Using two mechanistic ecosystem-fire models, Fire BGCv2 in the Jemez Mountains and LANDIS-II in the Kaibab, the authors projected contemporary climate and two future emissions scenarios (“warm-dry” and “hot-arid”) to the year 2100 to predict changes to forests and fire regimes in a ponderosa pine and a mixed-conifer ecosystem. They also modeled four management strategies (suppression-only, current treatment intensity, and three and six times current treatment intensity) to see if management may be able to counteract the effects of climate change on forest composition and structure.

The authors evaluated both climate and biophysical factors that influence the occurrence of low severity fire in the Southwest. Low severity fire is an important component of many high frequency, fire-adapted ecosystems in the southwest, so understanding those conditions which promote low severity fire is highly relevant to land managers.

The authors studied the spatial regeneration patterns of ponderosa pine within large patches of high severity fire, specifically regeneration distribution and height from distance to unburned edge.

The authors sampled burned and unburned mixed conifer forest stands in the midst of a drought (2014) to determine if prescribed fire can confer resistance to drought and reduce tree mortality in low elevation forests at three national parks in southern California.