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Forests
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Fire Effects on Fuel and Vegetation: Linking Process to Pattern
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Fire Effects on Fuel and Vegetation: Linking Process to Pattern

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 6205

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Mohammad M. Bataineh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Arkansas Forest Resources Center & College of Forestry, Agriculture, and Natural Resources, University of Arkansas at Monticello, Monticello, AR 71656, USA
Interests: fire ecology & management; invasive species control & management; disturbance ecology; silviculture; dendroecology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The effects of wildland fires on fuel and vegetation has been an area of active study. Despite the abundance of fire effects studies, generalizations and trends are difficult to establish, and inconsistencies among study methodologies continue to present challenges for a more comprehensive understanding of fire effects on fuel and vegetation.

The need to directly link fire behavior and heat transfer to vegetation and fuel responses cannot be more aptly represented than by Stephen Pyne’s analogy of examining effects without fire behavior as examining a patient’s response without knowledge of administered dosage levels. Models that integrate the complex and dynamic fire–atmosphere feedbacks and advances in measurement technology of energy release were recently developed to address these issues. Furthermore, the need for a more mechanistic understanding of individual plant and species responses have been emphasized.

We invite you to contribute to Forests’ Special Issue focused on linking wildland fire as a process to fuel and vegetation patterns. Contributions are welcome from all forest ecosystems linking heat release and fire behavior to effects on fuel and vegetation.

Dr. Mohammad M. Bataineh
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • fire behavior
  • fireline intensity
  • fire spread
  • mortality
  • regeneration
  • fuel reduction
  • combustion
  • fuel consumption

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 2439 KiB  
Article
Prescribed Fire Causes Wounding and Minor Tree Quality Degradation in Oak Forests
by Mike R. Saunders, David P. Mann, Shannon Stanis, Jan K. Wiedenbeck, Daniel C. Dey and Thomas M. Schuler
Forests 2023, 14(2), 227; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14020227 - 25 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1650
Abstract
Despite the adaptation of many oak (Quercus) species to repeated surface fire, many public land managers in eastern North America resist using prescribed fire as a regeneration tool because of fire’s perceived negative impacts on timber values through the wounding of [...] Read more.
Despite the adaptation of many oak (Quercus) species to repeated surface fire, many public land managers in eastern North America resist using prescribed fire as a regeneration tool because of fire’s perceived negative impacts on timber values through the wounding of overstory trees. We retrospectively quantified fire-associated wounds in 139 oak-dominated stands across four national forests, each with a history of zero to six prescribed fires within the last 30 years. For trees > 25.4 cm dbh (n = 8093), fire-associated wounds within the first 3.67 m of height were categorized by type, measured for defect size and graded both accounting for and then ignoring the fire-associated wounds. Most fire-associated wounds (n = 3403) were catfaces (32.5%), seams (30.5%) or bark slough (30.1%), although catfaces had 2.1–6.4 times the average volume loss of any other wound type (9.90 ± 0.72 bd ft). Among the 2160 wounded trees sampled, 741 had multiple (≥2) wounds. Although 29.1% of all trees had at least one wound associated with prescribed fire, only 7.0% of those trees exhibited a reduction in tree grade. The likelihood of wounding was greater in stands receiving more prescribed burns, but unaffected by tree diameter for either thin- or thick-barked species. Considering both the likelihoods of wounding and grade reduction, white oak (Q. alba), chestnut oak (Q. montana), hickory (Carya sp.), shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) and yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) trees were more resistant to prescribed fire damage than other species. While our findings cannot be related directly to individual fire parameters, such as fireline intensity or fire duration, these results do provide estimates of the cumulative effects of multiple management-based prescribed fires that can be incorporated into fire effects models. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fire Effects on Fuel and Vegetation: Linking Process to Pattern)
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16 pages, 1585 KiB  
Article
Prescribed Fire First-Order Effects on Oak and Maple Reproduction in Frequently Burned Upland Oak–Hickory Forests of the Arkansas Ozarks
by Mohammad Bataineh, Brant Portner, Matthew Pelkki and Robert Ficklin
Forests 2022, 13(11), 1865; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13111865 - 07 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1430
Abstract
Alteration of the fire regime in upland oak–hickory (Quercus L. spp.–Carya Nutt. spp.) forests of the Central Hardwood Region is a major factor for the current shifts in species’ composition and oak recruitment and regeneration failures. The reintroduction of fire into [...] Read more.
Alteration of the fire regime in upland oak–hickory (Quercus L. spp.–Carya Nutt. spp.) forests of the Central Hardwood Region is a major factor for the current shifts in species’ composition and oak recruitment and regeneration failures. The reintroduction of fire into these ecosystems requires a better understanding of fire effects on oak and co-occurring competitors. First-order (i.e., during and immediately after) fire effects on oak and red maple (Acer rubrum L.) topkill and resprouting at neighborhood scales were evaluated in frequently burned upland oak–hickory forests. A groundline threshold of 5 cm provided oaks with high (60%) survival probability (p < 0.001). White (Quercus alba L.) and post (Quercus stellata Wangenh.) oak survival odds were 21 and 14 times higher than that of red maple (p = 0.01 and 0.03), respectively. Three and twelve months after burn, oaks had three to six times more sprouts per clump than red maple. Frequent fires may continue to topkill the maples, while maintaining oak dominance in the reproduction pool and, thus, providing higher recruitment potential into the overstory. Burns with fire behavior that is very low to low in these frequently burned systems may provide greater control in favoring oaks and selecting against red maple, especially if groundline diameter thresholds are considered. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fire Effects on Fuel and Vegetation: Linking Process to Pattern)
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12 pages, 7127 KiB  
Article
The Potential Effect of Pests on Forest Fire: Flammability of Mongolian Pine Bark with Resinosis on Boles
by Yuetai Weng, Guang Yang, Lifan Zhang, Xueying Di, Hongzhou Yu, Jibin Ning, Yu Xue, Zhan Shu and Dongdong Han
Forests 2021, 12(3), 365; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12030365 - 19 Mar 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2285
Abstract
Wildfires and pests are natural disturbance agents in many forest ecosystems that often contribute to ecological succession, nutrient cycling, and forest species composition. Mongolian pine (Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica) is a coniferous species that plays an important role as an ecological [...] Read more.
Wildfires and pests are natural disturbance agents in many forest ecosystems that often contribute to ecological succession, nutrient cycling, and forest species composition. Mongolian pine (Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica) is a coniferous species that plays an important role as an ecological barrier, and is widely spread in northern China. Its wood is loose; its branches, leaves, and cones contain a high level of resin and volatile oils that make the species highly flammable and the stands dominated by the species are very vulnerable to fire. Recently, resinosis on boles of Pinus sylvestris became an epidemic in China. To explore the potential effects of pests on fire, we compared the flammability of Mongolian pine barks with or without resinosis on boles using a cone calorimeter and several combustion analyses. We found that the barks from boles with resinosis had a greater oil content than the healthy trees. The study also indicated that the ignition times of the barks from boles with and without resinosis were 6.00 s (±1.73) and 22.67 s (±1.15), respectively, and that the heat release rate curves were parabolic, with peaks 225.19 and 75.27 kW/m2, respectively, for the two bark types. Additionally, because resinosis was on the low- to mid-bole of infested trees, the barks from boles with resinosis tended to be ignited much easier than those without resinosis. This clearly evidenced that pests could affect fire severity and behavior by increasing forest flammability. More information about the role that pests play in the different forest cover types is needed to increase our understanding of fire danger and to develop sound forest management policies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fire Effects on Fuel and Vegetation: Linking Process to Pattern)
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