Download or read book The Role of Fire in California s Landscapes Across Spatial and Temporal Scales written by Sasha Alexandra Berleman and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The role of fire in California's landscapes has dramatically changed in recent centuries with the arrival of European cultures and later by the influence of rapid climate change. Novel challenges face land and fire management in the forms of invasive species, human encroachment, severe fuel loads, and fire regime shifts. Because fire is a critical land management tool and natural process in California ecosystems, reintroducing prescribed fire to our ecosystems is increasingly necessary, but also more challenging than ever. It is now of utmost importance that we investigate and seek to understand the modern role of fire in historic, modern, and future ecosystems at multiple scales. First, I investigate the micro-scale effects of fire in an invaded ecosystem to elucidate how novel plant community dynamics in the face of fire. Studying fire-use related plant species interactions at the 1-m scale informs how we can expect plant communities to shift due to fire in the face of invasive species. This technique is a useful tool for managers and scientists to experiment with variations in fire-use to find ideal fire regimes in novel communities, and to prepare for fire-effects on plant communities. Second, I investigate prescribed fire effects across an invaded site of a similar plant community knowledge using information gained from these micro-scale investigations. Here I implement the knowledge gained from the micro-scale study, while incorporating more diverse investigations of fire effects, including soil nutrient and seedbank dynamics. This exploration allows for a more holistic understanding of fire-ecosystem interactions in these novel communities. The use of these intensive monitoring techniques on prescribed fire empower adaptive management by informing scientists and land managers of prescribed fire effects, and allowing for informed adjustments to practices based on results. Finally, I study the role of fire at a much larger scale through an investigation of seasonal conifer xylogenesis. By better understanding annual cambial development of California's common mixed conifers, we can more accurately interpret fire scars and, in turn, California's fire history. We can then also use this information to look to the future and inform decisions regarding management of our landscapes and firescapes in the face of rapid climate change.
Download or read book The Role of Wildfire in Shaping the Structure and Function of California Mediterranean Stream riparian Ecosystems in Yosemite National Park written by Breeanne Kathleen Jackson and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although fire severity has been shown to be a key disturbance to stream-riparian ecosystems in temperate zones, the effects of fire-severity on stream-riparian structure and function in Mediterranean-type systems remains less well resolved. Mediterranean ecosystems of California are characterized by high interannual variability in precipitation and susceptibility to frequent high-intensity wildfires. From 2011 to 2014, I utilized a variety of experimental designs to investigate the influence of wildfire across 70 study reaches on stream-riparian ecosystems in Yosemite National Park (YNP), located in the central Sierra Nevada, California, USA. At 12 stream reaches paired by fire-severity, I measured riparian community composition and structure, stream geomorphology, density and community composition of benthic macroinvertebrates, and density, trophic position, mercury (Hg) body loading, and reliance on aquatically-derived energy of/by spiders of the family Tetragnathidae, a common riparian spider that relies heavily on emergent aquatic insect prey. In addition, along a gradient of drainage area in two rivers, I measured the relative effects of ecosystem size, flood magnitude, productivity, and wildfire on trophic position and reliance on aquatically-derived energy of/by benthic insect predators and tetragnathid spiders. Aquatic birds like the American dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) are considered landscape integrators and are constrained by different ecological processes than aquatic organisms, therefore assessment of the trophic dynamics of aquatic-obigate birds may illuminate divergent patterns related to both fire and food-web dynamics. I estimated reliance on aquatically-derived energy and trophic position of dippers in 27 mountain streams and estimated the relative explanatory power of ecosystem size, precipitation, and wildfire as predictors of dipper trophic dynamics. Taken together, the results of my study, combined with the long period of time since fire at some study reaches, indicate support for interactions between wildfire and climate across complex spatial and temporal scales as drivers of stream-riparian ecosystem responses to wildfire.
Download or read book The Landscape Ecology of Fire written by Donald McKenzie and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-01-04 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global warming is expected to change fire regimes, likely increasing the severity and extent of wildfires in many ecosystems around the world. What will be the landscape-scale effects of these altered fire regimes? Within what theoretical contexts can we accurately assess these effects? We explore the possible effects of altered fire regimes on landscape patch dynamics, dominant species (tree, shrub, or herbaceous) and succession, sensitive and invasive plant and animal species and communities, and ecosystem function. Ultimately, we must consider the human dimension: what are the policy and management implications of increased fire disturbance, and what are the implications for human communities?
Download or read book A Century of Wildland Fire Research written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2017-09-30 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although ecosystems, humans, and fire have coexisted for millennia, changes in geology, ecology, hydrology, and climate as well as sociocultural, regulatory, and economic factors have converged to make wildland fire management exceptionally challenging for U.S. federal, state, and local authorities. Given the mounting, unsustainable costs and difficulty translating existing wildland fire science into policy, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine organized a 1-day workshop to focus on how a century of wildland fire research can contribute to improving wildland fire management. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.
Download or read book Fire in California s Ecosystems written by Jan W. van Wagtendonk and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2018-06-08 with total page 567 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fire in California’s Ecosystems describes fire in detail—both as an integral natural process in the California landscape and as a growing threat to urban and suburban developments in the state. Written by many of the foremost authorities on the subject, this comprehensive volume is an ideal authoritative reference tool and the foremost synthesis of knowledge on the science, ecology, and management of fire in California. Part One introduces the basics of fire ecology, including overviews of historical fires, vegetation, climate, weather, fire as a physical and ecological process, and fire regimes, and reviews the interactions between fire and the physical, plant, and animal components of the environment. Part Two explores the history and ecology of fire in each of California's nine bioregions. Part Three examines fire management in California during Native American and post-Euro-American settlement and also current issues related to fire policy such as fuel management, watershed management, air quality, invasive plant species, at-risk species, climate change, social dynamics, and the future of fire management. This edition includes critical scientific and management updates and four new chapters on fire weather, fire regimes, climate change, and social dynamics.
Download or read book Flame and Fortune in the American West written by Gregory L. Simon and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Flame and Fortune in the American West creatively and meticulously investigates the ongoing politics, folly, and avarice shaping the production of increasingly widespread yet dangerous suburban and exurban landscapes. The 1991 Oakland Hills Tunnel Fire is used as a starting point to better understand these complex social-environmental processes. The Tunnel Fire isÊthe most destructive fireÑin terms of structures lostÑinÊCalifornia history. More than 3,000 residential structures burned and 25 lives were lost. Although this fire occurred in Oakland and Berkeley, others like it sear through landscapes in California and the American West that have experienced urban growth and development within areas historically prone to fire. Ê Simon skillfully blends techniques from environmental history, political ecology, and science studies to closely examine the Tunnel Fire within a broader historical and spatial context of regional economic development and natural-resource management, such as the widespread planting of eucalyptus trees as an exotic lure for homeowners and the creation of hillside neighborhoods for tax revenueÑdecisions that produced communities with increased vulnerability to fire. Simon demonstrates how in OaklandÊa drive for affluence led to a state of vulnerability for rich and poor alike that has only been exacerbated by the rebuilding of neighborhoods after the fire. Despite these troubling trends, Flame and Fortune in the American West illustrates how many popular and scientific debates on fire limit the scope and efficacy of policy responses.Ê Ê These risky yet profitable developments (what the author refers to as theÊIncendiary), as well as proposed strategies for challenging them, are discussed in the context of urbanizing areas around the American West and hold global applicability within hazard-prone areas.
Download or read book Fire Ecology in Rocky Mountain Landscapes written by William L. Baker and published by . This book was released on 2009-07-07 with total page 636 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fire Ecology in Rocky Mountain Landscapes is the first comprehensive review of scientific research on fire in Rocky Mountain ecosystems emphasizing the landscape scale. It is essential reading for anyone concerned with fire and fire management, including academic and agency scientists; natural resource professionals; and researchers, professors, and students involved with environmental science, land management, and resource management.
Download or read book Ecosystems of California written by Harold Mooney and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2016-01-19 with total page 1008 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This long-anticipated reference and sourcebook for CaliforniaÕs remarkable ecological abundance provides an integrated assessment of each major ecosystem typeÑits distribution, structure, function, and management. A comprehensive synthesis of our knowledge about this biologically diverse state, Ecosystems of California covers the state from oceans to mountaintops using multiple lenses: past and present, flora and fauna, aquatic and terrestrial, natural and managed. Each chapter evaluates natural processes for a specific ecosystem, describes drivers of change, and discusses how that ecosystem may be altered in the future. This book also explores the drivers of CaliforniaÕs ecological patterns and the history of the stateÕs various ecosystems, outlining how the challenges of climate change and invasive species and opportunities for regulation and stewardship could potentially affect the stateÕs ecosystems. The text explicitly incorporates both human impacts and conservation and restoration efforts and shows how ecosystems support human well-being. Edited by two esteemed ecosystem ecologists and with overviews by leading experts on each ecosystem, this definitive work will be indispensable for natural resource management and conservation professionals as well as for undergraduate or graduate students of CaliforniaÕs environment and curious naturalists.
Download or read book Very Large Wildfires in the Western Contiguous United States written by Erica Natasha Stavros and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 111 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wildfires, especially the largest ones, can have lasting ecological and social effects both directly on the landscape and indirectly on the atmosphere and climate. Both climate and fire regimes are expected to change into the future while air quality, the composition of the atmosphere, continues to be regulated. It is necessary to understand how climate, wildfire, and air quality interact to mitigate air quality. Existing studies, however, span spatial and temporal scales necessary for only linking two components at a time (e.g. climate and wildfire or wildfire and air quality). Appropriate scales of data and modeling are required to integrate all three components and understand the system as a whole. To lay the foundation for studying interactions among these three components, I investigated the relationship between climate and very large wildfires, here defined as megafires (greater than or equal to 50,000 ac ~ 20,234 ha), at spatial and temporal scales appropriate for future work to bridge results into air quality modeling. In this dissertation, I demonstrated, using a systematic approach, that broad spatial and fine temporal resolutions are the best scales by which to understand how climate, wildfire, and air quality interact. Thus, using broad wildfire data aggregated to the spatial scale of eight US National Interagency Fire Center Geographic Area Coordination Centers (GACCs) across the western contiguous US, and daily and monthly climate data, I developed logistic regression models to predict the probability that a megafire will occur in a given week. Significant climate predictors of megafires vary by GACC and are similar to those found by other studies for aggregate annual area burned. Thus megafires may influence the analysis of aggregate statistics substantially. For all eight GACCs, projecting these models showed a significant (p is less than or equal to 0.05) difference between the historical period from 1979 to 2010 and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change future scenarios, representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5, during 2031 to 2060. Generally, with the exception of the Southwest and Northern California, megafires will be more likely both throughout the fire season and from year to year, with more pronounced patterns under RCP 8.5 than RCP 4.5. This work investigates the effects of a changing climate on megafires at scales that can aid policy and management to mitigate their effects. It also provides a foundation by which to improve understanding of the climate and carbon systems. Lastly, it illuminates the need to investigate how fire statistics are aggregated and how this affects climate associations.
Download or read book Introduction to Fire in California written by David Carle and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2021-08-20 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "What is fire? How are wildfires ignited? How do California's weather and topography influence fire? How did the California Indians use fire? David Carle focuses on this fundamental element of the natural world, giving a fascinating and concise view of this complex topic. This clearly written, dramatically illustrated book will help Californians, including the millions who live near naturally flammable wildlands, better understand their own place in the state's landscape. Carle covers the basics of fire ecology; looks at the effects of fire on wildlife, soil, water, and air; discusses fire-fighting organizations and land management agencies; explains current policies, and explores many other topics, including the extreme and deadly fire events of 2020 and evidence that climate change is changing the wildfire story in California"--
Download or read book Introduction to Fire in California written by David Carle and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2008-08-04 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Carle does an excellent job of telling complex social, biological, and physical stories in a way that makes them not only accessible, but also interesting.”—Neil G. Sugihara, coeditor of Fire in California's Ecosystems “A welcome contribution to the California Natural History Guides series that integrates the natural and cultural history of fire in California in an engaging style.”—James K. Agee, author of Steward's Fork and Fire Ecology of Pacific Northwest Forests
Download or read book Fire in California s Ecosystems written by Neil G. Sugihara and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2006-11-29 with total page 613 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on California and issues specific to fire ecology and management in the state's bioregions, this work provides scientific information for use in land restoration and other management decisions made in the field. It introduces the basics of fire ecology, and includes an overview of fire, vegetation and climate in California; and more.
Download or read book Density Estimation for Statistics and Data Analysis written by Bernard. W. Silverman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-19 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although there has been a surge of interest in density estimation in recent years, much of the published research has been concerned with purely technical matters with insufficient emphasis given to the technique's practical value. Furthermore, the subject has been rather inaccessible to the general statistician. The account presented in this book places emphasis on topics of methodological importance, in the hope that this will facilitate broader practical application of density estimation and also encourage research into relevant theoretical work. The book also provides an introduction to the subject for those with general interests in statistics. The important role of density estimation as a graphical technique is reflected by the inclusion of more than 50 graphs and figures throughout the text. Several contexts in which density estimation can be used are discussed, including the exploration and presentation of data, nonparametric discriminant analysis, cluster analysis, simulation and the bootstrap, bump hunting, projection pursuit, and the estimation of hazard rates and other quantities that depend on the density. This book includes general survey of methods available for density estimation. The Kernel method, both for univariate and multivariate data, is discussed in detail, with particular emphasis on ways of deciding how much to smooth and on computation aspects. Attention is also given to adaptive methods, which smooth to a greater degree in the tails of the distribution, and to methods based on the idea of penalized likelihood.
Download or read book California Wildfire Landscaping written by Maureen Gilmer and published by Taylor Publishing Company (TX). This book was released on 1994 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to create bands of protection with plants, managing native vegetation, getting help from public and private resources and how to comply with the high fire zones law.
Download or read book Quantitative Methods for Conservation Biology written by Scott Ferson and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2002-06-13 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reviews the quantitative tools used in the study of subjects such as biodiversity, resource management and endangered species preservation. Topics covered include population viability analysis, population dynamics, metapopulation models, estimating timing of extinctions, quasi-extinction and more.
Download or read book Fire and Climatic Change in Temperate Ecosystems of the Western Americas written by Thomas T. Veblen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2006-05-10 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Both fire and climatic variability have monumental impacts on the dynamics of temperate ecosystems. These impacts can sometimes be extreme or devastating as seen in recent El Nino/La Nina cycles and in uncontrolled fire occurrences. This volume brings together research conducted in western North and South America, areas of a great deal of collaborative work on the influence of people and climate change on fire regimes. In order to give perspective to patterns of change over time, it emphasizes the integration of paleoecological studies with studies of modern ecosystems. Data from a range of spatial scales, from individual plants to communities and ecosystems to landscape and regional levels, are included. Contributions come from fire ecology, paleoecology, biogeography, paleoclimatology, landscape and ecosystem ecology, ecological modeling, forest management, plant community ecology and plant morphology. The book gives a synthetic overview of methods, data and simulation models for evaluating fire regime processes in forests, shrublands and woodlands and assembles case studies of fire, climate and land use histories. The unique approach of this book gives researchers the benefits of a north-south comparison as well as the integration of paleoecological histories, current ecosystem dynamics and modeling of future changes.
Download or read book California Grasslands written by Mark R. Stromberg and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2007-12-03 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This highly synthetic and scholarly work brings together new and important scientific contributions by leading experts on a rich diversity of topics concerning the history, ecology, and conservation of California's endangered grasslands. The editors and authors have succeeded admirably in drawing from a great wealth of recent research to produce a widely accessible and compelling, state-of-the-art treatment of this fascinating subject. Anyone interested in Californian biodiversity or grassland ecosystems in general will find this book to be an invaluable resource and a major inspiration for further research, management, and restoration efforts."—Bruce G. Baldwin, W. L. Jepson Professor and Curator, UC Berkeley "Grasses and grasslands are among the most important elements of the California landscape. This is their book, embodying the kind of integrated view needed for all ecological communities in California. Approaches ranging across an incredibly broad spectrum -- paleontology and human history; basic science and practical management techniques; systematics, community ecology, physiology, and genetics; physical factors such as water, soil nutrients, atmospherics, and fire; biological factors such as competition, symbiosis, and grazing -- are nicely tied together due to careful editorial work. This is an indispensable reference for everyone interested in the California environment."—Brent Mishler, Director of the University & Jepson Herbaria and Professor of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley "The structure and function of California grasslands have intrigued ecologists for decades. The editors of this volume have assembled a comprehensive set of reviews by a group of outstanding authors on the natural history, structure, management, and restoration of this economically and ecologically important ecosystem."—Scott L. Collins, Professor of Biology, University of New Mexico
