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Historical pre-settlement conditions in ponderosa pine ecosystems ranged from savannas (< 30% canopy cover) with contiguous grasslands and scattered tree groups, to forests with isolated mosaic-meadows surrounded by trees. We use the term mosaic-…
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Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) has been disappearing from high mountain landscapes due to mountain pine beetle outbreaks, white pine blister rust, human intrusions, and fire exclusion. It is currently a candidate species for listing under the…
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Background: Fuel reduction treatments have been widely implemented across the western US in recent decades for both fire protection and restoration. Although research has demonstrated that combined thinning and burning effectively reduces crown fire…
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New fire disturbance regimes under accelerating global environmental change can have unprecedented consequences for ecosystem resilience, lessening ecosystem natural regeneration. In the Mediterranean Basin, firedependent obligate seeder forests…
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Fire creates challenges and opportunities for wildlife through rapid destruction, modification and creation of habitat. Fire has spatially variable effects on landscapes; however, for species that benefit from the ephemeral resource patches created…
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Interactions between fire and nonnative, annual plant species (that is, “the grass/fire cycle”) represent one of the greatest threats to sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems and associated wildlife, including the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus…
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Changing climate and increasing area burned pose a challenge to forest carbon (C) storage, which is compounded by an elevated risk of high‐severity wildfire due to long‐term fire suppression in the western US. Restoration treatments that reduce tree…
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The development of frameworks for better-understanding ecological syndromes and putative evolutionary strategies of plant adaptation to fire has recently received a flurry of attention, including a new model hypothesizing that plants have diverged…
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Wildfires have become larger and more severe over the past several decades on Colorado’s Front Range, catalyzing greater investments in forest management intended to mitigate wildfire risks. The complex ecological, social, and political context of…
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Over the past 15 years, 3 million hectares of forests have been converted into shrublands or grasslands in the Mediterranean countries of the European Union. Fire and drought are the main drivers underlying this deforestation. Here we present a…
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Abrupt ecological changes occur rapidly relative to typical rates of ecosystem change and are increasingly observed in ecosystems worldwide, thereby challenging adaptive capacities. Abrupt ecological changes can arise from many processes, only some…
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The proposed research will help managers understand how early soil ecosystem responses to fuel reduction treatments with prescribed fire may or may not be indicative of longer term responses. This research is necessary for better establishing, in…
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In this issue of the GSD Update, we feature selected studies of the RMRS Grassland, Shrubland and Desert Ecosystems Science Program (GSD) that focus on the theme of fire. Significant results of recent research and science delivery by GSD scientists…
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Natural resource managers sow grass, forb, and shrub seeds across millions of hectares of public lands in the western United States to restore sagebrush‐steppe ecosystems burned by wildfire. The effects of post‐fire vegetation treatments on insect…
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Prescribed burning is a primary tool for habitat restoration and management in fire-adapted grasslands. Concerns about detrimental effects of burning on butterfly populations, however, can inhibit implementation of treatments. Burning in cool and…
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Wildfire is a common occurrence in the Northern Rockies and many tree species have adaptations to survive and regenerate after fire. The following information provides a general understanding of fire resistance and regeneration traits and strategies…
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The sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystem extends across a large portion of the Western United States, and the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is one of the iconic species of this ecosystem. Greater sage-grouse populations occur in 11…
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An understanding of how historical fire and structure in dry forests (ponderosa pine, dry mixed conifer) varied across the western USA remains incomplete. Yet, fire strongly affects ecosystem services, and forest restoration programs are underway.…
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Globally, wildfire size and frequency has increased in the last thirty years across numerous ecosystems. Models predict that trend to continue with increases in temperature and shifts in seasonal precipitation caused by climate change. In the…
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Environmental change is accelerating in the 21st century, but how multiple drivers may interact to alter forest resilience remains uncertain. In forests affected by large high-severity disturbances, tree regeneration is a resilience linchpin that…
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