In mountains throughout western North America, large, mixed-severity fires produce a mosaic of low and high tree mortality. Following wildfire, plant communities may recover to their pre-fire state, or may remain altered in composition and structure. In this study I quantified the extent to which fire severity influenced post-fire vegetation composition and structure in comparison to pre-fire states in the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona, USA. I used a stratified random design that sampled plots across ecological units and fire severity classes. Tree diameter at breast height (DBH), shrub cover, and seedling and sapling density was recorded by species in five plant communities: oak/pinyon/juniper woodland on hills landscapes of mixed lithology; Madrean pine-oak forest/woodland on granite, gneiss, or metasedimentary rock; Madrean oak/conifer/manzanita on rock outcrops; ponderosa pine forest on granite, gneiss, and similar rocks; and mixed conifer forest on metasedimentary landscapes. Subsets of these data were then used to reconstruct overstory vegetation present when the Bullock (2002) and Aspen (2003) fires occurred. Data from a 1984 pre-fire study was used to substantiate the overstory reconstruction and to determine shrub understory components. I tested the hypothesis that tree mortality was a determinant of post-fire shrub cover, and calculated post-fire importance values (IVs) of tree and shrub components. Ordination and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS) of IVs confirmed that overstory reconstruction aligned with 1984 field surveys. Tree mortality was a predictor of post-fire shrub cover, but only with certain species in specific ecological units. Ordinations indicated that tree composition in post-fire plots has diverged from that in pre-fire plots in all but the oak/ pinyon/juniper community. Ordination of shrub components indicated novel configurations of post-fire communities, including association of pre-fire mixed conifer elements with oak woodland elements. The intermixing of tree species in mid- and higher-elevation communities with those historically confined to lower elevation community types suggests that recent fires has disrupted vegetation inertia and initiated novel ecological change. The re-structuring observed within these community types are in agreement with projections that disturbance and climate change will interact to facilitate the spread of lower elevation species to higher elevation zones. Fire x climate interactions may therefore trigger long-lasting changes to ecosystem structure in ways not predicted by models of fire-effects or climate-effects occurring in isolation from each other.

Cette thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre d'un projet de recherche européen (Transfeu), composé de 21 partenaires, dédié à l'estimation des effets du feu sur les personnes présentes dans un train et basée sur une méthodologie de sécurité incendie. L'objectif est de modéliser le comportement au feu d'un siège (matériaux multicouches) et d'un panneau vertical (composite) d'une voiture de train indépendamment de la source de feu et du design de la voiture. Le principe est basé sur l'étude de la réaction au feu de deux produits par une approche multi-échelle (de l'échelle de la matière à l'échelle réelle). A chaque échelle, les données expérimentales et numériques sont comparées et valident les processus de décomposition thermique et de combustion mis en jeu. Les données d'entrée sont estimées selon des essais normalisés ou à partir de la littérature et sont identiques pour toutes les échelles. Les phénomènes de décomposition thermique et de combustion sont simulés à partir d'un modèle de pyrolyse et d'un modèle de combustion à fraction de mélange. Cette comparaison, à complexité croissante, permet d'observer la capacité des modèles de FDS de reproduire des simulations réalistes. Les résultats permettent de souligner les limites des modèles et de les dépasser en proposant des solutions alternatives. / This thesis work comes within the framework of a collaborative European research program (Transfeu), dedicated to estimate the fire effects on people into a train coach, based on fire safety methodology. The objective is to model the fire behaviour of a multilayer seat materials and a composite wall panel in a coach independently of the fire source in order to estimate the safety level of a coach design scenario. The principle is based on a multi-scale approach of the reaction-to-fire of two products from the raw matter to the real scale. At each scale, experimental and numerical data are compared and then validated on the thermal decomposition and the combustion processes. The used input data are the same for all scales and estimated according to standard experimental tests or literature reviews. The thermal decomposition and the combustion phenomena are simulated from a pyrolysis and a mixture fraction combustion models. This comparison at increasing complexity allows observing the ability of the models to reproduce realistic simulations. The results allow to highlight the limits of the models and then to propose better solutions in order to overcome them.

The Cienega de Santa Clara is a 5600 ha, anthropogenic wetland in the delta of the Colorado River in Mexico. It is the inadvertent creation of the disposal of brackish agricultural waste water from the U.S. into the intertidal zone of the river delta in Mexico, but has become an internationally important wetland for resident and migratory water birds. The marsh is dominated by Typha domengensis with Phragmites australis as a sub-dominant species in shallower marsh areas. The most important factor controlling vegetation density was fire. The second significant (P<0.01) factor controlling NDVI was flow rate of agricultural drain water from the U.S. into the marsh. Reduced summer flows in 2001 due to canal repairs, and in 2010 during the YDP test run, produced the two lowest NDVI values of the time series from 2000 to 2011 (P<0.05). Salinity is a further determinant of vegetation dynamics as determined by greenhouse experiments, but was nearly constant over the period 2000 to 2011, so it was not a significant variable in regression analyses. Evapotranspiration (ET) and other water balance components were measured in Cienega de Santa Clara; we used a remote sensing algorithm to estimate ET from meteorological data and Enhanced Vegetation Index values from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) sensors on the Terra satellite. We used Landsat NDVI imagery from 1978-2011 to determine the area and intensity of vegetation and to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) to construct a water balance. Remote sensing data was supplemented with hydrological data, site surveys and literature citations. The vegetated area increased from 1978 to 1995 and has been constant at about 4200 ha since then. The dominant vegetation type is Typha domingensis (southern cattail), and peak summer NDVI since 1995 has been stable at 0.379 (SD = 0.016), about half of NDVI(max). About 30% of the inflow water is consumed in ET, with the remainder exiting the Cienega as outflow water, mainly during winter months when T. domingensis is dormant.

"Fire investigators have historically relied upon fire damage as a means to conclude where a fire originated despite the lack of formal processes. The historical and current literature on the topic was evaluated with a specific emphasis toward the research conducted over the past eighty years related to fire patterns and their creation in the context of the fire environment. A seven step reasoning process for evaluating damage for determining the area of origin, along with a new definition for the term fire pattern, was developed. The aim was to develop and implement into practice a decision support framework that assists forensic fire investigators in assessing the efficacy of fire burn patterns as reliable indicators of the area of fire origin. This was facilitated by the development of a prototype method for determining the area of origin based on fire patterns analysis, named the Process for Origin Determination (POD). This dissertation describes the application of the POD with test subjects and presents an analysis of the outcomes showing its benefits. It has been shown through the use of reliability and validity tests that the POD assisted novices in more consistently and more accurately determining the area of origin over a variety of scenarios."

abstract: Two nearly homogenous 60 acre watersheds near Heber, Arizona, within the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, were burned at moderate and high severities during the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski wildfire. Each watershed had 30 permanent plots located on it from earlier studies. In 2011, nearly 10 years following the fire, the plots were re-measured to determine how fire severity affects the long term vegetative recovery of this ecosystem; specifically herbaceous production and tree regeneration and density. Canopy cover, litter depth, herbaceous weight, herbaceous cover and shrub cover are vital indicators of herbaceous production, and were found to be significantly different between the sites. Canopy cover and litter depth were found to be significantly higher on the moderate site while herbaceous weight, herbaceous cover and shrub cover were found to be significantly higher on the high site. Tree densities of the three present tree species, ponderosa pine, alligator juniper, and gambel oak, were measured and divided into five size classes to distinguish the diversity of the communities. The mean densities for each species and size class were analyzed to determine if there were any statistically significant differences between the sites. Ponderosa pine saplings (regeneration) were found to have no significant differences between the sites. Juniper and oak saplings were found to be significantly higher on the high site. The remaining four ponderosa pine size classes were found to be significantly higher on the moderate site while the remaining four size classes for juniper and oak were found to have no statistical differences between the sites. Further analysis of the tree proportions revealed that the ponderosa pine species was significantly higher on the moderate site while juniper and oak were significantly higher on the high site. Species specific proportion analysis showed that the ponderosa pine size classes were significantly different across the sites while the juniper and oak size classes showed no significant differences between the sites. Within the ponderosa pine size classes, saplings were found to be significantly higher on the high site while the remaining four classes were significantly higher on the moderate site. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Applied Biological Sciences 2012

A new one-dimensional heat conduction model for predicting stem heating during fires is presented. The model makes use of moisture and temperature dependent thermal properties for bark and wood. Also, the thermal aspects of the processes of bark swelling, desiccation, and devolatilization are treated in an approximate fashion. Simulation with a surface flux boundary condition requires that these phenomena be accounted for. Previous models have used temperature-time boundary conditions, which prevents them from being directly coupled to fire behavior models. This model uses a flux-time profile for its boundary condition, making it possible to eventually couple it to fire behavior models. Cambial mortality predictions are made through the incorporation of a cell mortality model. The model was developed and validated with laboratory experiments on four species.

Fuels management in eucalyptus plantations is essential to minimise the impact of wildfire. Prescribed burning has the potential to reduce the fuel hazard in plantations, but is not routinely conducted due to concerns relating to tree damage. Through a series of experimental burns, the issues of tree damage are addressed and minimum tree sizes are recommended that are capable of withstanding the effects of low to moderate intensity fires. Data was collected between 2005 and 2007 over six sites, two species, and three age classes. Tree response results came from multiple measurements of over 1700 individual trees. The fuel characteristics commonly found in sub-tropical eucalypt plantations from age four to eleven are described and quantified. These fuel characteristics are related to fire behaviour and new fire behaviour models, specific to young eucalypt plantations, are presented. The fuel characteristics that most influence fire behaviour in young eucalypt plantations are fuel load, fuel height, and fuel moisture content. These characteristics can be used to predict the rate of spread of a plantation fire under benign wind conditions. A novel technique for assessing the extent of stem damage in eucalypts is developed and described. This technique enables immediate assessment of stem damage following fire; previous assessment techniques recommend waiting a considerable period of time (up to 2 years) until dead bark dropped off and fire scars were evident. This new assessment technique is likely to be suitable for post-fire assessment of any eucalypt species and will provide forest managers with the capability of deciding whether to leave a stand to ???grow-on??? or commence recovery operations. Minimum stem sizes recommended to ensure no long-term damage are between 5 ??? 8 cm DBH (diameter at breast height, i.e. 1.3m above ground level) for Eucalyptus dunnii (Dunn???s white gum) and 5 ??? 13 cm DBH for Corymbia spp. (spotted gum) depending on the quantity of fuel around the stem. Stem sizes vary between species because of the variation in bark thickness between species. This thesis provides all the necessary information to conduct prescribed burning operations in young eucalypt plantations.

No description available.

This study is based at Rocky Canyon Quarry (RCQ), a 200-acre granite aggregate open-pit quarry with chaparral-dominated plant communities located in San Luis Obispo County, CA. At RCQ, the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA) of 1975 was interpreted as restoring the landscape to native plant communities. Native plant community restoration projects have occurred there since 1993 through cooperation with California Polytechnic State University Biology Department in San Luis Obispo, CA. I evaluated past restoration at RCQ and researched new techniques to improve chaparral restoration based on the natural processes of fire. Chaparral is an important fire-dominated plant community within the California Floristic Province, which covers about seven percent of California. Typically during a fire, heat immediately acts on Adenostoma fasciculatum (Chamise) seeds/m2 in the soil seed bank. Smoke also reaches seeds on and near the soil surface. Chemical effects of fire, such as smoke and charcoal, are deposited on the soil surface and leach into the seed bank after fall rains. In nature, this results in enhanced germination of the seeds and the beginning of chaparral post-fire succession. Fire effects, both heat and chemical, have been supported to increase seed germination in numerous laboratory and field studies. I sought to utilize natural fire cues, such as heat, charate, and liquid smoke, to develop successful and efficient restoration prescriptions. The most successful restoration technique developed utilized Wright’s Liquid Smoke and heat to increase seed germination of Adenostoma fasciculatum (Chamise), Ceanothus cuneatus (California lilac), and Salvia mellifera (Black Sage) significantly. A new restoration prescription for RCQ based on literature reviews and the above mentioned research is presented.