Download or read book A GIS based Analysis of Fire Regimes to Support Water Quality Management Outcomes in the Darwin River Dam Catchment written by Susan Hosking and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Development of Coarse scale Spatial Data for Wildland Fire and Fuel Management written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The objective of this study was to provide managers with national-level data on current conditions of vegetation and fuels developed from ecologically based methods to address these questions: How do current vegetation and fuels differ from those that existed historically? Where on the landscape do vegetation and fuels differ from historical levels? In particular, where are high fuel accumulations? When considered at a coarse scale, which areas estimated to have high fuel accumulations represent the highest priorities for treatment?

Download or read book Climate Land Use and Fire Can Models Inform Management written by Dominique Bachelet and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2021-01-13 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Native Fire Regime as a Reference for Establishing Management Practices written by Brean W. Duncan and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our understanding of natural fire regimes in human-dominated landscapes is limited. Fire regimes operating in the pyrogenic ecosystems of Florida have been altered by fire suppression and fuel fragmentation. This is especially true of North Merritt Island, Florida, where human impacts have led to an incomplete knowledge of current fire regimes. We know that growing season fires frequently occurred within general return intervals and that many native terrestrial species require fire to remain viable. A 20-year plus period of fire suppression caused structural and compositional changes to vegetation/fuels that led to catastrophic fires and the decline of native species populations such as the Florida Scrub-Jay. Fire has been reintroduced as a means to reduce fuels and maintain habitat requirements for native species. Scientific studies have documented the effects and benefits of prescribed burning on KSC/MINWR habitat/fuels structure. The necessity for fire to maintain vegetation/fuels structure and composition on the landscape is clear so fire is being applied to the landscape despite our imperfect knowledge of the native fire regime. It is imperative for the survival of many native species that fire managers be able to mimic the results of the native fire regime. Fire regime research is difficult in shrublands, and using dendrochronologic techniques are often not possible in flatwoods communities. I therefore used a process of remote sensing, GIS mapping, and spatial modeling to quantify lightning fire ignition properties, the current managed fire regime, and the natural fire regime. Chapter one develops a new remote sensing technique to accurately map burned areas in Florida scrub and pine flatwoods dominated communities on Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Canaveral National Seashore, and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. At the center of this technique is a newly developed separation index (SI) that was used to evaluate each individual satellite image band for its power to discriminate unburned and burned areas. Burned areas were classified and found to be highly accurate in relation to empirical fire records. This chapter addressed a number of issues relevant to the classification of burned areas including: the effect of geographic extent of remote sensing data on classification, determining the best bands for classification, and cleaning classification results by using GIS masking. It also serves as the first published effort to map fire scars in the Florida scrub and flatwoods vegetative communities of the southeastern U.S. using image processing techniques. Chapter two quantified a managed fire regime on John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida and surrounding federal properties by mapping all fires between 1983 to 2005 using the image processing technique developed in chapter one, time series satellite imagery, and GIS techniques. The goals were to: (1) determine if an image processing technique designed for individual fire scar mapping could be applied to an image time series for mapping a managed fire regime in a rapid re-growth pyrogenic system; (2) develop a method for labeling mapped fire scar confidence knowing that a formal accuracy analysis was not possible; and (3) compare results of the managed fire regime with regional information on natural fire regimes to look for similarities/differences that might help optimize management for persistence of native fire-dependent species. The area burned by managed fire peaked when the drought index was low and was reduced when the drought index was high. This contrasts with the expectations regarding the natural fire regime of this region. Chapter three quantified the natural lightning ignition regime on Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Canaveral National Seashore, and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Lightning is the natural ignition source in Florida, substantiating the need for understanding lightning fire incidence. Sixteen years of lightning data (1986-2003, excluding 1987 and 2002 due to missing data) from the NASA Cloud to Ground Lightning Surveillance System and fire ignition records were used to quantify the relationship between lightning incidence and fire ignition. Precipitation influenced the efficiency of lightning ignitions, particularly July precipitation. Negative polarity strikes caused the majority of ignitions. Pine flatwoods was ignited more frequently than expected given equal chance of ignition among landcover types. About half (51%) of detected fires were instantaneous ignitions and the other 49% were delayed an average of two days. Summer lightning ignitions were dominant, especially during July, with only one winter lightning ignition. Chapter four used an existing fire regime model (HFire) to simulate the natural fire regime (prior to European settlement) on Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Canaveral National Seashore, and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. A sensitivity analysis was performed to establish which parameters were most important and the range of variation surrounding empirically derived model information from the same model. A mosaic pattern of small fires dominated this fire regime with extremely large fires occurring during dry La Nina periods. Dead fuel moisture and wind speed had the largest influence on model outcome. The majority of variability was found to be in the largest fires. The research presenter here provides a comprehensive perspective on current and historic fire regimes that may be useful for optimizing land management on Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Canaveral National Seashore, and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and throughout the southeastern United States. Native fire dependent species are suffering from many changes imposed from human alteration. The success of conservation efforts protecting native fire dependent species hinge on my factors. Two of the largest factors are first protecting native habitat and then secondly managing that protected habitat to mimic natural maintenance processes for suitable structure and composition which may favor their demography. This study focuses on developing techniques necessary for producing information that can aid the optimization of fire management on these properties and within the southeastern United States, but may be useful in other fire maintained ecosystems globally.

Download or read book Development of a GIS based Spatial Decision Support System for Forest Fire Management written by Shahram Yassemi and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fire is an integral part of many ecosystems and plays an important role in maintaining their health and diversity. Forest fires at the same time can have negative socio-economic consequences and can adversely impact public health and safety, property and natural resources. Fire models are developed to assist managers in making informed decisions regarding suppression and evacuation during fire events and facilitating prevention and preparedness planning in times of high fire risk. The objective of this study is to develop a spatial decision support system (SDSS) for forest fire management. The SDSS is based on development and implementation of an integrated Geographic Information System (GIS) - based cellular automata (CA) model of forest fire behaviour, Web-CA modeling tool for fire behaviour, and GIS multicriteria evaluation (MCE) modeling tool for forest fire risk assessment. This study contributes to the field of GIScience, environmental modeling, and forest fire science and management.

Download or read book Wildland Fire in Ecosystems written by U. S. Department Of Agriculture and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2012-10 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fire is a natural disturbance that occurs in most terrestrial ecosystems. It is also a tool that has been used by humans to manage a wide range of natural ecosystems worldwide. As such, it can produce a spectrum of effects on soils, water, riparian biota, and wetland components of ecosystems. Fire scientists, land managers, and fire suppression personnel need to evaluate fire effects on these components, and balance the overall benefits and costs associated with the use of fire in ecosystem management. This publication has been written to provide up-to- date information on fire effects on ecosystem resources that can be used as a basis for planning and implementing fire management activities. It is a companion publication to the recently published book, Fire's Effects on Ecosystems by DeBano and others (1998). In the late 1970s, the USDA Forest Service published a series of state-of-knowledge papers about fire effects on vegetation, soils, water, wildlife, and other ecosystem resources. These papers, collectively called "The Rainbow Series" because of their covers, were widely used by forest fire personnel. This publication updates both the Tiedemann and others (1979) paper on fire's effects on water and the Wells and others (1979) paper on soils. This publication is divided into three major parts (A, B, C) and an introductory chapter that provides discussions of fire regimes, fire severity and intensity, and fire related disturbances. Part A describes the nature of the soil resource, its importance, characteristics and the responses of soils to fire and the relationship of these features to ecosystem functioning and sustainability. Part A is divided into three main chapters (2, 3, and 4) that describe specific fire effects on the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil, respectively. Likewise, Part B discusses the basic hydrologic processes that are affected by fire, including the hydrologic cycle, water quality, and aquatic biology. It also contains three chapters which specifically discuss the effect of fire on the hydrologic cycle, water quality, and aquatic biology in chapters 5, 6, and 7, respectively. Part C has five chapters that cover a wide range of related topics. Chapter 8 analyzes the effects of fire on the hydrology and nutrient cycling of wetland ecosystems along with management concerns. The use of models to describe heat transfer throughout the ecosystem and erosional response models to fire are discussed in chapter 9. Chapter 10 deals with important aspects of watershed rehabilitation and implementation of the Federal Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER) program. Chapter 11 directs the fire specialists and managers to important information sources including data bases, Web sites, textbooks, journals, and other sources of fire effects information. A summary of the important highlights of the book are provided in chapter 12. Last, a glossary of fire terms is included in the appendix. The material provided in each chapter has been prepared by individuals having specific expertise in a particular subject. This publication has been written as an information source text for personnel involved in fire suppression and management, planners, decisionmakers, land managers, public relations personnel, and technicians who routinely and occasionally are involved in fire suppression and using fire as a tool in ecosystem management. Because of widespread international interest in the previous and current "Rainbow Series" publications, the International System of Units (Systeme International d'Unites, SI), informally called the metric system (centimeters, cubic meters, grams), is used along with English units throughout the volume. In some instances one or the other units are used exclusively where conversions would be awkward or space does not allow presentation of both units.

Download or read book The Role of Sound Groundwater Resources Management and Governance to Achieve Water Security written by International Centre for Water Security and Sustainable Management and published by UNESCO Publishing. This book was released on 2021-10-31 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Innovation for 21st Century Conservation written by Penelope Figgis and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This publication is based principally on the presentations made to the Innovation for 21st Century Conservation Symposium held on 20–21 March 2012 in Adelaide, South Australia. The publication and the symposium are a joint collaboration between the Australian Committee for IUCN, the South Australian Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, and The Nature Conservancy. The symposium was the second in the ACIUCN Science Informing Policy Symposia Series." -- Page 4.

Download or read book The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate written by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-04-30 with total page 755 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for assessing the science related to climate change. It provides policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of human-induced climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation. This IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate is the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the observed and projected changes to the ocean and cryosphere and their associated impacts and risks, with a focus on resilience, risk management response options, and adaptation measures, considering both their potential and limitations. It brings together knowledge on physical and biogeochemical changes, the interplay with ecosystem changes, and the implications for human communities. It serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders, and all interested parties with unbiased, up-to-date, policy-relevant information. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Download or read book Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States written by U.S. Global Change Research Program and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-08-24 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Summarizes the science of climate change and impacts on the United States, for the public and policymakers.

Download or read book Climate Change and Water written by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change / Working Group Technical Support Unit and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Technical Paper addresses the issue of freshwater. Sealevel rise is dealt with only insofar as it can lead to impacts on freshwater in coastal areas and beyond. Climate, freshwater, biophysical and socio-economic systems are interconnected in complex ways. Hence, a change in any one of these can induce a change in any other. Freshwater-related issues are critical in determining key regional and sectoral vulnerabilities. Therefore, the relationship between climate change and freshwater resources is of primary concern to human society and also has implications for all living species. -- page vii.

Download or read book The Regional Impacts of Climate Change written by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Working Group II. and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cambridge, UK : Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Download or read book Climate Impacts on Energy Systems written by Jane O. Ebinger and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2011 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "While the energy sector is a primary target of efforts to arrest and reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions and lower the carbon footprint of development, it is also expected to be increasingly affected by unavoidable climate consequences from the damage already induced in the biosphere. Energy services and resources, as well as seasonal demand, will be increasingly affected by changing trends, increasing variability, greater extremes and large inter-annual variations in climate parameters in some regions. All evidence suggests that adaptation is not an optional add-on but an essential reckoning on par with other business risks. Existing energy infrastructure, new infrastructure and future planning need to consider emerging climate conditions and impacts on design, construction, operation, and maintenance. Integrated risk-based planning processes will be critical to address the climate change impacts and harmonize actions within and across sectors. Also, awareness, knowledge, and capacity impede mainstreaming of climate adaptation into the energy sector. However, the formal knowledge base is still nascent?information needs are complex and to a certain extent regionally and sector specific. This report provides an up-to-date compendium of what is known about weather variability and projected climate trends and their impacts on energy service provision and demand. It discusses emerging practices and tools for managing these impacts and integrating climate considerations into planning processes and operational practices in an environment of uncertainty. It focuses on energy sector adaptation, rather than mitigation which is not discussed in this report. This report draws largely on available scientific and peer-reviewed literature in the public domain and takes the perspective of the developing world to the extent possible."

Download or read book Conservation Biology for All written by Navjot S. Sodhi and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2010-01-08 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conservation Biology for All provides cutting-edge but basic conservation science to a global readership. A series of authoritative chapters have been written by the top names in conservation biology with the principal aim of disseminating cutting-edge conservation knowledge as widely as possible. Important topics such as balancing conversion and human needs, climate change, conservation planning, designing and analyzing conservation research, ecosystem services, endangered species management, extinctions, fire, habitat loss, and invasive species are covered. Numerous textboxes describing additional relevant material or case studies are also included. The global biodiversity crisis is now unstoppable; what can be saved in the developing world will require an educated constituency in both the developing and developed world. Habitat loss is particularly acute in developing countries, which is of special concern because it tends to be these locations where the greatest species diversity and richest centres of endemism are to be found. Sadly, developing world conservation scientists have found it difficult to access an authoritative textbook, which is particularly ironic since it is these countries where the potential benefits of knowledge application are greatest. There is now an urgent need to educate the next generation of scientists in developing countries, so that they are in a better position to protect their natural resources.

Download or read book The cost of inaction written by Gretta Goldenman and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2019-03-17 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: PFAS (per and polyfluoroalkylsubstances) are known to be extremely difficult to degrade in the environment and to be bioaccumulative and toxic. Exposure to PFAS is suspected to increase the risk of adverse health effects, such as impacts on the thyroid gland, the liver, fat metabolism and the immune system. This study estimates the socioeconomic costs that may result from impacts on human health and the environment from the use of PFAS. Better awareness of the costs and problems associated with PFAS exposure will assist decision-makers and the general public to make more efficient and timely risk management decisions. Findings indicate that the costs are substantial, with annual health-related costs estimated to 2.8 – 4.6 billion EUR for the Nordic countries and 52 – 84 billion EUR for all EEA countries. Overall non-health costs are estimated at 46 million – 11 billion EUR for the Nordic countries.Upon request the excel spreadsheets used for the monetarisation and valuation in this report can also be provided along with a guidance on how to use the estimation of costs for value transfer. Please contact any of the consultants or members of the steering group from the Swedish Chemicals Agency or the Danish Environmental Protection Agency if you are interested in receiving these excel spreadsheets.

Download or read book Water Demand Management written by David Butler and published by IWA Publishing. This book was released on 2005-12-01 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A common characteristic of water demand in urban areas worldwide is its inexorable rise over many years; continued growth is projected over coming decades. The chief influencing factors are population growth and migration, together with changes in lifestyle, demographic structure and the possible effects of climate change (the detailed implications of climate change are not yet clear, and anyway will depend on global location, but must at least increase the uncertainty in security of supply). This is compounded by rapid development, creeping urbanization and, in some places, rising standards of living. Meeting this increasing demand from existing resources is self-evidently an uphill struggle, particularly in water stressed/scarce regions in the developed and developing world alike. There are typically two potential responses: either "supply-side" (meeting demand with new resources) or "demand-side" (managing consumptive demand itself to postpone or avoid the need to develop new resources). There is considerable pressure from the general public, regulatory agencies, and some governments to minimise the impacts of new supply projects (e.g. building new reservoirs or inter-regional transfer schemes), implying the emphasis should be shifted towards managing water demand by best utilising the water that is already available. Water Demand Management has been prepared by the academic, government and industry network WATERSAVE. The concept of the book is to assemble a comprehensive picture of demand management topics ranging from technical to social and legal aspects, through expert critical literature reviews. The depth and breadth of coverage is a unique contribution to the field and the book will be an invaluable information source for practitioners and researchers, including water utility engineers/planners, environmental regulators, equipment and service providers, and postgraduates. Contents Water consumption trends and demand forecasting techniques The technology, design and utility of rainwater catchment systems Understanding greywater treatment Water conservation products Water conservation and sewerage systems An introduction to life cycle and rebound effects in water systems Developing a strategy for managing losses in water distribution networks Demand management in developing countries Drivers and barriers for water conservation and reuse in the UK The economics of water demand management Legislation and regulation mandating and influencing the efficient use of water in England and Wales Consumer reactions to water conservation policy instruments Decision support tools for water demand management

Download or read book Wetlands and Human Health written by C Max Finlayson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-08-03 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book addresses the interactions between wetlands and human health and well-being. A key feature is the linking of ecology-health and the targeting of practitioners and researchers. The environmental health problems of the 21st Century cannot be addressed by the traditional tools of ecologists or epidemiologists working in their respective disciplinary silos; this is clear from the emergence and re-emergence of public health and human well-being problems such as cholera pandemics, mosquito borne disease, and episodic events and disasters (e.g. hurricanes). To tackle these problems requires genuine cross-disciplinary collaboration; a key finding of the recently concluded Millennium Ecosystem Assessment when looking at human well-being and ecosystem health. This book brings the disciplines of ecology and health sciences closer to such a synthesis for researchers, teachers and policy makers interested in or needing information to manage wetlands and human health and well-being issues.