The influence of prescribed burning and wildfire on lidar-estimated forest structure of the New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 1100
Author(s):  
Timothy A. Warner ◽  
Nicholas S. Skowronski ◽  
Inga La Puma
Keyword(s):  
New Jersey ◽  
Forest Structure ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
New Jersey Pinelands ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Crown Fires ◽  
National Preserve ◽  
In Fire

Prescribed burning is a common land management tool used to reduce fuels, emulate the effects of wildfire and increase heterogeneity in fire-prone ecosystems. However, the forest structure created by prescribed burning is likely to be dissimilar to that produced by wildfire. We used three-dimensional estimates of canopy bulk density (CBD) from lidar data to explore the relationship between fire type, number of burns and fuel structure/forest structure in the New Jersey Pinelands National Preserve, USA. We found that in areas of previous prescribed fires, as the number of fires increased, the understorey (1–2m) exhibited a slight decrease in CBD, while the upper canopy (15–23m) had higher values of CBD for ≥4 fires, though these differences were not statistically significant. However, an increasing number of wildfires was associated with a statistically significant increase in CBD in the mid-storey (3–7m) and a decrease in CBD in the canopy (≥8m). These results have important implications for forest resource managers because they indicate that prescribed burning reduces ladder fuels that lead to torching and crown fires, but it does not replicate the structure created by wildfire.

scholarly journals Prescribed burning in a mediterranean-climate region mitigates the disturbance by bushfire to a critical food resource for an endangered bird, the Carnaby’s cockatoo

Fire Ecology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie S. Densmore ◽  
Emma S. Clingan
Keyword(s):  
Seed Production ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Hazard ◽  
Food Resource ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Prescribed Burns ◽  
Low Intensity ◽  
Percentage Survival

Abstract Background Prescribed burning is used to reduce fire hazard in highly flammable vegetation types, including Banksia L.f. woodland that occurs on the Swan Coastal Plain (SCP), Western Australia, Australia. The 2016 census recorded well over 1.9 million people living on the SCP, which also encompasses Perth, the fourth largest city in Australia. Banksia woodland is prone to frequent ignitions that can cause extensive bushfires that consume canopy-stored banksia seeds, a critical food resource for an endangered bird, the Carnaby’s cockatoo (Calyptorynchus latirostris, Carnaby 1948). The time needed for banksias to reach maturity and maximum seed production is several years longer than the typical interval between prescribed burns. We compared prescribed burns to bushfires and unburned sites at three locations in banksia woodland to determine whether low-intensity prescribed burns affect the number of adult banksias and their seed production. Study sites were matched to the same vegetation complex, fire regime, and time-since-fire to isolate fire intensity as a variable. Results Headfire rates of spread and differenced normalized burn ratios indicated that prescribed burning was generally of a much lower intensity than bushfire. The percentage survival of adult banksias and their production of cones and follicles (seeds) did not decrease during the first three years following a prescribed burn. However, survival and seed production were significantly diminished followed high-intensity bushfire. Thus, carrying capacity for Carnaby’s cockatoo was unchanged by prescribed burning but decreased markedly following bushfire in banksia woodland. Conclusions These results suggest that prescribed burning is markedly different from bushfire when considering appropriate fire intervals to conserve canopy habitats in fire-resilient vegetation communities. Therefore, low-intensity prescribed burning represents a viable management tool to reduce the frequency and extent of bushfire impacts on banksia woodland and Carnaby’s cockatoo.

Is fire a threatening process for Liopholis kintorei, a nationally listed threatened skink?

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danae Moore ◽  
Michael Ray Kearney ◽  
Rachel Paltridge ◽  
Steve McAlpin ◽  
Adam Stow
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Success ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Arid Zone ◽  
Ground Cover ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Burrow System ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Key Sites ◽  
Primary Habitat ◽  
Experimental Burns

Context Prescribed burning is widely adopted as a conservation-management tool, with priorities largely being the protection of fire-sensitive plant communities, threatened fauna habitat and minimising the risk and impacts of broad-scale wildfire. However, an improved understanding of the ecological mechanisms that underpin species responses to fire will assist the development and refinement of prescribed-burning practice. Aims To examine the effect of fire on burrow-system occupancy and breeding success at different spatial and temporal scales for a threatened skink, Liopholis kintorei. Methods Experimental burns simulating different fire types (clean burn, patchy burn and no burn) were conducted at 30 L. kintorei burrow systems that were selected from within a 75-ha focal study area. Burrow-system occupancy was monitored daily for 1 month, then monthly for an additional 3 months. Breeding success was assessed once at all 30 burrow systems. Eight additional 1-km2 sites within L. kintorei habitat that had experienced some degree of fire 2 years earlier were selected from across Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary. Burrow-system occupancy and breeding success of L. kintorei at these sites was assessed once. Key results There was no significant effect of fire on burrow-system occupancy 1 month after experimental burns; however, burrow-system occupancy was significantly higher at unburnt sites 4 months after experimental burns and 2 years post-fire. Breeding success was significantly higher at unburnt sites than at clean-burnt and patchy-burnt sites. Conclusions Fire adversely affects L. kintorei, as demonstrated by a higher proportion of unoccupied burrow systems and fewer successful breeding events post-fire, particularly when all ground cover is lost. Implications Because fire is an inevitable and natural process within arid-zone spinifex grasslands, the primary habitat for L. kintorei, we recommend prescribed-burning practices that aim to maximise ground cover by reducing the frequency, intensity and size of fires. More specifically, we recommend fire exclusion from key sites within distinct localities where L. kintorei is known to be locally abundant. Depending on the size of these key sites, there may also be a need to construct strategic fire breaks within sites to ensure that any unwanted ignitions do not result in the loss of all vegetation cover.

Fuel and fire characteristics in savanna - woodland of West Africa in relation to grazing and dominant grass type

2007 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrice Savadogo ◽  
Didier Zida ◽  
Louis Sawadogo ◽  
Daniel Tiveau ◽  
Mulualem Tigabu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Fuel Load ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Savanna Woodland ◽  
Vegetation Height ◽  
Average Maximum ◽  
Dominant Grass

Fuel characteristics, fire behaviour and temperature were studied in relation to grazing, dominant grass type and wind direction in West African savanna–woodland by lighting 32 prescribed early fires. Grazing significantly reduced the vegetation height, total fuel load, and dead and live fuel fractions whereas plots dominated by perennial grasses had higher values for vegetation height, total fuel load and the quantity of live fuel load. Although fire intensity remained insensitive (P > 0.05) to any of these factors, fuel consumption was significantly (P = 0.021) reduced by grazing, rate of spread was faster in head fire (P = 0.012), and flame length was shorter in head fire than back fire (P = 0.044). The average maximum temperature was higher (P < 0.05) on non-grazed plots, on plots dominated by annual grasses, on plots subjected to head fire, and at the soil surface. Lethal temperature residence time showed a nearly similar trend to fire temperature. Wind speed and total fuel load were best predictors of fire behaviour parameters (R2 ranging from 0.557 to 0.862). It can be concluded that grazing could be used as a management tool to modify fire behaviour, back fire should be carried out during prescribed burning to lower fire severity, and the fire behaviour models can be employed to guide prescribed early fire in the study area.

Charcoal signatures defined by multivariate analysis of charcoal records from 10 lakes in northwest Wisconsin (USA)

2011 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Lynch ◽  
Sara C. Hotchkiss ◽  
Randy Calcote
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Regional Patterns ◽  
Crown Fires ◽  
Sand Plain ◽  
In Fire ◽  
Standard Techniques

AbstractWe show how sedimentary charcoal records from multiple sites within a single landscape can be used to compare fire histories and reveal small scale patterns in fire regimes. Our objective is to develop strategies for classifying and comparing late-Holocene charcoal records in Midwestern oak- and pine-dominated sand plain ecosystems where fire regimes include a mix of surface and crown fires. Using standard techniques for the analysis of charcoal from lake sediments, we compiled 1000- to 4000-yr-long records of charcoal accumulation and charcoal peak frequencies from 10 small lakes across a sand plain in northwestern Wisconsin. We used cluster analysis to identify six types of charcoal signatures that differ in their charcoal influx rates, amount of grass charcoal, and frequency and magnitude of charcoal peaks. The charcoal records demonstrate that while fire histories vary among sites, there are regional patterns in the occurrence of charcoal signature types that are consistent with expected differences in fire regimes based on regional climate and vegetation reconstructions. The fire histories also show periods of regional change in charcoal signatures occurring during times of regional climate changes at ~700, 1000, and 3500 cal yr BP.

Three-dimensional modelling of composite frames with ductile connections in fire

Structures ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 665-677
Author(s):  
Yu Liu ◽  
Shan-Shan Huang ◽  
Ian Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Composite Frames ◽  
In Fire

Bayes Nets as a method for analysing the influence of management actions in fire planning

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 909 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. D. Penman ◽  
O. Price ◽  
R. A. Bradstock
Keyword(s):  
Process Model ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Relative Reduction ◽  
Holistic Model ◽  
Bayes Nets ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Fire Planning ◽  
In Fire

Wildfire can result in significant economic costs with inquiries following such events often recommending an increase in management effort to reduce the risk of future losses. Currently, there are no objective frameworks in which to assess the relative merits of management actions or the synergistic way in which the various combinations may act. We examine the value of Bayes Nets as a method for assessing the risk reduction from fire management practices using a case study from a forested landscape. Specifically, we consider the relative reduction in wildfire risk from investing in prescribed burning, initial or rapid attack and suppression. The Bayes Net was developed using existing datasets, a process model and expert opinion. We compared the results of the models with the recorded fire data for an 11-year period from 1997 to 2000 with the model successfully duplicating these data. Initial attack and suppression effort had the greatest effect on the distribution of the fire sizes for a season. Bayes Nets provide a holistic model for considering the effect of multiple fire management methods on the risk of wildfires. The methods could be further advanced by including the costs of management and conducting a formal decision analysis.

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