Fire is a worldwide phenomenon that appears in the geological record soon after the appearance of terrestrial plants. Fire influences global ecosystem patterns and processes, including vegetation distribution and structure, the carbon cycle, and climate. Although humans and fire have always coexisted, our capacity to manage fire remains imperfect and may become more difficult in the future as climate change alters fire regimes. This risk is difficult to assess, however, because fires are still poorly represented in global models. Here, we discuss some of the most important issues involved in developing a better understanding of the role of fire in the Earth system.

/pdf/fire-in-the-earth-system-481yvwaoo1.pdf

Fire in the Earth System

Forest disturbances are sensitive to climate. However, our understanding of disturbance dynamics in response to climatic changes remains incomplete, particularly regarding large-scale patterns, interaction effects and dampening feedbacks. Here we provide a global synthesis of climate change effects on important abiotic (fire, drought, wind, snow and ice) and biotic (insects and pathogens) disturbance agents. Warmer and drier conditions particularly facilitate fire, drought and insect disturbances, while warmer and wetter conditions increase disturbances from wind and pathogens. Widespread interactions between agents are likely to amplify disturbances, while indirect climate effects such as vegetation changes can dampen long-term disturbance sensitivities to climate. Future changes in disturbance are likely to be most pronounced in coniferous forests and the boreal biome. We conclude that both ecosystems and society should be prepared for an increasingly disturbed future of forests.

/pdf/forest-disturbances-under-climate-change-4cql7jq6vi.pdf

Forest disturbances under climate change

Several recent papers have suggested replacing the terminology of fire intensity and fire severity. Part of the problem with fire intensity is that it is sometimes used incorrectly to describe fire effects, when in fact it is justifiably restricted to measures of energy output. Increasingly, the term has created confusion because some authors have restricted its usage to a single measure of energy output referred to as fireline intensity. This metric is most useful in understanding fire behavior in forests, but is too narrow to fully capture the multitude of ways fire energy affects ecosystems. Fire intensity represents the energy released during various phases of a fire, and different metrics such as reaction intensity, fireline intensity, temperature, heating duration and radiant energy are useful for different purposes. Fire severity, and the related term burn severity, have created considerable confusion because of recent changes in their usage. Some authors have justified this by contending that fire severity is defined broadly as ecosystem impacts from fire and thus is open to individual interpretation. However, empirical studies have defined fire severity operationally as the loss of or change in organic matter aboveground and belowground, although the precise metric varies with management needs. Confusion arises because fire or burn severity is sometimes defined so that it also includes ecosystem responses. Ecosystem responses include soil erosion, vegetation regeneration, restoration of community structure, faunal recolonization, and a plethora of related response variables. Although some ecosystem responses are correlated with measures of fire or burn severity, many important ecosystem processes have either not been demonstrated to be predicted by severity indices or have been shown in some vegetation types to be unrelated to severity. This is a critical issue because fire or burn severity are readily measurable parameters, both on the ground and with remote sensing, yet ecosystem responses are of most interest to resource managers.

/pdf/fire-intensity-fire-severity-and-burn-severity-a-brief-3f34ow4qed.pdf

Fire intensity, fire severity and burn severity: a brief review and suggested usage

Whether ignited by lightning or by Native Americans, fire once shaped many North American ecosystems. Euro-American settlement and 20th-century fire suppression practices drastically altered historic fire regimes, leading to excessive fuel accumulation and uncharacteristically severe wildfires in some areas and diminished flammability resulting from shifts to more fire-sensitive forest species in others. Prescribed fire is a valuable tool for fuel management and ecosystem restoration, but the practice is fraught with controversy and uncertainty. Here, we summarize fire use in the forests and woodlands of North America and the current state of the practice, and explore challenges associated with the use of prescribed fire. Although new scientific knowledge has reduced barriers to prescribed burning, societal aversion to risk often trumps known, long-term ecological benefits. Broader implementation of prescribed burning and strategic management of wildfires in fire-dependent ecosystems will require improved integration of science, policy, and management, and greater societal acceptance through education and public involvement in land-management issues.

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1890/120329

Prescribed fire in North American forests and woodlands: history, current practice, and challenges

/pdf/current-research-issues-related-to-post-wildfire-runoff-and-337eq10qjd.pdf

Current research issues related to post-wildfire runoff and erosion processes

This paper reviews and synthesizes literature on fi re as a disturbance factor in boreal forests. Spatial and temporal variation in the biophysical environment, specifi cally, vegetative structure, terrain, and weather lead to variations in fi re behavior. Changes in slope, aspect, elevation, and soil affect site energy and water budgets and the potential plant community. These terrain features also have a major infl uence on fi re-caused disturbance through their role in determining moisture conditions and fl ammability of fuels on hourly, seasonal, and successional time-scales. On fi ne time scales (minutes to hours), changes in weather, specifi cally wind and relative humidity, signifi cantly affect a fi re’s intensity and aboveground effects. Normal seasonal changes in dryness and periodic drought infl uence fi re intensity and severity principally by affecting the depth of burn and belowground effects. On decades-long time scales changes in vegetative structure affect the mass of fuel available for burning and therefore the potential energy that can be released during a fi re. The severity of fi re varies in time and space depending not only on the biophysical environment, but also on the location on the fi re’s perimeter (head vs. fl ank vs. rear). Spatial and temporal variation in severity within a fi re can have long-lasting impacts on the structure and species composition of post-fi re communities and the potential for future disturbances. Characteristic temperature histories of ground, surface, and crown fi res are used to illustrate variations in fi re severity. A soil-heating model is used to illustrate the impact of varying depth of burn on the depth at which various fi re effects occur in the soil profi le. A conceptual model is presented for the effects of fi re severity on fi re-plant regeneration interactions. The conceptual model can be used by restoration ecologists to evaluate the differential effects of controlled or prescribed fi res and wildfi res and to plan and implement fi re treatments to conserve biodiversity.

Dynamic interactions between forest structure and fire behavior in boreal ecosystems

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Dynamic interactions between forest structure and fire behavior in boreal ecosystems