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Reduction Of Potential Fire Behavior In Wildland-Urban Interface Communities In Southern California: A Collaborative Approach, Christopher Dicus, Michael E. Scott Mar 2006

Reduction Of Potential Fire Behavior In Wildland-Urban Interface Communities In Southern California: A Collaborative Approach, Christopher Dicus, Michael E. Scott

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

This manuscript details a collaborative effort that reduced the risk of wildfire in an affluent, wildland-urban interface community in southern California while simultaneously minimizing the environmental impact to the site. FARSITE simulations illustrated the potential threat to the community of Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego County, California, where multimillion-dollar homes were located immediately above a designated open space area that consisted primarily of 60-year-old, decadent chaparral. Post-treatment fire behavior simulations demonstrated the potential ability to moderate fire behavior. Results of the fire behavior modeling led to a recognition for the need for fuels treatments by both homeowners and regulatory …


Effects Of Fire On Habitat Associations, Abundance, And Survival Of Wintering Henslow's Sparrows (Ammodramus Henslowii) In Southeastern Louisiana Longleaf Pine Savannas, Erik Ivan Johnson Jan 2006

Effects Of Fire On Habitat Associations, Abundance, And Survival Of Wintering Henslow's Sparrows (Ammodramus Henslowii) In Southeastern Louisiana Longleaf Pine Savannas, Erik Ivan Johnson

LSU Master's Theses

The Henslow’s Sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii) is the fastest declining short-distance migrant and fastest declining grassland bird in North America. Declines in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) savannas, its primary wintering habitat, have exceeded 97%. Other than basic habitat requirements, very little is known about its wintering ecology. I examined habitat associations of wintering Henslow’s Sparrows resulting from fire in longleaf pine savannas in southeastern Louisiana during two winters. Because it is important to understand the relative importance of habitat parameters, which include structure, species composition, and food availability, I measured these to determine their relative importance to Henslow’s Sparrow densities. I …


Effects Of Silvicultural Techniques And Landscape Management On Habitat Quality And Relative Abundance For Northern Bobwhites In A Pine Plantation Forest, Jason Douglas Burke Jan 2006

Effects Of Silvicultural Techniques And Landscape Management On Habitat Quality And Relative Abundance For Northern Bobwhites In A Pine Plantation Forest, Jason Douglas Burke

LSU Master's Theses

Pine plantation forests are increasing in scope across the southeastern United States, particularly Louisiana. These areas provide poor quality bobwhite brood-rearing habitats, and become increasingly degraded without periodic disturbance. Poor quality habitat conditions at a landscape-level scale usually results in reduced fall bobwhite body weights, creating low survival rates. We researched 4 understory vegetation management techniques (ie. mowing, no treatment, burn only, and imazapyr with burning) within pine plantations to evaluate their effects on vegetation composition and structure and on arthropod abundance and availability relative to bobwhite brooding habitat in 2002-2005. We used 1,155 human-imprinted bobwhite chicks to estimate foraging …


Fire Does Not Alter Vegetation In Infertile Prairie, Johannes M.H. Knops Jan 2006

Fire Does Not Alter Vegetation In Infertile Prairie, Johannes M.H. Knops

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

The paradigm in prairie ecology is that fire is one of the key factors deter-mining vegetation composition. fire can impact grassland ecosystems in various ways, including changing plant species composition and inducing nitro-gen loss. I found that 17 years of different burning frequencies in infertile grassland had only a minor impact on the vegetation composition and diversity. The only major impact from increasing the frequency of fires was a decrease of Poa pratensis abundance. However, other plant species did not r-spond to the change in Poa abundance. This result contrasts with previous studies in savannas and more productive grasslands, where …