The intertwined problems of wildfire, forest disease, and climate change interactions

Abstract

Purpose of Review

I aim to contextualize wildfire-disease interactions with the goal of building a better understanding of where these may be of ecological importance and problems for sustainable forest management.

Recent Findings

While wildfire-disease interactions have been documented, they are not well represented in the ecological literature, probably because they require considerable effort or serendipity to rigorously quantify. Examples of disease-fire interactions are relatively limited and tend to be clearer in systems where fire and disease are management problems. The most resolved systems include Phytophthorapathogens although wildfire-disease interactions are not limited to these pathogens. Documented interactions encompass a range of effects which include the magnification of problems associated with each disturbance. Wildfire-disease interactions are also likely to shape basic ecological function in systems where both wildfire and disease are common but not necessarily critical management problems. Climate change has altered the fundamental controls on both fire and disease suggesting it will also alter the magnitude and likelihood (occurrence or detection) of disease-fire interactions.

Summary

I present a framework for linking wildfire-disease interactions and highlight the importance of host community/fuels structure on linking and mediating these interactions. I provide a series of examples where understanding interactive effects, interfacing with climate change, and the magnitude of changes to wildfire and disease intensification are of practical value and/or advance basic ecological knowledge. While much remains to be understood about these interactions, I make the argument that, in some cases, management can address both problems simultaneously.

Citation

Cobb, Richard C. 2022. The intertwined problems of wildfire, forest disease, and climate change interactions. Current Forestry Reports. 8(2): 214-228. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40725-022-00161-2.