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There is widespread concern that fire exclusion has led to an unprecedented threat of uncharacteristically severe fires in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex. Laws) and mixed-conifer forests of western North America. These extensive montane…
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Accurate assessment of changing fire regimes is important, since climatic change and people may be promoting more wildfires. Government wildland fire policies and restoration programmes in dry western US forests are based on the hypothesis that high…
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There is currently insufficient information in the United States about residents' planned evacuation actions during wildfire events, including any intent to remain at or near home during fire events. This is incompatible with growing evidence that…
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Bark beetle outbreaks and wildfires are principal drivers of change in western North American forests, and both have increased in severity and extent in recent years. These two agents of disturbance interact in complex ways to shape forest structure…
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Climate projections for the next 20-50 years forecast higher temperatures and variable precipitation for many landscapes in the western United States. Climate changes may cause or contribute to threshold shifts, or tipping points, where relatively…
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In many U.S. federally designated wilderness areas, wildfires are likely to burn of their own accord due to favorable management policies and remote location. Previous research suggested that limitations on fire size can result from the evolution of…
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Wildfire is one of the two most significant disturbance agents (the other being insects) in forest ecosystems of the Western United States, and in a warmer climate, will drive changes in forest composition, structure, and function (Dale et al. 2001…
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Sequestration of carbon (C) in forests has the potential to mitigate the effects of climate change by offsetting future emissions of greenhouse gases. However, in dry temperate forests, wildfire is a natural disturbance agent with the potential to…
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Until recently, most contemporary ecologists have ignored or diminished anecdotal historical accounts and anthropologists' reports about aboriginal fire in the Great Basin. Literature review shows that Indians practiced regular use of fire for…
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Natural vegetation of the Great Plains is primarily grassland and shrubland ecosystems with trees occurring in scattered areas along streams and rivers, on planted woodlots, as isolated forests such as the Black Hills of South Dakota, and near the…
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Purple threeawn (Aristida purpurea Nutt. varieties) is a native grass capable of increasing on rangelands, forming near monocultures, and creating a stable state. Productive rangelands throughout the Great Plains and Intermountain West have…
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Fire behavior associated with wild and prescribed fires is variable, but plays a vital role in how a plant responds to fire. Understanding the relationship between fire behavior and rangeland plant community response will help to improve the use of…
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Land use and fire exclusion have contributed to an increase in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest extent and density in west-central Idaho. Open areas within ponderosa pine forests are decreasing, thus reducing habitat for the endemic northern…
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The state of knowledge about climatic effects on forests of the Northwest region was recently summarized in a peer reviewed assessment of these effects in Washington (Littell et al. 2009, 2010) and a white paper on climatic effects on Oregon…
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Ecological systems often exhibit resilient states that are maintained through negative feedbacks. In ponderosa pine forests, fire historically represented the negative feedback mechanism that maintained ecosystem resilience; fire exclusion reduced…
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Atmospheric organic aerosol concentrations depend in part on the gas-particle partitioning of primary organic aerosol (POA) emissions. Consequently, heating and dilution were used to investigate the volatility of biomass-burning smoke particles from…
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Postfire salvage logging is currently a controversial issue because of the impact that the removal of snags has on ecosystem structure and function. Although it is a common practice worldwide, the absence of comparisons across regions hinders the…
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Stand-level spatial pattern influences key aspects of resilience and ecosystem function such as disturbance behavior, regeneration, snow retention, and habitat quality in frequent-fire pine and mixed-conifer forests. Reference sites, from both pre-…
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Designing woody fuel sampling methods that quickly, accurately and efficiently assess biomass at relevant spatial scales requires extensive knowledge of each sampling method's strengths, weaknesses and tradeoffs. In this study, we compared…
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The Western Mountain Initiative (WMI), a consortium of research groups in the Western United States, focuses on understanding and predicting responses-especially sensitivities, thresholds, resistance, and resilience-of mountain ecosystems to…
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