Experimental fire in two different grassland ecosystems in the Southwestern United States

Abstract

Over the last 150 years there have been profound changes in semiarid and aridland ecosystems, including overgrazing and shrub encroachment. Millions of dollars are spent annually for postfire rehabilitation and restoration activities, yet rehabilitation and restoration is often not successful. Although the re-establishment of periodic fire is fundamental to the ecological restoration of southwestern grasslands, current management policies must be based less on historical fire regimes and more on land-use legacies along with dynamic climate change. Global change is leading to a more variable climate that includes more frequent extreme events, along with a potential shift in winter/summer rainfall patterns. Given the uncertainty of future scenarios for climate change and climate variability in the southwestern US we need to know now how fire seasonality - and over the long-term fire frequency - affect biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in semiarid and aridland ecosystems.

Citation

Ford, Paulette; Calabrese, Laura; Collins, Scott; Kearney, Don. 2011. Experimental fire in two different grassland ecosystems in the Southwestern United States. In: Proceedings of 3rd Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference; October 25-29, 2010; Spokane, Washington, USA. Birmingham, AL: International Association of Wildland Fire. 1 p.