Research Database
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Effects of season and interval of prescribed burns on pyrogenic carbon in ponderosa pine stands in the southern Blue Mountains, Oregon, USA
Year: 2019
In ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests of the western United States, prescribed burns are used to reduce fuel loads and restore historical fire regimes. The season of and interval between burns can have complex consequences for the ecosystem, including the production of pyrogenic carbon (PyC). PyC plays a crucial role in soil carbon cycling, displaying turnover times that are orders of magnitude longer than unburned organic matter. This work investigated how the season of and interval between prescribed burns affects soil organic matter, including the formation and retention of PyC, in a…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Contributions of fire refugia to resilient ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer forest landscapes
Year: 2019
Altered fire regimes can drive major and enduring compositional shifts or losses of forest ecosystems. In western North America, ponderosa pine and dry mixed‐conifer forest types appear increasingly vulnerable to uncharacteristically extensive, high‐severity wildfire. However, unburned or only lightly impacted forest stands that persist within burn mosaics—termed fire refugia—may serve as tree seed sources and promote landscape recovery. We sampled tree regeneration along gradients of fire refugia proximity and density at 686 sites within the perimeters of 12 large wildfires that occurred…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Influence of fire refugia spatial pattern on post-fire forest recovery in Oregon’s Blue Mountains
Year: 2019
Context Fire regimes in many dry forests of western North America are substantially different from historical conditions, and there is concern about the ability of these forests to recover following severe wildfire. Fire refugia, unburned or low-severity burned patches where trees survived fire, may serve as essential propagule sources that enable forest regeneration. Objectives To quantify the influence of fire refugia spatial pattern and other biophysical factors on the process of post-fire tree regeneration; in particular examining both the proximity and density of surrounding refugia to…
Publication Type: Journal Article