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Quaking aspen is generally considered to be a fire-adapted species because it regenerates prolifically after fire, and it can be replaced by more shade-tolerant tree species in the absence of fire. As early-successional aspen stands transition to…
Author(s): Douglas J. Shinneman, Kevin Krasnow, Susan K. McIlroy
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In montane forests of the Intermountain West composition and function are often defined by what happens with quaking aspen. Aspen is a pioneer species that regenerates quickly following disturbance and then establishes ecological conditions under…
Author(s): Samuel B. St. Clair, Paul C. Rogers, Michael R. Kuhns
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Wildland fuels are a critical factor in fire management because they are the one factor that managers can control. However, fuels have always been defined, described, and quantified in the context of inputs to fire behavior models. Wildland fuel…
Author(s): Robert E. Keane
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The loss of big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) on sites disturbed by fire has motivated restoration seeding and planting efforts. However, the resulting sagebrush establishment is often lower than desired, especially in dry areas. Sagebrush…
Author(s): Martha M. Brabec, Matthew J. Germino, Douglas J. Shinneman, David S. Pilliod, Susan K. McIlroy, Robert S. Arkle
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Large fires or “megafires” have been a major topic in wildland fire research and management for over a decade. There is great debate regarding the impacts of large fires. Many believe that they (1) are occurring too frequently, (2) are burning…
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Wildland fire management has risen to the forefront of land management and now receives greater social and political attention than ever before. As we progress through the 21st century, these areas of attention are continually presenting challenges…
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1. Anthropogenic global change compromises forest resilience, with profound impacts to ecosystem functions and services. This synthesis paper re flects on the current understanding of forest resilience and potential tipping points under environmental…
Author(s): Christopher P. O. Reyer, Niels Brouwers, Anja Rammig, Barry W. Brook, Jackie Epila, Robert F. Grant, Milena Holmgren, Fanny Langerwisch, Sebastian Leuzinger, Wolfgang Lucht, Belinda Medlyn, Marion Pfeifer, Jorg Steinkamp, Mark C. Vanderwel, Hans Verbeeck, Dora M. Villela
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If you are a curious reader with a knack for the analytical, you may be asking yourself, Why start a book about fire ecology with a mythological figure? And if you are a tried-and-true scientist, like we are, you may also be asking, Isn’t it a bit…
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It is hypothesized that climate impacts forest mosaics through dynamic ecological processes such as wildfires. However, climate-fire research has primarily focused on understanding drivers of fire frequency and area burned, largely due to scale…
Author(s): Crystal A. Kolden, John T. Abatzoglou, James A. Lutz, C. Alina Cansler, Jonathan T. Kane, Jan W. van Wagtendonk, Carl H. Key
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Forest restoration efforts require thinning operations to reduce tree density, wildfire risk, or insect and disease conditions to improve ecosystem processes and function. However, one issue with the thinned stands is to dispose of the residues.…
Author(s): Deborah S. Page-Dumroese, Christopher R. Keyes, Martin F. Jurgensen, William J. Massman, Bret W. Butler
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Recent increases in area burned in the western U.S. have raised concerns about the resilience of forests to large wildfires, particularly in dry mixed-conifer forests, where climate change and 20th-century land management have altered species…
Author(s): Philip E. Higuera, Kerry Kemp
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Sagebrush shrubland ecosystems in the Great Basin are prime examples of how altered successional trajectories can create dynamic fuel conditions and, thus, increase uncertainty about fire risk and behavior. Although fire is a natural disturbance in…
Author(s): Douglas J. Shinneman, David S. Pilliod, Robert S. Arkle, Nancy F. Glenn
Year Published:

Many semi-arid plant communities in western North America are dominated by big sagebrush. These ecosystems are being reduced in extent and quality due to economic development, invasive species, and climate change. These pervasive modifications have…
Author(s): Daniel Schlaepfer, Kyle A. Taylor, Victoria E. Pennington, Kellen N. Nelson, Trace E. Martyn, Caitlin M. Rottler, William Lauenroth, John Bradford
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Fire is natural in sagebrush (Artemisia L.) communities. In this study, we quantify effects of time since last burn (TSLB) on shrub cover over a 70-year (yr) fire chronosequence. We sampled mountain big sagebrush communities with very large-scale…
Author(s): Corey A. Moffet, J. Bret Taylor, D. Terrance Booth
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Recent bark beetle outbreaks in western North America have led to concerns regarding changes in fuel profiles and associated changes in fire behavior. Data are lacking for a range of infestation severities and time since outbreak, especially for…
Author(s): E. Matthew Hansen, Morris C. Johnson, Barbara J. Bentz, A. Steven Munson
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Induced defense is a common plant strategy in response to herbivory. Although abiotic damage, such as physical wounding, pruning, and heating, can induce plant defense, the effect of such damage by large-scale abiotic disturbances on induced…
Author(s): Sharon M. Hood, Anna Sala, Emily K. Heyerdahl, Marion Boutin
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The recent mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreak across western North America's interior lodgepole pine forests has altered the landscape such that the majority of wildfires in the region will now burn through MPB-affected stands. Study of plant…
Author(s): Marc Edwards, Meg A. Krawchuk, Philip J. Burton
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Recent large and severe outbreaks of native bark beetles have raised concern among the general public and land managers about potential for amplified fire activity in western North America. To date, the majority of studies examining bark beetle…
Author(s): Robert A. Andrus, Thomas T. Veblen, Brian J. Harvey, Sarah Hart
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In the western United States, mountain pine beetles (MPBs) have killed pine trees across 71,000 km2 of forest since the mid-1990s, leading to widespread concern that abundant dead fuels may increase area burned and exacerbate fire behavior. Although…
Author(s): Sarah Hart, Tania L. Schoennagel, Thomas T. Veblen, Teresa B. Chapman
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Although there is acute concern that insect-caused tree mortality increases the likelihood or severity of subsequent wildfire, previous studies have been mixed, with findings typically based on stand-scale simulations or individual events. This…
Author(s): Garrett W. Meigs, John L. Campbell, Harold S. Zald, John D. Bailey, David C. Shaw, Robert E. Kennedy
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