Download (PDF 787 KB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/63234.pdf
Abstract
A fire regime describes the role fire plays in an ecosystem for a given location and over a specific time period (Agee 1993). The concept is multivariate in nature (Krebs et al. 2010) and therefore is best described by a combination of parameters including fire frequency, severity, extent, seasonality, and relationship with climate. How these parameters vary across space and time and with environmental factors (e.g., elevation and latitude) reveals the underlying dynamics that constitute the fire regime for a given ecosystem. Fire regimes of forest communities are commonly described as high frequency-low severity, low frequency-high severity, or variable frequency-mixed severity; emphasizing the central role of fire frequency and severity in fire regime characterization and suggesting an inverse relationship between these two key parameters.
Parent Publication
Keywords
wildland fire,
prescribed fire,
planning,
response,
recovery,
wildland urban interface,
disturbance,
ecology,
behavior,
diversity,
fire effects,
fuels and fuels management,
air quality,
smoke management
Citation
McKinney, Shawn T.; Juran, Ashley; Murphy, Shannon K.; Abrahamson, Ilana; Fryer, Janet; Zouhar, Kristin. 2020. A synthesis and meta-analysis of ponderosa pine fire regimes from five U.S. regions. In: Hood, Sharon M.; Drury, Stacy; Steelman, Toddi; Steffens, Ron, [eds.]. Proceedings of the Fire Continuum-Preparing for the future of wildland fire; 2018 May 21-24; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-78. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 304-309.
