This brief discusses and compares the two methods used to estimate historic tree densities of the Sierra Nevada. The study suggests that density estimates from distance-based estimators support the historical density estimates derived from timber inventories and reconstructions.
Read MoreThis brief is based on a synthesis that covers recent research documenting effects of introducing fire in fire suppressed forests, provides necessary background information to understand the breadth of the problem, provides realistic management solutions to reduce impacts and defines monitoring techniques to identify treatment effects.
Read MoreUnderstanding the relative importance of biological and environmental characteristics conducive to a moderate severity wildfire can help managers predict outcomes to better guide when and where fires can safely be managed.
Read MoreThe WUI is often synonymous with fire risk to buildings, but this research suggests that this is not the case in all fire-prone states. While fire outreach was often present near areas where buildings are destroyed by wildfire, many communities are established after major fires.
Read MoreTo revegetate disturbed desert lands, practitioners often reestablish fertile islands as a first step in restoring native plants and associated fauna on disturbed desert sites. This research brief discusses the pros and cons of this approach considering native and non-native species.
Read MoreThis brief describes the various patterns and drivers of chaparral plant diversity, including community- (alpha), successional- (beta), and landscape-scale (gamma) drivers.
Read MoreThough often inconspicuous, lichens play critical ecological roles in many terrestrial ecosystems. This paper discusses how lichens respond to fire severity and how fast lichens recolonize after fire.
Read MoreTo help managers make science-based decisions that incorporate wildlife information, this study experimentally compared the effects of two pre-fire vegetation reduction treatments (prescribed burning and shrub mastication) on the chaparral bird community.
Read MoreSmoke cued germination occurs in an incredible diversity of plants in widely separated, fire-prone Mediterranean Climate Ecosystems around the world. This research suggests that convergent evolution might be the explanation.
Read MoreWith rising temperatures, future droughts and subsequent extreme fire weather forecasted, how will management, carbon storage and emissions and fire severity interact?
Read MoreTake a walk down memory lane as we explore the history of collaboration vs. competition in taxonomy of manzanita and the characters behind the discovery.
Read MoreIn a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers with the Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Geological Survey showed that, across the U.S. on landscapes dominated by humans, climate has played a relatively small role in determining wildfire activity.
Read MoreThis brief describes the advantages and evolution of postfire epicormic resprouting, where trees resprout from the trunk or stem of trees. This form of resprouting is more rare than resprouting from the base of plants and occurs in Australia and South Africa, as well as in California, the Mediterranean Basin and the Canary Islands in the northern hemisphere.
Read MoreThis research brief discusses national trends in rebuilding and new development after wildfire, as well as policy choices and adaptation measures local governments and communities pursued after fire, through case studies.
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Bumble bees are important pollinators of native plant species. This brief provides information that can support managers in making nuanced decisions to benefit bumble bees during post-fire management.
Read MoreAuthors analyzed the 2013 Rim Fire to see how fire severity varied with factors. Potential factors included the proportion of the landscape previously treated or burned, fire weather, vegetation, and water balance.
Read MoreFuture moderate and high-severity fires may pose a substantial threat to the long-term persistence of the California spotted owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis).
Read MoreFuture climate-induced shifts in fire regimes and plant distributions could uncouple vegetation from the fire regimes for which they are adapted. The brief discusses changes to fire-adapted plant communities under modeled climate change scenarios and their implications on the Kaibab Plateau landscape.
Read MoreUsing a geodatabase, researchers found that the maximum elevation extent of wildfires and the probability of wildfire occurrence above 3000 m have increased over the last century in the Sierra Nevada. This trend may accelerate vegetation shifts towards upper montane forest types in current subalpine systems.
Photo courtesy of Sasha Berleman
Read MoreTwo recent studies reviewed here, have addressed the question of what distance into fuel treatments fire needs to travel before fire severity is diminished.
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The California Fire Science Consortium is divided into 4 geographic regions and 1 wildland-urban interface (WUI) team. Statewide coordination of this program is based at UC Berkeley.
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This regional Fire Science Exchange is one of 15 regional fire science exchanges.
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