Treesearch

Wildfires are important global disturbances influencing ecosystem structure and composition. The moisture content of living and senescent plant components are key determinants of wildfire activity, yet our understanding of how seasonal fluctuations in water availability and biomass control live foliar moisture content (LFMC) across co-occurring plant functional types is limited in diverse forested landscapes.

To sustainably manage forests, it is important to understand the historical fire regimes including the severity, frequency, seasonal timing of fires as well as the relationship between climate and fire in order to develop management plans that mimic and/or complements the natural disturbance pattern. The objectives of this study were to reconstruct the natural fire regime within a Pinus lumholtzii site in order to understand the fire regimes within this forest type as well as adjacent high timber value mixed-pine forests where historical fire regimes are not available due to past timber...