Category Archives: Loren Stutts
Forest Restoration in a Surface Fire-Dependent Ecosystem: An Example from a Mixed Conifer Forest, Southwestern Colorado, USA
Vulnerability of Landscape Carbon Fluxes to Future Climate and Fire in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Invasion of Norway Spruce Diversifies the Fire Regime in Boreal European Forests
Ohlson and team do not claim their specific findings on the linkages between boreal forest composition and wildfire to be universal, but instead wish to raise awareness to the fact that tree species composition is an important factor capable of regulating the fire regime. They suggest replacing the concept of fire disturbance as a major determinant of boreal forest composition in favor of maintaining biological continuity
Impacts and Implication of an Intensifying Fire Regime on Alaskan Boreal Forest Composition and Albedo
Impacts of Climate Change on Fire Regimes and Carbon Stocks of the U.S. Pacific Northwest
The vegetation types and carbon groupings present in the U.S. Pacific Northwest (PNW) are closely tied to fire seasons that rely on fire suppression and climate change. To evaluate the effects of current climate change on PNW carbon and fire relationships, the team created a new fire suppression rule for the MC1 general vegetation model and ran simulations under three climate change scenarios (Rogers et al. 2011). Moderately moist forests may be vulnerable to future fires and emit large amounts of carbon while drier forests displayed carbon sequestration despite projections of increased fire frequencies under climate change. The simulations showed substantial increases in area burned and burn severity suggesting that fire suppression will become less effective leaving ecosystems vulnerable to larger fires in the future. –Loren Stutts
Rogers, B. M., R. P. Neilson, R. Drapek, J. M. Lenihan, J. R. Wells, D. Bachelet, and B. E. Law 2011. Impacts of limate change on fire regimes and carbon stocks of the U.S. Pacific Northwest, J. Geophys. Res., 116, G03037, oi:10.1029/2011JG001695.
Given the diverse vegetation of the PNW, Rogers and his team use a dynamic general vegetation model (DGVM) with specific suppression rules on regional domains to understand the future impact of fire in the PNW. To assess which processes may control the PNW’s carbon budget (or the balance between spring precipitation, CO2 fertilization, summer drought and intensity of fire season) and fire regimes, the team used the MAPSS-CENTURY 1 model (MC1), a DGVM that captures the feedbacks and interactions between major ecosystem processes. They ran the MC1 with their created fire suppression rule over the PNW on a fine scale grid a grid that represents geological variation on very fine scales, in this case using 30 arc-seconds resolution. They ran this MC1 over the PNW under historical climates and three projected future climates, and performed sensitivity analyses to emphasize potential changes.
For the historical vegetation types and climates, the team used three regions in western Oregon and Washington: Western Forests, Eastern Forests, and the Columbia Plateau. The Western Forests experience high rainfall with long intervals of no fire, the Eastern Forests are drier and burn more often, while the Columbia Plateau is the driest region. Historical climate data were obtained from these regions and modeled at a 30 arc- second resolution. Three general circulation models (GCMs) were used to obtain the three future climate projections: CSIRO Mk3, MIROC 3.2 medres, and Hadley CM3 (CSIRO, MIROC, and Hadley) chosen for their range of temperature changes.
The team then used the MC1 to simulate the most common vegetation types with full fire for the historical and future periods under the three climate projections. In terms of historical comparisons, MCI results were favorable compared to historical observations although there was some disagreement. In terms of the three climate projections and their precipitation, the CSIRO projection is cool and wet, MIROC is hot and wet, while Hadley is hot and dry. With MIROC and Hadley, the growing season was lengthened and exaggerated the already strong seasonal cycles which increased net primary productivity (NPP) during the rainy season and decreased summer NPP by amplifying summer drought. Under the milder conditions of CSIRO, NPP increases. Under all climate projections simulated fire increased across the domain. Under CSIRO and MIROC these increases surface late in the twenty first century while with Hadley’s conditions create large fires in the early to mid-twenty-first century. Due to larger and more intense fires in the Western and Eastern Forests and the woodiness of the Columbia Plateau, under all three scenarios burn severities increase across the domain through the twenty first century. The simulated twenty first century PNW carbon budget balances biomass losses from summer drought and fire and biomass gains from higher rainy season NPP. The domain gains carbon emissions under CSIRO and gains less under MIROC but loses emissions under Hadley.
Sensitivity analyses were run to assess the influence of fire and fire suppression on the carbon balance. MC1 was first run with fire suppression off (full fire) and with all fires off (no fire). Fire suppression creates less burn area and biomass consumed than full fire yet when compared to results for historical periods with the identical fire rules, fire suppression results in greater increases in burn area and biomass consumption than does full fire under all scenarios. Current fire suppression efforts may not be as effective against future fires. Simulated, observed, and historical fire suppression causes elevated fuel loads which suggests intensification of future PNW fire regimes yet because biomass consumption is less and carbon is gained after the initiation of simulated fire suppression, suppression creates smaller losses than full fire simulations (except for under Hadley).
Research suggests that fire regimes will be amplified during the twenty first century. The MC1 illustrates an increase in fire intensity and severity, worsened by the history of fire suppression.
Pathways for Climate Change Effects on Fire: Models, Data, and Uncertainties
As the climate continues to warm, fire activity has gained importance because of the way in which it affects the biosphere and the atmosphere. Current research has focused on measuring the changing patterns in wildland fire activity, mainly area burned and fire frequency, with less emphasis on understanding the factors responsible for these changing patterns. To understand these factors, research must observe fire history records but incorporate changes in vegetation and changes in human activities alongside history records (Hessl et al. 2011). –Loren Stutts
Hessl, A. E., 2011. Pathways for Climate Change Effects on Fire: Model, Data, and Uncertainties. Progress in Physical Geography vol. 35, 393-407, doi: 10.1177/0309133311407654.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that in areas where drought is persistent, fire intensity and frequency will increase. These predictions are supported by many modeling studies but few empirical studies have attempted to document changes in fire activity. To better understand the causes responsible for changes in fire activity and better project future changes in fire seasons, researchers must study a combination of fire history data, model-based studies, and empirical studies.
Because the relationship between fire and climate respond to vegetation and fuel, new models for predicting fire activity should include potential changes in vegetation and fuel structure as a result of climate change. Using empirical evidence to support climate change impact on fire season is often difficult because of the long term, consistent records of fire occurrence needed to detect change. Tree rings, sedimentary charcoal, and soil charcoal are the three fire history methods used to predict fire regimes and to understand the relationship between fire and climate.
After reviewing empirical, model, and fire history studies, the author suggests three pathways in which fire seasons respond to climate change: changes in fuel condition, fuel volume, and ignitions. Fuel condition refers to the moisture or aridity of grasslands, woodlands, or shrubland, while fuel volume refers to changes in density of plants, trees, and shrubs as a result of drier or wetter conditions, while ignitions refer to the ability of fuels to be ignited by lightening or other natural causes and/or by humans.
Because empirical and model-based studies should better define human impact on fuel volume, ignitions and density, the author proposes that research use hindcasting or models of vegetation and fire during past climates to help justify model projections of fire activity. This would improve fire climate models through its applicability across land-use histories and types of vegetation. To further understand the interactions between climate change and human activities, research must include fire history records from areas with varied land use. Projections of fire activity should address the complexity of changing human activities, vegetation, and climate.