Research Database
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Extreme Weather Magnifies the Effects of Forest Structure on Wildfire, Driving Increased Severity in Industrial Forests
Year: 2025
Despite widespread concern over increases in wildfire severity, the mechanisms underlying this trend remain unclear, hampering our ability to mitigate the severity of future fires. There is substantial uncertainty regarding the relative roles of extreme weather conditions, which are exacerbated by climate change, and forest management, in particular differences between private industrial timber companies and public land agencies. To investigate the effects of extreme weather and forest management on fire severity, we used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data to characterize pre-fire…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Combining ecophysiology and combustion traits to predict conifer live fuel moisture content: a pyro-ecophysiological approach
Year: 2025
Background Fuel moisture content is a key driver of fuel flammability and subsequent fire activity and behavior worldwide. Dead fuels passively exchange moisture with the atmosphere while live fuel moisture is confounded by a mixture of seasonal carbon and water cycle dynamics. Despite the significance of live fuel moisture content (LFMC) on wildland fire potential, attempts to model its variations seasonally and between species are often inconclusive or unsuccessful.ResultsHere we present a mechanistic LFMC model that uses easily measured live fuel…
Publication Type: Journal Article