Forest Sciences Commons^™

Assessment Of Vegetation Response To Wildfire At Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico: Case Study Of The Las Conchas Fire, Gladys Valentin-Gonzalez

Geography ETDs

In the past couple of decades, there has been an increase in the occurrence of wildfire events in the United States. The U.S. Forest Service estimates that over 73,000 wildfires on average occur annually in the U.S., burning about 7.3 million acres of land. Bandelier National Monument, in northern New Mexico, has been affected by several wildfires in the past 40 years, one of the most recent being the Las Conchas Fire in 2011, which burned over 60,700 hectaresin Bandelier National Monument and Valles Caldera National Preserve. This research explores a remote-sensing based assessment of vegetation response to and recovery …

Spread Of Common Native And Invasive Grasses And Ruderal Trees Following Anthropogenic Disturbances In A Tropical Dry Forest, Xavier A. Jaime, Skip J. Van Bloem, Frank H. Koch, Stacy A.C. Nelson

Publications

Introduction

A fundamental challenge to the integrity of tropical dry forest ecosystems is the invasion of non-native grass species. These grasses compete for resources and fuel anthropogenic wildfires. In 2012, a bulldozer from the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority cleared a 570-m trail from a state road into a mature dry forest section of Guánica Forest to control a wildfire. We monitored colonization by a non-native invasive grass (Megathyrsus maximus), a highly invasive tree (Leucaena leucocephala), and a native grass (Uniola virgata), as well as natural regeneration, along the bulldozer trail. We determined whether …

Biomass Estimations Of Invasives Yaupon, Chinese Privet And Chinese Tallow In East Texas Hardwood And Pine Ecosystems, Mike Tiller, Brian P. Oswald, Alyx Frantzen, Warren Conway, I-Kuai Hung

Faculty Publications

Forest understory fuels can have profound effects on fire behavior and crown fire initiation. Accurate fire behavior prediction in understory fuels is an essential component for estimating fire intensity and severity during wildfire and prescribed fire events. This study focused on estimating temporal and seasonal changes in fuel loading parameters associated with the expansion of invasive yaupon (Ilex vomitoria), Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense), and Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera) in East Texas pine and hardwood ecosystems. Fuel loading data of invasive species infested sites indicated significant increases in understory biomass when compared to 1988 estimates, suggesting a clear need to revise …

Managing Upland Oak Forests With Disturbance And The Implications For Non-Native Species Invasions, Devin E. Black

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

Natural and anthropogenic disturbances have influenced forest stand structure and affected species compositions within forests for millennia. Disturbances such as fire, severe weather events, and forest management practices may result in significantly reduced tree biomass. Thus, these disturbances may lower canopy closure and stem density in support of forest management goals, such as open oak woodland restoration, or promote an increase in species richness within the forest understory. However, these types of disturbance may also produce the unwanted consequence of opening pathways for the invasion of non-native species. Once established, these non-native species may threaten native plant communities and biodiversity. …

Vegetation Response To Repeated Prescribed Burning And Varied Wildfire Severity In Upland Forests On The Cumberland Plateau, Kentucky, Zachary W. Poynter

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

As a result of decades of fire suppression, oaks (Quercus L.) and other disturbance-dependent tree species are experiencing widespread regeneration failure. Today, fire takes the form of relatively low to moderate intensity prescribed fire, used to restore fire adapted ecosystems, and wildfires which often vary in severity. I investigated long-term changes to forest structure and composition in response to repeated prescribed burning followed by an extended period of no fire. Burning reduced total basal area, midstory stem density and sapling stem density. However, the fire-free interval significantly increased sapling layer stem densities of oaks and competitor species. This research …