期刊
ECOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS
卷 81, 期 1, 页码 3-24出版社
WILEY
DOI: 10.1890/10-1176.1
关键词
bark beetles; chronosequence; compound disturbances; disturbance interactions; fire behavior modeling; fuel loads; Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem; insect-fire interactions; linked disturbances; lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta; mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae; Rocky Mountains
类别
资金
- Joint Fire Science Program
- Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
- USFS Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center (WWETAC)
- Le Fonds Quebecois de Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT)
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
Disturbance interactions have received growing interest in ecological research in the last decade. Fire and bark beetle outbreaks have recently increased in severity and extent across western North America, raising concerns about their possible interactions. Although it is often presumed that bark beetle outbreaks increase probability of active crown fire by producing high loads of surface and canopy dead fuels, empirical data are scarce and results are ambivalent. We combined field measurements and modeling to address the following question: How do fuel characteristics, microclimate, and potential fire behavior change with time since a severe mountain pine beetle outbreak in Pinus contorta forests of Greater Yellowstone (Wyoming, USA)? We measured surface and canopy fuels, and soil surface temperature in a time-since-beetle-outbreak chronosequence (n=35 sites) from undisturbed to 36 years post-outbreak, including stands in red-and gray-needle stages (respectively, 1-2 and 3-5 years post-outbreak). Field data were used to parameterize the fire behavior model NEXUS and predict potential fire behavior at each site. Dead surface fuel loads of all size categories did not differ among undisturbed, red, and gray-stage stands. Compared to undisturbed sites, red and gray-stage sites had on average 53% lower canopy bulk density, 42% lower canopy fuel load, and 29% lower canopy moisture content, but had similar canopy base heights (3.1 m). In subsequent decades, coarse wood loads doubled and canopy base height declined to 0 m. Modeling results suggested that undisturbed, red, and gray-stage stands were unlikely to exhibit transition of surface fires to tree crowns (torching), and that the likelihood of sustaining an active crown fire (crowning) decreased from undisturbed to gray-stage stands. Simulated fire behavior was little affected by beetle disturbance when wind speed was either below 40 km/h or above 60 km/h, but at intermediate wind speeds, probability of crowning in red-and gray-stage stands was lower than in undisturbed stands, and old post-outbreak stands were predicted to have passive crown fires. Results were consistent across a range of fuel moisture scenarios. Our results suggest that mountain pine beetle outbreaks in Greater Yellowstone may reduce the probability of active crown fire in the short term by thinning lodgepole pine canopies.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据