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FEIS Tutorial

Navigating the Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) Website

Website URL: https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis

What is FEIS? The Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) provides detailed information on the effects of fire on plants, animals, and plant communities in the United States. It's a go-to resource for land managers, students, researchers, and anyone interested in fire ecology.

Navigating the Homepage

  • Main Navigation Bar (Top Left):

    • Home: Returns you to the main page.
    • Research: Drops down links to FEIS publications, Featured Work, Other Resources, Tree Distribution Maps, Glossary
      • Open the FEIS glossary to view the list of terms and their definitions.
      • Open Featured Work to browse recent FEIS publications.
    • About FEIS: Provides background information on the system, its purpose, and how it's developed.
      • Contact Us: Information on how to get in touch with the FEIS team.
      • Literature Sources
  • Search Bar (Top Right): Searches for text across all FEIS publications.
  • Explore FEIS Publications: Bottom center of screen
  • Browse Species Reviews, Fire Studies, Fire Regimes, Advanced Search

Understanding Search Results and FEIS Publication Types

  • Species Reviews include information on plant, lichen, and wildlife species’ life history, ecology, and relationship to fire. Species Reviews include information on the following topics.
    • Distribution
    • Botanical and Ecological Characteristics (for plants) or Biological Characteristics and Habitat (for animals)
    • Fire Ecology and Management
    • Non-fire Management Considerations
  • Fire Regimes products provide information on fire regimes of ecosystems in the United States. These include Fire Regime Reports and Fire Regime Syntheses. Fire Regime Syntheses include information on the following topics.
    • Distribution
    • Historical Fuels and Fire Regimes
    • Contemporary Fuels and Fire Regimes
  • Fire Studies are summaries of research projects that provide detailed descriptions of burning conditions, fire behavior, and fire effects.

Tip: On the left pane of all FEIS publications, use the “On this page” dropdown to see and quickly navigate to all content.

Searching for Information

There are three main ways to find information: browsing by publication type, using the search bar, or using the Advanced Search.

Option A: Browse by Publication Type

  1. Species Reviews:

    • Navigate to the home page and scroll down to the tiles. Click on "Browse Species Reviews".
    • You'll see an alphabetical list of Species Reviews. You can select the number of results per page. You can sort the results by each column header.
    • You can also export the search results by selecting the Download CSV button.
    • From the abbreviation column, select an abbreviation to access the associated Species Review.
    • In the “title contains” search bar, enter a search term (e.g., a complete or partial common or scientific name). Note: This is only searching within titles of Species Reviews, so it will not produce as many results as searching in the “Search FEIS” bar in upper right of screen.

  2. Fire Regimes:

    • Click on "Browse Fire Regimes".
    • You'll see an alphabetical list of Fire Regime publications. You can select the number of results per page. You can sort the results by each column header.
    • You can also export the search results by clicking the Download CSV button.
    • From the title column, select a title to access the associated Fire Regime publication.

  3. Fire Studies:

    • Click on "Browse Fire Studies".
    • You'll see an alphabetical list of Fire Studies. You can select the number of results per page. You can sort the results by each column header.
    • You can also export the search results by clicking the Download CSV button.
    • From the title column, select a title to access the associated Fire Study.

Option B: Using the Quick Search Bar

  1. Locate the search bar on the homepage (top right).
  2. Type in your search term. For example, you might search for a common or scientific name of a species (e.g., "Ponderosa Pine" or "Pinus ponderosa").
  3. Sort your results by keyword relevance- Most to Least
    • Note: Relevance is weighted by having the search term in the title, then by number of times it is found in the text.

Option C: Advanced Search

The advanced search enables you to filter results by publication type, life form type, taxonomy, and location (administrative units, biophysical formations, and biophysical settings).

  • Navigate to the home page and scroll down to the tiles. Click on “Advanced Search”
  • Enter search terms in the ‘Title’ or ‘Keywords’ search bar. When nothing is entered in the either search bar, all FEIS publications are listed (sorted by Newest First).
  • Refine results by filtering by criteria in the left panel.
  • Tip: if searching by a common name in the “Title” search bar, try searching in the “Keywords” search bar. You will get more results.
  • Tip: because the “Keywords” search bar searches for text within FEIS publications, you can search for fire or botanical terms like “serotiny” or “lignotuber” to find publications that use those terms.

Practice

Instructions: Answer the following questions about individual species and plant communities by navigating to and reading applicable sections of FEIS Species Reviews and Fire Regime Syntheses.

Questions 1 and 2: Species Reviews

  1. Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia)

    a. What are the immediate fire effects to Joshua tree? (Hint, see the immediate fire effects section)

    b. Can Joshua Tree regenerate after a fire? If so, how? (see Postfire Survival and Resprouting)

    c. Historically, how common were fires in Joshua Tree communities? (Historical Fire Regimes section)

    d. Describe a primary fire management consideration concerning Joshua Tree populations. (Fire Management Considerations section)

  2. Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis)

    a. Where do red-cockaded woodpeckers occur? List five plant communities where they occur (hint: use the “On this page” navigation pane). (Plant Communities within the Distribution section)

    b. What are red-cockaded woodpecker’s habitat needs? (see Habitat section)

    c. Describe a fire management consideration for red-cockaded woodpeckers. (see Fire Management Consideration section)

Questions 3 and 4: Fire Regime Syntheses

  1. Fire Regimes of Sonoran Desert Scrub Communities

    a.Where do Sonoran desert scrub communities occur? (see General Distribution section)

    b. Historically, how often did fire’s burn in Sonoran desert scrub communities, and how do we know? (see Historical Fire Regimes section)

    c. Nowadays, how are fires different than they were historically? (see Contemporary Fuels and Fire Regimes section)

  2. Fire Regimes of Northern Rocky Mountain Ponderosa Pine Communities

    a. Historically, how often did fires tend to occur in Northern Rocky Mountain ponderosa pine communities? What evidence do we have to support this? (see Historical Fire Frequency section)

    b. How did these historical fires typically influence the stand structure of these forests? (see Historical Stand Structure section)

    c. How has stand structure changed in contemporary stands? (see Contemporary Stand Structure and Succession section)

Question 5: Fire Regime Report

5. Fire Regimes of Longleaf Pine Communities

a. Open the LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings section and view the 2020 LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings table. Historically, what was the minimum and maximum mean fire interval for ALL fires (hint: scroll down to the summary)?

b. Historically what percent of fires were low severity for the biophysical setting “Series 13510 - Southeastern Interior Longleaf Pine Woodland”, as estimated by Landfire models?

Last updated June 1, 2026
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