Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009. / Title from title screen (site viewed January 5, 2010). PDF text: xi, 217 p. ; 3 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3352769. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-153).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Central Florida, 2008. / Adviser: Michael Sigman. Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-122).

Fire is the most significant natural disturbance agent in the MSdm biogeoclimatic subzone and has a determinant role in the dynamics of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta ssp. latifolia Engelm.ex S.Wats.) dominated forests. Fire severity is a controversial term that usually refers to a qualitative measure of the fire effects on soil and vegetation and ultimately on ecosystem sustainability. The main objective of the thesis was to evaluate methods for quantifying and modelling the effects of fire severity on live biomass and dead organic matter and post-fire coarse woody debris (CWD) dynamics. A review of the representation of fire in models was conducted and several of the most commonly used fire models in North America have been described in terms of fire severity representation. The potential for developing the fire severity concept as a fire effects descriptor in an ecosystem management model were assessed. Severity matrices summarizing the probabilities of occurrence for fires of varying severity were constructed for two sites in the MSdm biogeoclimatic subzone of British Columbia, using weather data and past fire records. These matrices provide information to improve fire representation in the ecosystem based model FORECAST by quantifying the effects of fire severity on dead and live biomass components. Although this represents only a preliminary step, the severity matrix approach appears toprovide a viable methodology for improving the representation of fire effects in FORECAST. Patterns of post-fire coarse woody debris (CWD) accumulation were also assessed in the context of model development. Data were collected from a chronosequence of fire affected sites in the MSdm subzone of the TFL 49 Kelowna. The ability of the FORECAST model to simulate accumulation patterns in CWD and soil organic matter and nitrogen following fire was tested by comparing model outputs with field data. The evaluation of the model against chronosequence-derived data highlighted the fact that caution needs to be taken when using such data for model testing. The very slow recruitment pattern for new CWD illustrates the need to retain sources of CWD recruitment following fire by not salvage logging all killed trees and/or surviving live trees.

No description available.

As part of Parks Canada’s management initiatives, St. Lawrence Islands National Park (SLINP) funded this study to learn more about the natural local fire regime, learn about the risks associated with fire in a changing climate scenario, and to aid in protection efforts of the fire-dependent species Pinus rigida (pitch pine), which is listed provincially as a species at risk. The study site selected was Little Black Lake (44º 32'45.20" N, 76 º 03'12.06” W), which is ideal because of its small size and isolated watershed. A 4.5 m Livingston-piston core and a 0.5 m Glew gravity core were extracted from the lake basin. Charcoal macrofossils >125 µm were quantified at 0.5 cm intervals to produce a high-resolution (14 years) fire record. A chronology was created for each of the two cores together using a combination of 13 14C dates and 20 210Pb dates to complete a record spanning from 2008 to >11000 Cal yrs BP. In general, the fire regime appears to be non-stationary with overall low CHAR (charcoal particles per cm2 of sediment per year) throughout the Holocene. The mean fire return interval for the entire record was on the century scale, at 244 years. The early- and mid-Holocene show low CHAR and few peaks during a period dominated by spruce and pine. Contrastingly, the late Holocene shows an increase in CHAR and peaks during hardwood dominance, which may be due to a change in fuel, as suggested by charcoal morphotypes. A detailed look at the Late Holocene through an analysis of the Glew gravity core, shows a shorter mean fire interval. Comparisons of the Little Black Lake fire record with other vegetation and charcoal records from this region indicate interactions between climate and changing fuel sources may be explanations for the non-stationarity of the fire regime. Management steps for St. Lawrence Islands National Park could include continuing small, isolated and infrequent burns and continued monitoring of local Pitch Pine populations provided spatial and temporal heterogeneity are taken into account. / Thesis (Master, Environmental Studies) -- Queen's University, 2010-01-31 23:58:09.579

No description available.

During the summer of 1982, trapping and vegetation surveys were carried out on permanent study plots within 6 of 7 different types of plant communities within the South-eastern Manitoba Taiga, which had been subjected to fire in May of 1980. A unique feature of this study area was the existence of an 8 year pre-fire data base. A total of 129 mammals, 123 of which are typified as "small mammals" were captured in 2100 trap nights. The number captured in each plant community were as follows: Jack Pine Ridge 19, Alder Jack Pine Ecotone 30, Alder Tamarack Bog 20, Jack Pine Sand Plain 5, Black Spruce Bog 5, Aspen Upland 21, Black Spruce Tamarack Bog 29. Pre-fire small mammal data for the permanent study plots were available, and up to ten years of data were used for comparative evaluation of fire effects. The effects of the fire vary according to the severity of the burn, but small mammal population numbers and biomass estimates for most plots increased the fall immediately after the burn, and then dropped in 1981. Specifically, Clethrionomys gapperi and Peromyscus maniculatus increased with the fire, and Sorex cinereus continued to fluctuate. Three growing seasons after the fire, population numbers and biomass estimates have declined, but are equal to or above minimum pre-fire levels. The effects of fire on other local wildlife, such as ungulates, fur bearers, and birds are discussed briefly. Current vegetation data were compared with pre-fire data and some basic post-fire reproductive strategies were observed. Pioneer or fugitive species with numerous light-weight wind-disseminated seeds, or those with Long-lived seeds stored in soil seed banks, which grow and mature rapidly were present. Frugivores are also suspected to have been an agent of post-fire seed dispersal. Vegetative reproduction through root sprouting or suckering was a dominant strategy observed on some plots. Relatively slow growing, late maturing species with larger, heavier seeds were also observed, and these are expected eventually to regain their upper canopy status. In an attempt to place a dollar value on the study area, the user's willingness to pay for benefits from use of the resources of the area, was combined with the potential attainable revenue from exploitation of local resources. The combined value is calculated to be in excess of $597,208.93. Interest in timber resources 80 years hence could present a conflict for land use management. It is recommended that the Taiga Biological Station study area be protected in its natural state, with controlled educational, research, traditional, and recreational activities permitted.

No description available.

To perform fire engineering analysis, data on how an object or group of objects burn is almost always needed. This data should be collected and stored in a logical and complete fashion to allow for meaningful analysis later. This thesis details the design of a new fire test Data Base Management System (DBMS) termed UCFIRE which was built to overcome the limitations of existing fire test DBMS and was based primarily on the FDMS 2.0 and FIREBASEXML specifications. The UCFIRE DBMS is currently the most comprehensive and extensible DBMS available in the fire engineering community and can store the following test types: Cone Calorimeter, Furniture Calorimeter, Room/Corner Test, LIFT and Ignitability Apparatus Tests. Any data reduction which is performed on this fire test data should be done in an entirely mechanistic fashion rather than rely on human intuition which is subjective. Currently no other DBMS allows for the semi-automation of the data reduction process. A number of pertinent data reduction algorithms were investigated and incorporated into the UCFIRE DBMS. An ASP.NET Web Service (WEBFIRE) was built to reduce the bandwidth required to exchange fire test information between the UCFIRE DBMS and a UCFIRE document stored on a web server. A number of Mass Loss Rate (MLR) algorithms were investigated and it was found that the Savitzky-Golay filtering algorithm offered the best performance. This algorithm had to be further modified to autonomously filter other noisy events that occurred during the fire tests. This algorithm was then evaluated on test data from exemplar Furniture Calorimeter and Cone Calorimeter tests. The LIFT test standard (ASTM E 1321-97a) requires its ignition and flame spread data to be scrutinised but does not state how to do this. To meet these requirements the fundamentals of linear regression were reviewed and an algorithm to mechanistically scrutinise ignition and flame spread data was developed. This algorithm seemed to produce reasonable results when used on exemplar ignition and flame spread test data.