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Full Citation: Floyd, M. Lisa; Romme, William H.; Hanna, David D. 2000. Fire history and vegetation pattern in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, USA. Ecological Applications 10(6):1666-1680.
External Identifier(s): 10.1890/1051-0761(2000)010[1666:FHAVPI]2.0.CO;2
Digital Object Identifier
Location: Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, U.S.
Ecosystem types: Piñon-juniper woodlands; petran chaparral
Southwest FireCLIME Keywords: None
FRAMES Keywords: disturbance, Colorado, fire interval, vegetation patterns, Quercus gambelii, Mesa Verde National Park, pinyon-juniper woodlands, fire turnover time, petran chaparral, Amelanchier, Amelanchier utahensis, biogeography, Cercocarpus spp., Cercocarpus montanus, chaparral, cover, distribution, elevation, fire exclusion, fire frequency, fire intensity, fire management, fire regimes, fire sensitive plants, fire suppression, firebreak, forest management, histories, hardwood forest, Juniperus, Juniperus osteosperma, Juniperus scopulorum, national parks, Pinus spp., Pinus edulis, post-fire recovery, prehistoric fires, Quercus spp., resprouting, shrublands, shrubs, succession, topography, wildfires
View the FRAMES recordFire history and vegetation pattern in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, USA
Summary - what did the authors do and why?
The authors reconstructed the long-term fire history of petran chaparral and piñon-juniper woodland communities in Mesa Verde National Park.
Publication findings:
Fire and Ecosystem Effects Linkages
The authors estimated the “natural” fire return interval for petran chaparral and shrubland vegetation in Mesa Verde at approximately 100 years and for piñon-juniper woodlands at approximately 400 years. The authors suggest that these long fire return intervals are unique to Mesa Verde and stands exist within the park that have not burned since 1300 AD and may be some of the oldest in the Four Corners region. They possess unique structural and compositional characteristics in their current condition.