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View the FRAMES recordFire severity, size, and climate associations diverge from historical precedent along an ecological gradient in the Pinaleño Mountains, Arizona, USA
The authors reconstructed the fire regime before and after fire exclusion around approximately 1880 to determine if recent large, high-severity fire is within the natural range of variability for Sky Island ecosystems in the Pinaleño Mountains of Arizona, U.S.
The authors found that spreading fires in ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer forests were associated with prior wet conditions and larger fires affecting mesic forests were more strongly associated with extreme drought conditions the year of fire, historically. Currently, spreading fire only occurs during persistent drought, suggesting that fire suppression has altered fuels so that dry conifer sites are no longer fuel-limited, and fire regimes in these systems behave like more mesic mixed-conifer sites. Fire severity has also increased by four times that of previous large fires, resulting in high tree mortality and low regeneration in burn scars.
Climate and Fire Linkages
The authors found that spreading fires in ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer forests were associated with prior wet conditions and larger fires affecting mesic forests were more strongly associated with extreme drought conditions the year of fire, historically. Currently, spreading fire only occurs during persistent drought, suggesting that fire suppression has altered fuels so that dry conifer sites are no longer fuel-limited, and fire regimes in these systems behave like more mesic mixed-conifer sites.
The authors found that spreading fires in ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer forests were associated with prior wet conditions and larger fires affecting mesic forests were more strongly associated with extreme drought conditions the year of fire, historically. Currently, spreading fire only occurs during persistent drought, suggesting that fire suppression has altered fuels so that dry conifer sites are no longer fuel-limited, and fire regimes in these systems behave like more mesic mixed-conifer sites.
Fire and Ecosystem Effects Linkages
Fire severity has also increased by four times that of previous large fires, resulting in high tree mortality and low regeneration in burn scars.
Fire severity has also increased by four times that of previous large fires, resulting in high tree mortality and low regeneration in burn scars.