Research Database
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5
REVIEW: Searching for resilience: addressing the impacts of changing disturbance regimes on forest ecosystem services
Year: 2016
The provisioning of ecosystem services to society is increasingly under pressure from global change. Changing disturbance regimes are of particular concern in this context due to their high potential impact on ecosystem structure, function and composition. Resilience-based stewardship is advocated to address these changes in ecosystem management, but its operational implementation has remained challenging. We review observed and expected changes in disturbance regimes and their potential impacts on provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting ecosystem services, concentrating on…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Did the 2002 Hayman Fire, Colorado, USA, Burn with Uncharacteristic Severity?
Year: 2016
There is considerable interest in evaluating whether recent wildfires in dry conifer forests of western North America are burning with uncharacteristic severity—that is, with a severity outside the historical range of variability. In 2002, the Hayman Fire burned an unlogged 3400 ha dry conifer forest landscape in the Colorado Front Range, USA, that had been the subject of previous fire history and forest age structure research. We opportunistically leveraged pre-existing data from this research, in combination with post-fire aerial imagery, to provide insight into whether the Hayman Fire’s…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Ecosystem resilience is evident 17 years after fire in Wyoming big sagebrush ecosystems
Year: 2016
Recent policy has focused on prevention of wildfire in the sagebrush steppe in an effort to protect habitat for the greater sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). Historically, fire return intervals in Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis) ecosystems were 50–100 yr or more, but invasive species, climate change, and a legacy of intensive grazing practices have led to degraded rangeland condition, altered fire regimes and fire effects, and declines in sagebrush cover. Little is known about the long-term impacts of fire in this ecosystem in areas where grazing pressure…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Wildfire, climate, and invasive grass interactions negatively impact an indicator species by reshaping sagebrush ecosystems
Year: 2016
Iconic sagebrush ecosystems of the American West are threatened by larger and more frequent wildfires that can kill sagebrush and facilitate invasion by annual grasses, creating a cycle that alters sagebrush ecosystem recovery post disturbance. Thwarting this accelerated grass–fire cycle is at the forefront of current national conservation efforts, yet its impacts on wildlife populations inhabiting these ecosystems have not been quantified rigorously. Within a Bayesian framework, we modeled 30 y of wildfire and climatic effects on population rates of change of a sagebrush-obligate species,…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Seasonal burning of juniper woodlands and spatial recovery of herbaceous vegetation
Year: 2016
Decreased fire activity has been recognized as a main cause of expansion and infilling of North American woodlands. Piñon-juniper (Pinus-Juniperus) woodlands in the western United States have expanded in area 2–10-fold since the late 1800s. Woodland control measures using chainsaws, heavy equipment and prescribed fire are used to restore big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) steppe plant communities and reduce woody fuel loading. Immediate objectives in the initial control of piñon-juniper are; (1) recovery of perennial herbaceous species to restore site composition, structure and…
Publication Type: Journal Article