Severe and Short Interval Fires Rearrange Dry Forest Fuel Arrays in South-Eastern Australia
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- Ground litter (surface fuels), tree canopy (canopy fuels) and tree bark (bark fuels) fuel load, cover and hazard will be highest after fires of low severities and long intervals due to lower rates of consumption during those fires;
- Herbaceous (near-surface fuels) fuel cover and hazard will be highest after fires of high-severities and short-intervals due to selection for fast regenerating species;
- Midstorey (elevated fuels) fuel cover and hazard will be highest after fires of high fire severities due to fire-stimulated germination of shrubs, and lowest at short inter-fire intervals due to exhaustion of shrub seed and bud banks.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Area and Design
2.2. Surface Fuel Load
2.3. Fuel Cover, Connectivity and Height
2.4. Tree Basal Area
2.5. Fuel Hazard
2.6. Data Analyses
3. Results
4. Discussion
4.1. Fuel Recovery and Fire Hazard
4.2. Future Fire Regimes and Fuel States
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
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Fuel Strata | Response Variable | Predictor Variables | Fit | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Severity | Interval | Vegetation | TBA | |||
Surface | Fuel load (tha−1) | 9.99 ** | <0.01 | 6.05 | 6.33 * | 0.26 |
Surface | Fuel cover (%) | 18.08 *** | 0.01 | 9.41 * | 0.13 | 0.27 |
Surface | Mean litter depth (mm) | 0.42 | 1.02 | 2.65 | <0.01 | 0.05 |
Surface | Fuel hazard (l, m, h, vh/e) | 2.07 | 0.11 | 3.04 | 1.06 | - |
Near-surface | Fuel cover (%) | 0.05 | 2.31 | 3.31 | 0.17 | 0.08 |
Near-surface | Fuel vertical connectivity (%) | 0.45 | 2.19 | 8.00 * | 0.56 | 0.14 |
Near-surface | Fuel hazard (l, m, h, vh/e) | 4.27 * | 0.52 | 9.99 * | 0.41 | - |
Elevated | Fuel cover (%) | 9.96 ** | 11.47 *** | 13.24 ** | 0.53 | 0.28 |
Elevated | Fuel vertical connectivity (%) | 1.92 | 15.75 *** | 18.09 *** | 0.94 | 0.35 |
Elevated | Mean maximum fuel height (cm) | 1.14 | 12.26 *** | 4.38 | 0.12 | 0.19 |
Elevated | Fuel hazard (l, m, h, vh/e) | 9.22 ** | 6.58 * | 3.68 | 0.152 | - |
Near surface–Elevated | Fuel vertical connectivity (%) | 3.94 * | 7.22 ** | 12.73 ** | 0.34 | 0.34 |
Canopy | Live fuel cover (%) | 38.93 *** | 0.86 | 7.26 | 0.04 | 0.42 |
Canopy | Dead fuel cover (%) | 5.78 * | 0.61 | 4.84 | 1.44 | 0.14 |
Bark | Fuel hazard (l, m, h/vh) | 6.94 ** | 3.66 | 7.29 | 1.20 | - |
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Gordon, C.E.; Nolan, R.H.; Boer, M.M.; Bendall, E.R.; Williamson, J.S.; Price, O.F.; Kenny, B.J.; Taylor, J.E.; Denham, A.J.; Bradstock, R.A. Severe and Short Interval Fires Rearrange Dry Forest Fuel Arrays in South-Eastern Australia. Fire 2024, 7, 130. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire7040130
Gordon CE, Nolan RH, Boer MM, Bendall ER, Williamson JS, Price OF, Kenny BJ, Taylor JE, Denham AJ, Bradstock RA. Severe and Short Interval Fires Rearrange Dry Forest Fuel Arrays in South-Eastern Australia. Fire. 2024; 7(4):130. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire7040130
Chicago/Turabian StyleGordon, Christopher E., Rachael H. Nolan, Matthias M. Boer, Eli R. Bendall, Jane S. Williamson, Owen F. Price, Belinda J. Kenny, Jennifer E. Taylor, Andrew J. Denham, and Ross A. Bradstock. 2024. "Severe and Short Interval Fires Rearrange Dry Forest Fuel Arrays in South-Eastern Australia" Fire 7, no. 4: 130. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire7040130