Delayed fire mortality has long‐term ecological effects across the Southern Appalachian landscape
[1];
[1]
- Forestry and Environmental Resources Department North Carolina State University Raleigh North Carolina USA
- Southern Research Station, Center for Forest Disturbance Science Athens Prescribed Fire Laboratory, U.S. Forest Service Athens Georgia USA
- Pacific Northwest Research Station Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment, U.S. Forest Service Corvallis Oregon USA
- Center for Geospatial Analytics North Carolina State University Raleigh North Carolina USA
Abstract Fire is a critical ecological process to the forests of the Southern Appalachians. Where fire was excluded from forest types that historically burned frequently, unanticipated changes can occur when fire is reintroduced. For example, the development of new fuel characteristics can change the patterns of fire mortality and associated ecological responses. To test the fire effects of delayed fire mortality (mortality initiated by fire that occurs subsequent to the fire year) in the Southern Appalachians, USA, we developed a fire‐effects model using both field studies and remote sensing. We then simulated these effects at a landscape scale to estimate broader ecological effects. Fire‐effects models that accounted for delayed mortality increased landscape biomass removed annually (~23%) and increased the number of sites with high light conditions (leaf area index < 4) when compared to simulations that only account for immediate mortality. While delayed mortality occurred across species and age classes, it was especially prevalent among older trees (>100 years old) and fire‐resistant species ( Quercus spp.). Overall, regeneration (trees <20 years old) changed very little, even with the inclusion of delayed mortality. This evidence suggests that, even when accounting for delayed mortality, individual fires are unlikely to shift the landscape composition toward the conditions of forests prior to fire exclusion and may even increase mesophication long term due to the loss of overstory dominant xeric trees.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 1873039
- Journal Information:
- Ecosphere, Journal Name: Ecosphere Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 13; ISSN 2150-8925
- Publisher:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Drivers and ecological impacts of a wildfire outbreak in the southern Appalachian Mountains after decades of fire exclusion
AmeriFlux US-LL3 Longleaf Pine - Red Dirt (Xeric site)