Fire regimes of southern oak-hickory communities
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. 2026. Fire regimes of southern oak-hickory communities. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/fire-regimes/southern-oak-hickory
A complete Fire Regime Synthesis for southern oak-hickory communities has not yet been published in the Fire Effects Information System. However, LANDFIRE succession modeling of southern oak-hickory Biophysical Settings (BpS) provides estimates of fire regime characteristics (see LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings section). Figure 1 shows where these BpSs occur.
Figure 1—Land cover distribution of southern oak-hickory Biophysical Settings (BpS).
| Biophysical Setting | Mean Fire Interval (years) | Fire Severity Percent (%) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Code | Fire Regime Group | Low | Mixed | Replacement | All | Low | Mixed | Replacement |
| Series 14151 - Arkansas Valley Prairie and Woodland - Prairie | ||||||||
| 14151_44 | II-A | 12 | 344 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 1 | 82 |
| Series 14152 - Arkansas Valley Prairie and Woodland - Woodland | ||||||||
| 14152_44 | I-A | 2 | 14 | 96 | 2 | 83 | 14 | 3 |
| Series 13070 - East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest | ||||||||
| 13070_46_47_48 | I-B | 9 | 89 | 388 | 8 | 89 | 9 | 2 |
| Series 13060 - East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland | ||||||||
| 13060_47_48 | I-B | 9 | 87 | 386 | 8 | 88 | 10 | 2 |
| Series 13260 - South-Central Interior/Upper Coastal Plain Flatwoods | ||||||||
| 13260_47 | I-A | 5 | 182 | 187 | 5 | 94 | 3 | 3 |
| 13260_49 | I-B | 17 | 33 | 128 | 10 | 61 | 31 | 8 |
| Series 14570 - South-Central Interior/Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods | ||||||||
| 14570_47_48 | I-B | 9 | 118 | 189 | 8 | 89 | 7 | 4 |
| 14570_49 | I-B | 13 | 120 | 93 | 11 | 80 | 9 | 11 |
| Series 13370 - Southeast Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock | ||||||||
| 13370_56 | I-B | 16 | 245 | 15 | 94 | 6 | 0 | |
| Series 14300 - Southern Coastal Plain Blackland Prairie and Woodland | ||||||||
| 14300_46 | I-A | 96 | 3 | 50 | 3 | 3 | 92 | 5 |
| Series 13300 - Southern Coastal Plain Dry Upland Hardwood Forest | ||||||||
| 13300_46_48_54_55_56_99 | I-B | 8 | 98 | 197 | 7 | 89 | 7 | 4 |
| Series 13050 - Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry-Mesic Oak Forest | ||||||||
| 13050_49 | I-B | 9 | 117 | 61 | 7 | 81 | 7 | 12 |
| Series 13360 - Southwest Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock | ||||||||
| 13360_56 | I-B | 10 | 455 | 10 | 98 | 2 | 0 | |
| Summary | ||||||||
| Minimum | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | |
| Maximum | 96 | 455 | 388 | 15 | 98 | 92 | 82 | |
| Mean | 17 | 147 | 162 | 7 | 74 | 15 | 10 | |
| Median | 9 | 117 | 128 | 8 | 88 | 7 | 4 | |
| Percentage of fires in 3 fire severity classes, derived from LANDFIRE succession modeling. Replacement-severity fires cause >75% kill or top-kill of the upper canopy layer; mixed-severity fires cause 26%-75%; low-severity fires cause <26%. | ||||||||
| LANDFIRE. 2020. Biophysical settings models and descriptions, [Online]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service; U.S. Department of the Interior; U.S. Geological Survey; Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy, (Producers). Available: https://www.landfirereview.org/search.php [96496] | ||||||||
1. LANDFIRE. 2020. Biophysical settings layer, CONUS (LANDFIRE 2.2.0). In: LANDFIRE download data mosaic products, [Online]. U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey; U.S. Department of Agriculture (Producer). Available: https://www.landfire.gov/version_download.php [2023, June 20]. [98050]
2. LANDFIRE. 2020. Biophysical settings models and descriptions, [Online]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service; U.S. Department of the Interior; U.S. Geological Survey; Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy, (Producers). Available: http://www.landfirereview.org/search.php [2022, February 2]. [96496]