2.2 Inverse Distance Weighting 184
7.2.2.3 Indicator Kriging 185
7.2.3 Fire Regime Metrics 186
7.2.3.1 Annual Area Burned 186
7.2.3.2 Natural Fire Rotation (NFR) 186
7.2.4 Case Studies 187
7.2.4.1 Case Studies 189
7.3 Results: Spatially Reconstructed Fire Histories 191
7.3.1 Fine-Scale Spatial Fire History 191
7.3.2 Mid-Scale Spatial Fire History 192
7.3.3 Broad-Scale Spatial Fire History 193
7.4 Insights from Spatial Reconstruction of Fire Histories 193
7.4.1 Basic Insights from Case Studies 193
7.4.2 Understanding Topographic Control of Fire Spread 195
7.4.3 Reconstructing Spatial Heterogeneity in Fire Occurrence and Burn Severity 195
7.4.4 Reconstructing Landscape Patterns of Fire across Multiple Years 196
7.4.5 Estimation of Statistical Properties of Fire Regimes 197
7.4.6 Temporal Considerations in Interpreting Landscape Patterns of Historical Fire 199
7.4.7 Applications of Spatial Fire History Reconstructions in Ecosystem Management 199
References 201
Chapter 8: Fire and Invasive Plants on California Landscapes 206
8.1 Introduction 206
8.2 The Setting: California 207
8.3 Forests 209
8.4 Shrublands 212
8.5 Grasslands 218
8.5.1 Fire and the Grassland/Shrubland Matrix 222
8.6 Future Directions for Fire and Invasive Species Interactions in California 223
8.6.1 Forests 223
8.6.2 Shrublands 225
8.6.3 Grasslands 227
8.7 Conclusions 228
References 228
Chapter 9: Modeling Landscape Fire and Wildlife Habitat 235
9.1 Introduction 235
9.2 Methods 236
9.2.1 The Study Landscape 236
9.2.2 Landscape Simulation Model 238
9.2.2.1 Succession 238
9.2.2.2 Disturbance Processes 239
9.2.3 Wildlife Habitat Capability Model 240
9.2.4 The Simulation Experiment 242
9.2.4.1 Climate Factor 243
9.2.4.2 Fire Management 243
9.2.4.3 Vegetation Management 244
9.2.4.4 Landscape Capability Analysis 245
9.3 Results 248
9.4 Discussion 249
9.5 Conclusion 254
References 256
Part IV Landscape Fire Management, Policy,and Research in an Era of Global Change 258
Chapter 10: Managing and Adapting to Changing Fire Regimes in a Warmer Climate 259
10.1 Introduction 259
10.2 Adapting to the Effects of Climate Change 260
10.2.1 General Adaptation Strategies 261
10.2.2 Specific Adaptation Options 262
10.3 Fuels Management in a Warmer Climate 265
10.3.1 Fuel Concepts and Fire Resilience 266
10.3.2 Evaluating Effectiveness with Fire Simulation Models 268
10.3.3 Landscape Considerations for Fire and Fuels Management 270
10.4 Conclusions 272
References 273
Chapter 11: Wilderness Fire Management in a Changing Environment 278
11.1 Introduction 278
11.2 Changing Human Influences 279
11.2.1 Patterns and Trends 280
11.2.2 Landscape Scale Implications 283
11.3 Changing Climatic Influences 287
11.3.1 Spatial Patterns of Change: Extreme Fire Danger 287
11.3.2 Temporal Patterns of Change: Fire Season 290
11.3.3 Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Change: Landscape Combustibility 292
11.4 Future Challenges for Wilderness Fire Management 293
11.5 Responding to Change 296
References 299
12.3 Research Needs 307
12.4 Concluding Thoughts 309
References 310
Index 313