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Displaying 1 - 20 of 482

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…
Author(s): Deborah S. Page-Dumroese, Stephen Cook, Bradford M. Kard, Martin F. Jurgensen, Chris A. Miller, Joanne M. Tirocke
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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,…
Author(s): J. Ayars, Robbie L. Emmet, Sarah B. Bassing, Olivia Sanderfoot, Sierra Raby, Alexandra Karambelas, Eric James, Ravan Ahmadov, Beth Gardner
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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…
Author(s): Charles C. Rhoades
Year Published:

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…
Author(s): Gavin M. Jones, Joshua F. Goldberg, Taylor M. Wilcox, Lauren B. Buckley, Catherine L. Parr, Ethan B. Linck, Emily D. Fountain, Michael K. Schwartz
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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…
Author(s): Alice Michel, Jacob R. Johnson, Richard Szeligowski, Euan G. Ritchie, Andrew Sih
Year Published:

The historical role of fire in sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) landscapes remains poorly understood, yet is important to inform management and conservation of obligate species such as the threatened Gunnison Sage-grouse (GUSG; Centrocercus minimus…
Author(s): Petar Z. Simic, Jonathan D. Coop, Ellis Q. Margolis, Jessica R. Young, Manuel K. Lopez
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Productivity is strongly associated with terrestrial species richness patterns, although the mechanisms underpinning such patterns have long been debated. Despite considerable consumption of primary productivity by fire, its influence on global…
Author(s): Max A. Moritz, Enric Batllori, Benjamin M. Bolker
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Background: Predators and fire shape ecosystems across the globe and these two forces can interact to impact prey populations. This issue is particularly pertinent in Australia where there is considerable scientific and public interest in the post-…
Author(s): Tim S. Doherty, Darcy J. Watchorn, Vivianna Miritis, Angela J. L. Pestell
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An extreme drought from 2012–2016 and concurrent bark beetle outbreaks in California, USA resulted in widespread tree mortality. We followed changes in tree mortality, stand structure, and surface and canopy fuels over four years after the peak of…
Author(s): Charlotte C. Reed, Sharon M. Hood, Danny R. Cluck, Sheri L. Smith
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Anticipating consequences of disturbance interactions on ecosystem structure and function is a critical management priority as disturbance activity increases with warming climate. Across the Northern Hemisphere, extensive tree mortality from recent…
Author(s): Jenna E. Morris, Michele S. Buonanduci, Michelle Agne, Michael A. Battaglia, Daniel C. Donato, Brian J. Harvey
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Wildfires are common occurrences worldwide that can destroy vast forest areas and kill numerous animals in a few hours. Climate change, rising global temperatures, precipitation, the introduction of exotic species of plants (e.g., eucalyptus),…
Author(s): Andreia Garcês, Isabel Pires
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The concurrent impacts of fire suppression, climate-warming, and industrial forestry have dramatically altered the spatio-temporal patterns of fire across the globe. Pyrophilic insects are among the species most threatened by these changes due to…
Author(s): Aaron J. Bell
Year Published:

Columbian sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus columbianus) are endemic to grassland and shrub-steppe ecosystems of western North America, yet their distribution has contracted to <10% of their historical range. Primary threats to…
Author(s): Bryan S. Stevens, Courtney J. Conway, Jeffrey M. Knetter, Shane B. Roberts, Patrick Donnelly
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Bark beetle outbreaks and wildfires are two of the most prevalent disturbances that influence tree mortality, regeneration, and successional trajectories in western North American forests. Subboreal forests have experienced broad overlaps in these…
Author(s): Anna C. Talucci, Garrett W. Meigs, Anders Knudby, Meg A. Krawchuk
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The fire-exotic annual grass cycle is a severe threat to shrub-steppe rangelands, and a greater understanding of how livestock grazing relates to the problem is needed to guide effective management interventions. Grazing effects vary throughout…
Author(s): Christopher R. Anthony, Matthew J. Germino
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Background: Mountain pine beetle (MPB) is a native disturbance agent across most pine forests in the western US. Climate changes will directly and indirectly impact frequencies and severities of MPB outbreaks, which can then alter fuel…
Author(s): Robert E. Keane, Barbara J. Bentz, Lisa M. Holsinger, Victoria A. Saab, Rachel A. Loehman
Year Published:

Over the past several decades, the management of historically frequent-fire forests in the western U.S. has received significant attention due to the linked ecological and social risks posed by the increased occurrence of large, contiguous patches…
Author(s): Scott M. Ritter, Chad M. Hoffman, Michael A. Battaglia, Theresa B. Jain
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Ecologists have long debated the relative importance of biotic interactions versus species-specific habitat preferences in shaping patterns of ecological dominance. In western North America, cycles of fire disturbance are marked by transitions…
Author(s): Addison G. Allen, Zachary P. Roehrs, R. Scott Seville, Hayley C. Lanier
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Wildfires produce a mosaic of burned and unburned patches across varying temporal and spatial scales and provide a range of essential ecosystem services. Fire perimeters mark the separation between the burned and unburned matrix of a fire. Analysis…
Author(s): Kiera A. P. Macauley, Neal McLoughlin, Jennifer L. Beverly
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Earth's rapidly warming climate is propelling us towards an increasingly fire-prone future. Currently, knowledge of the extent and characteristics of animal mortality rates during fire remains rudimentary, hindering our ability to predict how animal…
Author(s): Chris J. Jolly, Christopher R. Dickman, Tim S. Doherty, Lily M. van Eeden, William L. Geary, Sarah Legge, John C. Z. Woinarski, Dale G. Nimmo
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