Research Database
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Combining ecophysiology and combustion traits: a pyro-ecophysiological approach to live fuel moisture prediction in common shrubs
Year: 2025
BackgroundQuantifying fuel moisture content accurately is critical for understanding global vegetation flammability. While models representing changes in dead fuel moisture are relatively advanced, the mechanisms driving fluctuations in live fuel moisture content (LFMC) have been difficult to capture. Living plants make up a large proportion of the fuel complex for wildfires, yet linking plant and combustion science to advance our understanding of wildfire risk has, to date, been limiting. Developing mechanistic approaches to link these two disciplines will confer greater understanding and…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Small-scale fire refugia increase soil bacterial and fungal richness and increase community cohesion nine years after fire
Year: 2025
Small-scale variation in wildfire behavior may cause large differences in belowground bacterial and fungal communities with consequences for belowground microbial diversity, community assembly, and function. Here we combine pre-fire, active-fire, and post-wildfire measurements in a mixed-conifer forest to identify how fine-scale wildfire behavior, unburned refugia, and aboveground forest structure are associated with belowground bacterial and fungal communities nine years after wildfire. We used fine-scale mapping of small (0.9–172.6 m2) refugia to sample soil-associated burned and…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Mapping Delayed Canopy Loss and Durable Fire Refugia for the 2020 Wildfires in Washington State Using Multiple Sensors
Year: 2025
Fire refugia are unburned and low severity patches within wildfires that contribute heterogeneity that is important to retaining biodiversity and regenerating forest following fire. With increasingly intense and frequent wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, fire refugia are important for re-establishing populations sensitive to fire and maintaining resilience to future disturbances. Mapping fire refugia and delayed canopy loss is useful for understanding patterns in their distribution. The increasing abundance of satellite data and advanced analysis platforms offer the potential to map fire…
Publication Type: Journal Article