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Scientists have spent decades trying to understand how to best promote resilient forests and reduce fuels. A golden endeavor certainly. Is the best approach using a series of prescribed burns? Or is it mechanically cutting trees? Or does the…
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Background: Sagebrush ecosystems are experiencing increases in wildfire extent and severity. Most research on vegetation treatments that reduce fuels and fire risk has been short term (2–3 years) and focused on ecological responses. We review…
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We find that wildfire are part of a distinct temporal pattern of soil moisture, vegetation water content and atmospheric dryness dynamics that begin about 5 months before the incidents. We analyze anomalies in soil moisture, vegetation water…
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Wildfires in forested ecosystems are increasing in severity and extent. The adaptations many plants have acquired in response to their natural fire regime may not be sufficient to allow some species to persist. This could impact the forest…
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Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) stands throughout the western United States provide valuable ecosystem services but can be lost via succession from aspen to conifer. Forest managers are cutting conifers, but disposal of cut wood can be…
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Fuel treatments are commonly applied to increase resilience to wildfire in dry and historically frequent-fire forests of western North America. The long-term effects of fuel treatments on forest structure, fuel profiles (amount and configuration of…
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Standing dead tree stems (snags) become abundant following disturbances like bark beetle outbreaks and stand-replacing fire. Snags are an important element of wildlife habitat, and when they eventually fall can injure or damage people and…
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Many nations administer national forest inventory programs for unbiased estimation of forest attributes over broad spatial and temporal extents. However, management and conservation decisions often demand reliable estimates for finer spatiotemporal…
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The concept of fire resilience has become increasingly relevant as society looks to understand and respond to recent wildfire events. In particular, the idea of a 'fire resilient landscape' is one which has been utilised to explore how society can…
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Temperate conifer forests stressed by climate change could be lost through tree regeneration decline in the interior of high-severity fires, resulting in type conversion to non-forest vegetation from seed-dispersal limitation, competition, drought…
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Wildfires and fire seasons are commonly rated largely on the simple metric of area burned (more hectares: bad). A seemingly paradoxical narrative frames large fire seasons as a symptom of a forest health problem (too much fire), while simultaneously…
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Background: Planting tree seedlings may help promote forest recovery after extensive high-severity wildfire. We evaluated the influence of growing environment characteristics on the performance of seedlings planted in the 2016 Cold Springs Fire…
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Climate warming, land use change, and altered fire regimes are driving ecological transformations that can have critical effects on Earth's biota. Fire refugia - locations that are burned less frequently or severely than their surroundings - may act…
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Prescribed fall burning is commonly used worldwide on rangeland sites to enhance vegetation resources and restore disturbed ecosystems, but little is known about how it may alter microbial communities and insect activities. We used two site…
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Background: Due to anthropogenic climate change and historic fire suppression, wildfire frequency and severity are increasing across the western United States. Whereas the indirect effects of fire on wildlife via habitat change are well studied,…
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Prescribed fire is a useful tool for building resilient landscapes in fire-prone areas across the globe. In the western U.S., prescribed fire is employed by federal, state, and Tribal land managers and planned during particular…
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Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) has a reputation for indestructibility, but recent events in the Southern Rockies may have pushed even this stalwart species to the edge. Research by Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) scientist…
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Monitoring ecosystem status and recovery potential is critical for natural resource management. Recent evidence in ecological studies suggest a fundamental link between ecosystem physical structure and function, including resistance and recovery.…
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Fire regimes are a major agent of evolution in terrestrial animals. Changing fire regimes and the capacity for rapid evolution in wild animal populations suggests the potential for rapid, fire-driven adaptive animal evolution in the Pyrocene. Fire…
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Fire regimes are changing dramatically worldwide due to climate change, habitat conversion, and the suppression of Indigenous landscape management. Although there has been extensive work on plant responses to fire, including their adaptations to…
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