Fire History and Tree Recruitment in an Uncut New England Forest

1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel H. Mann ◽  
F.Brett Engstrom ◽  
Jill L. Bubier
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Tree Age ◽  
Fuel Load ◽  
Summer Drought ◽  
Climate History ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Dead Trees

AbstractFire and forest histories in a hemlock-pine forest in Vermont have been reconstructed by dating fire scars and reconstructing the age distributions of living and dead trees. The ages of living red pines, white pines, and hemlocks show that most of the present forest germinated after a series of spatially overlapping fires between A.D. 1790 and 1850. The ages of cross-dated, dead red pines indicate that this was the third major recruitment interval for pines in this forest since ca. A.D. 1450. We interpret the fire scar and tree age data as recording ca. 50-yr intervals of increased fire frequency recurring every 100-200 yr in response to accumulating fuel loads that coincide with summer drought. The historical records of fires and tree ages, together with the present fuel load, suggest that the next interval of stand-regenerating fires is now overdue. Our success in cross-dating the remnants of dead red pines as old as the 15th century A.D. holds promise for extending reconstructions of fire, forest, and climate history in other parts of this tree's range.

A comparison of targeted and systematic fire-scar sampling for estimating historical fire frequency in south-western ponderosa pine forests

2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 1021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calvin A. Farris ◽  
Christopher H. Baisan ◽  
Donald A. Falk ◽  
Megan L. Van Horne ◽  
Peter Z. Fulé ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ponderosa Pine ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Pine Forests ◽  
Ponderosa Pine Forests ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
Targeted Sampling ◽  
Statistical Measures

Fire history researchers employ various forms of search-based sampling to target specimens that contain visible evidence of well preserved fire scars. Targeted sampling is considered to be the most efficient way to increase the completeness and length of the fire-scar record, but the accuracy of this method for estimating landscape-scale fire frequency parameters compared with probabilistic (i.e. systematic and random) sampling is poorly understood. In this study we compared metrics of temporal and spatial fire occurrence reconstructed independently from targeted and probabilistic fire-scar sampling to identify potential differences in parameter estimation in south-western ponderosa pine forests. Data were analysed for three case studies spanning a broad geographic range of ponderosa pine ecosystems across the US Southwest at multiple spatial scales: Centennial Forest in northern Arizona (100ha); Monument Canyon Research Natural Area (RNA) in central New Mexico (256ha); and Mica Mountain in southern Arizona (2780ha). We found that the percentage of available samples that recorded individual fire years (i.e. fire-scar synchrony) was correlated strongly between targeted and probabilistic datasets at all three study areas (r=0.85, 0.96 and 0.91 respectively). These strong positive correlations resulted predictably in similar estimates of commonly used statistical measures of fire frequency and cumulative area burned, including Mean Fire Return Interval (MFI) and Natural Fire Rotation (NFR). Consistent with theoretical expectations, targeted fire-scar sampling resulted in greater overall sampling efficiency and lower rates of sample attrition. Our findings demonstrate that targeted sampling in these systems can produce accurate estimates of landscape-scale fire frequency parameters relative to intensive probabilistic sampling.

scholarly journals Fire History and Potential Fire Behavior in a Rocky Mountain Foothill Landscape

1990 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 29-29
Author(s):  
Yegang Wu ◽  
Dennis Knight
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Grid Cell ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
Weibull Function ◽  
Peak Period ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
Surface Fires

A landscape approach was used to study fire history and fire behavior in the Douglas-fir forests and foothill vegetation of the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area in southcentral Montana. The 3,976 ha study area was divided into 4-ha grid cells, and traditional fire scar analysis and fuel sampling methods were used for data collection in each cell. There have been 15 surface fires during the last 109 years and 10 canopy fires during the last 360 years. The mean fire interval in the forests as a whole, was 7 years for surface fires and 31 years for canopy fires. Using the Weibull function, the recurrent time for fire in a specific grid cell was 212 and 226 years for surface and canopy fires, respectively. The distribution of the probability density function showed that there was a peak of high canopy fire frequency between 150-250 years of stand age. There was no obvious peak period for surface fires in humid ravines, which suggests that surface fires there are not associated with aging. Employing Rothermel's model, a fire behavior model (FIREMDL) was developed and linked it to a geographic information system (GRASS) to simulate flammability of each grid cell under different conditions of fuel moisture and wind velocity. The results suggest that flammability is highly variable because of differences in vegetation and topographic position.

Fire history and forest age distribution of an unmanaged Picea abies dominated landscape

2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 1540-1552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuomo H Wallenius ◽  
Aki Pitkänen ◽  
Timo Kuuluvainen ◽  
Juho Pennanen ◽  
Hanna Karttunen
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Age Distribution ◽  
Tree Age ◽  
Natural State ◽  
Forest Age ◽  
Human Influence ◽  
Fire Scars ◽  
Southwestern Part ◽  
Dead Trees ◽  
Short Period

We examined fire history and forest age distribution in an unmanaged, Picea-dominated landscape in the Paanajärvi wilderness, located in northeastern Fennoscandia and northwest Russia. Maximum tree age was determined in 61 systematically located study plots in an area of about 6600 ha. Fire scars were examined in living and dead trees in the study plots and elsewhere in the study area. Charcoal and pollen analyses of peat were performed on samples from two locations. Fires had been rare in the landscape. Nearly half of the dendrochronologically dated fires occurred in a distinct and short period, from 1859 to 1889, in the northeastern part of the area. This nonrandom occurrence of fires, together with the observed signs of past human influence, suggests an anthropogenic origin for the majority of the fires. The fact that 95% of the study area consisted of forests older than 120 years reflects the end of the occurrence of fires in the 1880s. Pollen analysis from the southwestern part of the study area showed that the site had been dominated by Picea at least during the last millennium. Charcoal analysis from the same site indicated that likely more than 1000 years had elapsed since the last fire. In general, the results suggest that the abundance of old forests, with the oldest trees being approximately 300 years of age, belongs to the natural state of a Picea-dominated landscape.

Comparing methods of reconstructing fire history using fire scars in a southwestern United States ponderosa pine forest

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 855-867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan L Van Horne ◽  
Peter Z Fulé
Keyword(s):  
Pinus Ponderosa ◽  
Ponderosa Pine ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Sampling Methods ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Fire Scars ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
Targeted Sampling ◽  
Fire Intervals

Fire scars have been used to understand the historical role of fire in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex P. & C. Laws.) ecosystems, but sampling methods and interpretation of results have been criticized for being statistically invalid and biased and for leading to exaggerated estimates of fire frequency. We compared "targeted" sampling, random sampling, and grid-based sampling to a census of all 1479 fire-scarred trees in a 1 km2 study site in northern Arizona. Of these trees, 1246 were sufficiently intact to collect cross-sections; of these, 648 had fire scars that could be cross-dated to the year of occurrence in the 200-year analysis period. Given a sufficient sample size (approximately n ≥ 50), we concluded that all tested sampling methods resulted in accurate estimates of the census fire frequency, with mean fire intervals within 1 year of the census mean. We also assessed three analytical techniques: (1) fire intervals from individual trees, (2) the interval between the tree origin and the first scar, and (3) proportional filtering. "Bracketing" fire regime statistics to account for purported uncertainty associated with targeted sampling was not useful. Quantifying differences in sampling approaches cannot resolve all the limitations of fire-scar methods, but does strengthen interpretation of these data.

Can scar-based fire history reconstructions be biased? An experimental study in boreal Scots pine

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 669-675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aura Piha ◽  
Timo Kuuluvainen ◽  
Henrik Lindberg ◽  
Ilkka Vanha-Majamaa
Keyword(s):  
Scots Pine ◽  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Fire Scars ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
Low Intensity ◽  
Surface Fires ◽  
Frequency Area

Determining forest fire history is commonly based on fire scar dating with dendrochronological methods. We used an experimental setup to investigate the impacts of low-intensity prescribed fire on fire scar formation 8 years after fire in 12 young managed Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stands. Five stands were between 30 and 35 years old and seven were 45 years old at the time of burning. A total of 217 fire scars were recorded in 142 trees. The number of separate scars per tree originating from a single fire ranged from 1 to 6, with 67% of the trees having just one scar. The proportion of fire-scarred trees out of all trees per plot ranged from 0% to 30%, averaging 16.5% in young stands and 2.8% in older stands. Four of the 12 burned plots did not have any trees with fire scars, and these were all in the older age group. This means that in the older stands, in only three of seven plots (43%) did the fire leave scars from which fire can potentially be detected and dated afterwards. Our results suggest that fire scar dating in Scots pine dominated forests may underestimate fire frequency, area, and the importance of historically common low-intensity surface fires in dendrochronological reconstructions of past fire histories.

11 000 years of fire history and climate in the mountain hemlock rain forests of southwestern British Columbia based on sedimentary charcoal

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas J Hallett ◽  
Dana S Lepofsky ◽  
Rolf W Mathewes ◽  
Ken P Lertzman
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Lake Sediment ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Summer Drought ◽  
Rain Forests ◽  
Independent Evidence ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Soil Charcoal

Little is known about the role of fire in the mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana (Bong.) Carrière) rain forests of southern British Columbia. High-resolution analysis of macroscopic charcoal from lake sediment cores, along with 102 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) ages on soil charcoal, was used to reconstruct the long-term fire history around two subalpine lakes in the southern Coast and North Cascade Mountains. AMS ages on soil charcoal provide independent evidence of local fire around a lake and support the interpretation of peaks in lake sediment charcoal as distinct fire events during the Holocene. Local fires are rare, with intervals ranging from centuries to several millennia at some sites. Overall fire frequency varied continuously throughout the Holocene, suggesting that fire regimes are linked to climate via large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns. Fires were frequent between 11 000 and 8800 calendar years BP during the warm and dry early Holocene. The onset of humid conditions in the mid-Holocene, as rain forest taxa established in the region, produced a variable fire period until 3500 calendar years BP. A synchronous decrease in fire frequency from 3500 to 2400 calendar years BP corresponds to Neoglacial advances in the region and cool humid climate. A return of frequent fire between 2400 and 1300 calendar years BP suggests that prolonged summer drought occurred more often during this interval, which we name the Fraser Valley Fire Period. The present-day fire regime was established after 1300 calendar years BP.

Accurate estimation of mean fire interval for managing fire

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaojun Kou ◽  
William L. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
New Method ◽  
Tree Age ◽  
Accurate Estimation ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Interval Method ◽  
Population Mean ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
Mean Fire Interval

Accurate fire-history data are needed if local management of fire or costly national plans for restoring and managing fire and forest structure are to succeed. Fire-history researchers often use fire scars and the composite fire interval method to reconstruct parameters of past fire regimes, such as the population mean fire interval, but the composite method has serious limitations. We modified an alternative non-composite fire interval method, the individual-tree fire-interval method, to derive a more accurate new method, the all-tree fire-interval method. A stochastic fire-scar generating model to assess the accuracy of the new method and its predecessors was then used. Three factors (scarring ratio, population mean fire interval, and tree age) that affect accuracy were varied in the model runs. More complexity (trees with varied scarring ratio between the first scar and successive scars) also was modelled to test the robustness of the method. The all-tree fire-interval method was shown to greatly improve accuracy and provide unbiased estimates of the population mean fire interval. The method also produced encouraging results when scarring was more complex. The new all-tree fire-interval method will require further research on the rates at which trees are scarred by fire, but this would be generally beneficial to understanding fire history.

Paired charcoal and tree-ring records of high-frequency Holocene fire from two New Mexico bog sites

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig D. Allen ◽  
R. Scott Anderson ◽  
Renata B. Jass ◽  
Jaime L. Toney ◽  
Christopher H. Baisan
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Primary Methods ◽  
Sedimentary Deposits ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
Sedimentary Records ◽  
Small Watersheds ◽  
Dead Trees ◽  
Organic Deposits

Two primary methods for reconstructing paleofire occurrence include dendrochronological dating of fire scars and stand ages from live or dead trees (extending back centuries into the past) and sedimentary records of charcoal particles from lakes and bogs, providing perspectives on fire history that can extend back for many thousands of years. Studies using both proxies have become more common in regions where lakes are present and fire frequencies are low, but are rare where high-frequency surface fires dominate and sedimentary deposits are primarily bogs and wetlands. Here we investigate sedimentary and fire-scar records of fire in two small watersheds in northern New Mexico, in settings recently characterised by relatively high-frequency fire where bogs and wetlands (Chihuahueños Bog and Alamo Bog) are more common than lakes. Our research demonstrates that: (1) essential features of the sedimentary charcoal record can be reproduced between multiple cores within a bog deposit; (2) evidence from both fire-scarred trees and charcoal deposits documents an anomalous lack of fire since ~1900, compared with the remainder of the Holocene; (3) sedimentary charcoal records probably underestimate the recurrence of fire events at these high-frequency fire sites; and (4) the sedimentary records from these bogs are complicated by factors such as burning and oxidation of these organic deposits, diversity of vegetation patterns within watersheds, and potential bioturbation by ungulates. We consider a suite of particular challenges in developing and interpreting fire histories from bog and wetland settings in the Southwest. The identification of these issues and constraints with interpretation of sedimentary charcoal fire records does not diminish their essential utility in assessing millennial-scale patterns of fire activity in this dry part of North America.

A cross-dated fire history from coast redwood near Redwood National Park, California

1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Brown ◽  
Thomas W. Swetnam
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Fire Scars ◽  
Coast Redwood ◽  
Complete Representation ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
Redwood National Park ◽  
The Mean

Cross sections from coast redwood trees (Sequoiasempervirens (D.Don.)Endl.) in and near Redwood National Park were dendrochronologically cross-dated and used to develop a fire history from 1714 to 1985. A master chronology for the study area was first developed from old-growth trees and provided dating control for fire-scarred samples. Redwood offers a challenge for dendrochronology owing to partially absent rings (ring wedging) and uniform ring widths (complacency). Cross dating was successful in portions of 12 of 24 fire-scarred trees. Fire events were dated by noting the position of fire scars and other fire-associated ring structures (resin ducts, double latewood, growth releases, and ring separations) in the cross-dated ring series. Using only dates of fire scars, the mean fire interval (MFI) was 9.9 years from the first recorded fire in 1714 to the last in 1962. The MFI was 8.0 years for the best represented (greatest sample depth) presettlement period from 1714 to 1881. Using dates for all fire-associated ring features, the MFI from 1714 to 1962 was 7.0 years and from 1714 to 1881 was 6.0 years. Use of all fire-associated ring characteristics is argued to be a more complete representation of past fire frequency due to possible under-representation of fire-scar records from stump-top samples. Based upon scar positions within annual rings, fires occurred predominately late in the growing season or after growth ceased for the year. The mean fire intervals determined are shorter than those reported in all except one other fire history study from coast redwood and suggest that fire frequency in redwood may have been underestimated in many past studies.

Forest fire selectivity patterns in respect to topography during the period 1984-2015 in selected places in Greece

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoi Stamou
Keyword(s):  
Satellite Images ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Landsat Images ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
North East ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fire Selectivity

<p>The aim of this study is to assess wildland fire selectivity patterns in respect to topography in selected places in South Greece including eleven NUTS-3 counties of which two are islands, from 1984 to 2015. Fire scar perimeters within the time window 1984-2015 were delineated from freely available Landsat images from USGS and ESA archives and maps of fire frequency and fire return interval were finally created. Derived from eight different Landsat scenes (path/row), almost six thousands satellite images processed and more than five thousand and eight hundred fire perimeters were extracted, in order to reconstruct the fire history of South Greece, in a thirty two years’ period. Fireperimeters within each year of fire occurrence were compared against the available to burn under complete random processes to identify selectivity patterns in respect to topography.<br>It is clear that even though there is a decreasing trend in east, north east and south east facing aspects, fire selectivity in these areas is higher as compared to the available to burn. On the other hand there is a considerable rising in the trend of fire selectivity on west, southwest and northwest facing aspects. In terms of slope, lower- and mid-slopes tend to burn more than the available, opposite to upper- and higher –slopes. In addition, upper-elevation areas (over 800 meters), are negative related to wildfires while most of wildfires occur in altitude from 100 to 600 meters.</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document