A recent study in press with Ecological Monographs collected and analyzed a long-term data set of fluctuations in perennial plant communities in the eastern Mojave Desert. During the 37-year period, most measures of the native perennial plant community changed temporally.
Read MoreThis paper compares tree mortality patterns in treated (thinned and/or burned) forested stands to untreated stands and how these treatments affect forest response to drought.
Read MoreFor many fire-adapted ecosystems, prescribed fires and managed wildfires are valuable tools for mimicking and maintaining natural fire’s full assortment of invaluable Ecosystem Services.
Read MoreIn light of climatic trends, historic fire suppression, increasing incidence of large wildfires, and shrinking budgets, the authors propose a planting strategy that prioritizes accessibility, while reducing efforts within the dispersal range of seed trees and in areas with a high cost to probability-of-success ratio.
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Both climatic and land use factors will have an effect on long-term spatial and temporal patterns of fire and structure loss within California.
Read MoreIn the Sierra Nevada most historical stand structure studies have focused on drier pine-dominated forests. This paper helps to fill a gap by contributing information on historical structure in more mesic forests with more moderate amounts of moisture.
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Research results show that Knobcone pine populations are extremely dynamic, with losses, gains, extirpation and colonization occurring among different populations across its range.
Read MoreIf the fire has characteristics that do not fit the historical fire regime with which the fire-adapted ecosystem has developed, then it may impact resilience and cause a shift in ecosystem characteristics.
Read MoreThe authors show how live fuel moisture content in chaparral shrub species is highly variable. This brief offers new recommendations on how to best use live fuel moisture content as a measure of fire risk.
Read MoreUnlike the well-studied, large conifer forests of the northern Sierra Nevada, southern California conifer forests are less-studied and represent only about 8% of the landscape. But much like the forests to the north, these valuable ecosystems are at risk of type-converting to other vegetation types.
Read MoreA 2019 study by Meyer and others showed that the reestablishment of natural fire regimes can be highly effective at restoring the structure and understory diversity of red fir forests but have little effect on the health of red fir under increasing moisture stress associated with drought and warming climate.
Read MoreMany of California’s research natural areas exhibit high to moderate departure from their natural fire regime. Without restoration or maintenance of the natural fire regime, the ecological integrity of some natural areas could be lost.
Read MoreLocating forest treatments in the right places can make them as or more effective than treating everywhere, shows new research out by Krofcheck et al. 2018. The authors found that restoring less acres strategically can have the same impacts as treating more area indiscriminately in terms of reducing high severity wildfire risk and carbon instability.
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Read MoreTo test the Interval Squeeze Model concept on real, fire sensitive woody species, these authors created a process-based model of a plant population that could be used for any serotinous, fire-killed species.
Read MoreThis brief summarizes qualitative interviews to examine landowner responses to a reforestation program following a devastating wildfire in the central Sierra Nevada.
Read MoreThe impacts of mechanical mastication fuel treatments on chaparral vegetation are discussed in this brief.
Read MoreThe authors of the paper explore the effectiveness of using wildfires as a tool to restore historical forest structures.
Read MoreStrategically placed landscape area fuel treatments (SPLATs) in the Sierra Nevada were put to the test in this study when the American Fire burned through previously treated areas. Both fire effects and initial post-fire conifer regeneration were investigated.
Read MoreDo you have any idea just how valuable chaparral is? Most of us don't realize that these often overlooked lands provide essential benefits worth billions of dollars. The four southernmost forests in California actually contain more chaparral shrubland than forest. This animation describes the benefits and values of these often under-appreciated lands.
View on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-8KFNr1c9o
Read MoreThis paper builds our understand of how the spatial distribution of different ignition sources have varied over time and space.
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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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