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Furlaud JM, Williamson GJ, Bowman DMJS. Mechanical treatments and prescribed burning can reintroduce low-severity fire in southern Australian temperate sclerophyll forests. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2023; 344:118301. [PMID: 37352633 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Revised: 05/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/28/2023] [Indexed: 06/25/2023]
Abstract
The establishment of sustainable, low-intensity fire regimes is a pressing global challenge given escalating risk of wildfire driven by climate change. Globally, colonialism and industrialisation have disrupted traditional fire management, such as Indigenous patch burning and silvo-pastoral practices, leading to substantial build-up of fuel and increased fire risk. The disruption of fire regimes in southeastern Tasmania has led to dense even-aged regrowth in wet forests that are prone to crown fires, and dense Allocasuarina-dominated understoreys in dry forests that burn at high intensities. Here, we investigated the effectiveness of several fire management interventions at reducing fire risk. These interventions involved prescribed burning or mechanical understorey removal techniques. We focused on wet and dry Eucalyptus-dominated sclerophyll forests on the slopes of kunanyi/Mt. Wellington in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. We modelled potential fire behaviour in these treated wet and dry forests using fire behaviour equations based on measurements of fuel load, vegetation structure, understorey microclimate and regional meteorological data. We found that (a) fuel treatments were effective in wet and dry forests in reducing fuel load, though each targeted different layers, (b) both mechanical treatments and prescribed burning resulted in slightly drier, and hence more fire prone understorey microclimate, and (c) all treatments reduced predicted subsequent fire severity by roughly 2-4 fold. Our results highlight the importance of reducing fuel loads, even though fuel treatments make forest microclimates drier, and hence fuel more flammable. Our finding of the effectiveness of mechanical treatments in lowering fire risk enables managers to reduce fuels without the risk of uncontrolled fires and smoke pollution that is associated with prescribed burning. Understanding the economic and ecological costs and benefits of mechanic treatment compared to prescribed burning requires further research.
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Affiliation(s)
- James M Furlaud
- School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia; CSIRO Environment, Private Bag 44, Winnellie, NT 0821, Australia.
| | - Grant J Williamson
- School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia
| | - David M J S Bowman
- School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia
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2
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Dickman LT, Jonko AK, Linn RR, Altintas I, Atchley AL, Bär A, Collins AD, Dupuy J, Gallagher MR, Hiers JK, Hoffman CM, Hood SM, Hurteau MD, Jolly WM, Josephson A, Loudermilk EL, Ma W, Michaletz ST, Nolan RH, O'Brien JJ, Parsons RA, Partelli‐Feltrin R, Pimont F, Resco de Dios V, Restaino J, Robbins ZJ, Sartor KA, Schultz‐Fellenz E, Serbin SP, Sevanto S, Shuman JK, Sieg CH, Skowronski NS, Weise DR, Wright M, Xu C, Yebra M, Younes N. Integrating plant physiology into simulation of fire behavior and effects. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2023; 238:952-970. [PMID: 36694296 PMCID: PMC10952334 DOI: 10.1111/nph.18770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Wildfires are a global crisis, but current fire models fail to capture vegetation response to changing climate. With drought and elevated temperature increasing the importance of vegetation dynamics to fire behavior, and the advent of next generation models capable of capturing increasingly complex physical processes, we provide a renewed focus on representation of woody vegetation in fire models. Currently, the most advanced representations of fire behavior and biophysical fire effects are found in distinct classes of fine-scale models and do not capture variation in live fuel (i.e. living plant) properties. We demonstrate that plant water and carbon dynamics, which influence combustion and heat transfer into the plant and often dictate plant survival, provide the mechanistic linkage between fire behavior and effects. Our conceptual framework linking remotely sensed estimates of plant water and carbon to fine-scale models of fire behavior and effects could be a critical first step toward improving the fidelity of the coarse scale models that are now relied upon for global fire forecasting. This process-based approach will be essential to capturing the influence of physiological responses to drought and warming on live fuel conditions, strengthening the science needed to guide fire managers in an uncertain future.
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Affiliation(s)
- L. Turin Dickman
- Earth & Environmental Sciences DivisionLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos AlamosNM87545USA
| | - Alexandra K. Jonko
- Earth & Environmental Sciences DivisionLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos AlamosNM87545USA
| | - Rodman R. Linn
- Earth & Environmental Sciences DivisionLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos AlamosNM87545USA
| | - Ilkay Altintas
- San Diego Supercomputer Center and Halicioglu Data Science InstituteUniversity of California San DiegoLa JollaCA92093USA
| | - Adam L. Atchley
- Earth & Environmental Sciences DivisionLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos AlamosNM87545USA
| | - Andreas Bär
- Department of BotanyUniversity of Innsbruck6020InnsbruckAustria
| | - Adam D. Collins
- Earth & Environmental Sciences DivisionLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos AlamosNM87545USA
| | - Jean‐Luc Dupuy
- Ecologie des Forêts Méditerranéennes (URFM)INRAe84914AvignonFrance
| | | | | | - Chad M. Hoffman
- Department of Forest and Rangeland StewardshipColorado State UniversityFort CollinsCO80523USA
| | - Sharon M. Hood
- Rocky Mountain Research StationUSDA Forest ServiceMissoulaMT59801USA
| | | | - W. Matt Jolly
- Rocky Mountain Research StationUSDA Forest ServiceMissoulaMT59801USA
| | - Alexander Josephson
- Earth & Environmental Sciences DivisionLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos AlamosNM87545USA
| | | | - Wu Ma
- Earth & Environmental Sciences DivisionLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos AlamosNM87545USA
| | - Sean T. Michaletz
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research CentreThe University of British ColumbiaVancouverBCV6T 1Z4Canada
| | - Rachael H. Nolan
- Hawkesbury Institute for the EnvironmentWestern Sydney UniversityPenrithNSW2753Australia
- NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research HubWollongongNSW2522Australia
| | | | | | - Raquel Partelli‐Feltrin
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research CentreThe University of British ColumbiaVancouverBCV6T 1Z4Canada
| | - François Pimont
- Ecologie des Forêts Méditerranéennes (URFM)INRAe84914AvignonFrance
| | - Víctor Resco de Dios
- School of Life Sciences and EngineeringSouthwest University of Science and TechnologyMianyang621010China
- Department of Crop and Forest Sciences and JRU CTFC‐AGROTECNIOUniversitat de LleidaLleida25198Spain
| | - Joseph Restaino
- Fire and Resource Assessment ProgramCalifornia Department of Forestry and Fire ProtectionSouth Lake TahoeCA96155USA
| | - Zachary J. Robbins
- Earth & Environmental Sciences DivisionLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos AlamosNM87545USA
| | - Karla A. Sartor
- Environmental Protection and Compliance DivisionLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos AlamosNM87545USA
| | - Emily Schultz‐Fellenz
- Earth & Environmental Sciences DivisionLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos AlamosNM87545USA
| | - Shawn P. Serbin
- Environmental and Climate Sciences DepartmentBrookhaven National LaboratoryUptonNY11973USA
| | - Sanna Sevanto
- Earth & Environmental Sciences DivisionLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos AlamosNM87545USA
| | - Jacquelyn K. Shuman
- Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory, Terrestrial Sciences SectionNational Center for Atmospheric ResearchBoulderCO80305USA
| | - Carolyn H. Sieg
- Rocky Mountain Research StationUSDA Forest ServiceFlagstaffAZ86001USA
| | | | - David R. Weise
- Pacific Southwest Research StationUSDA Forest ServiceRiversideCA92507USA
| | - Molly Wright
- Cibola National ForestUSDA Forest ServiceAlbuquerqueNM87113USA
| | - Chonggang Xu
- Earth & Environmental Sciences DivisionLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos AlamosNM87545USA
| | - Marta Yebra
- Fenner School of Environment and SocietyAustralian National UniversityCanberraACT2601Australia
- School of EngineeringAustralian National UniversityCanberraACT2601Australia
| | - Nicolas Younes
- Fenner School of Environment and SocietyAustralian National UniversityCanberraACT2601Australia
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3
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Ruffault J, Limousin JM, Pimont F, Dupuy JL, De Càceres M, Cochard H, Mouillot F, Blackman CJ, Torres-Ruiz JM, Parsons RA, Moreno M, Delzon S, Jansen S, Olioso A, Choat B, Martin-StPaul N. Plant hydraulic modelling of leaf and canopy fuel moisture content reveals increasing vulnerability of a Mediterranean forest to wildfires under extreme drought. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2023; 237:1256-1269. [PMID: 36366950 DOI: 10.1111/nph.18614] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2022] [Accepted: 11/03/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Fuel moisture content (FMC) is a crucial driver of forest fires in many regions world-wide. Yet, the dynamics of FMC in forest canopies as well as their physiological and environmental determinants remain poorly understood, especially under extreme drought. We embedded a FMC module in the trait-based, plant-hydraulic SurEau-Ecos model to provide innovative process-based predictions of leaf live fuel moisture content (LFMC) and canopy fuel moisture content (CFMC) based on leaf water potential ( ψ Leaf ). SurEau-Ecos-FMC relies on pressure-volume (p-v) curves to simulate LFMC and vulnerability curves to cavitation to simulate foliage mortality. SurEau-Ecos-FMC accurately reproduced ψ Leaf and LFMC dynamics as well as the occurrence of foliage mortality in a Mediterranean Quercus ilex forest. Several traits related to water use (leaf area index, available soil water, and transpiration regulation), vulnerability to cavitation, and p-v curves (full turgor osmotic potential) had the greatest influence on LFMC and CFMC dynamics. As the climate gets drier, our results showed that drought-induced foliage mortality is expected to increase, thereby significantly decreasing CFMC. Our results represent an important advance in our capacity to understand and predict the sensitivity of forests to wildfires.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Hervé Cochard
- Université Clermont-Auvergne, INRAE, PIAF, 63000, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Florent Mouillot
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, 34000, Montpellier, France
| | - Chris J Blackman
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tas., 7001, Australia
| | - José M Torres-Ruiz
- Université Clermont-Auvergne, INRAE, PIAF, 63000, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Russell A Parsons
- Fire Sciences Laboratory, Rocky Mountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Missoula, MT, 59808, USA
| | | | | | - Steven Jansen
- Institute of Systematic Botany and Ecology, Ulm University, D-89081, Ulm, Germany
| | | | - Brendan Choat
- Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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4
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Baijnath-Rodino JA, Li S, Martinez A, Kumar M, Quinn-Davidson LN, York RA, Banerjee T. Historical seasonal changes in prescribed burn windows in California. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 836:155723. [PMID: 35523328 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Revised: 05/01/2022] [Accepted: 05/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Prescribed (Rx) burns are conducted on days when the meteorological thresholds of maximum air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speeds are all met (burn window) in order to ensure safe Rx burn practices. Limited burn windows have been consistently identified as one of the most important constraints for conducting Rx burns in California. We investigate whether burn windows across California can be extended from the typical fall season to include other opportune seasons for facilitating specific management objectives. We quantify the seasonal Rx burn efficiencies by assessing the frequency and burned areas using an aggregate of Rx datasets, and we compute the seasonal spatiotemporal trends in the number of days the set of meteorological parameters are met over thirty-five years (1984 to 2019), using the gridMET 4 km dataset. Our results indicate that while fall burns are most frequently executed (40% of the time), the spring (and to a lesser extent winter) seasons yield efficient Rx burns similar to fall because greater acres are being consumed with less burns. In addition, winter and spring seasons experience burn window opportunities (70-90% of the time) over larger areas than the other seasons, and this is predominantly over forested regions in Northern California. Our results also indicate that burn windows in the winter and spring are decreasing at a rate of one day per year over a larger spatial area than that of summer and fall. This decrease is primarily driven by changes in the number of days the relative humidity thresholds are met. Policymakers recognize the critical importance that Rx burns have on a multitude of ecosystem restoration factors, fire behavior dynamics, and firefighter safety. Therefore, there is a need to capitalize on these additional burn windows before these opportunities become less feasible in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janine A Baijnath-Rodino
- University of California Irvine, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Irvine, CA, United States.
| | - Shu Li
- University of California Irvine, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Alexandre Martinez
- University of California Irvine, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Mukesh Kumar
- University of California Irvine, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Lenya N Quinn-Davidson
- University of California, Davis, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Eureka, United States
| | - Robert A York
- University of California, Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, Georgetown, United States
| | - Tirtha Banerjee
- University of California Irvine, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Irvine, CA, United States
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5
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Lord JM, Schloots C, Steel JB. Flammability trajectories following destocking and forestation: a case study in the New Zealand high country. Restor Ecol 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/rec.13696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Janice M. Lord
- Botany Department University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand
| | | | - John B. Steel
- Botany Department University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand
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