Beyond reducing ï¬re hazard: fuel treatment impacts on overstory tree survival.
Ecol Appl
; 24(8): 1879-86, 2014.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29185659
ABSTRACT
Fuel treatment implementation in dry forest types throughout the western United States is likely to increase in pace and scale in response to increasing incidence of large wildï¬res. While it is clear that properly implemented fuel treatments are effective at reducing hazardous ï¬re potential, there are ancillary ecological effects that can impact forest resilience either positively or negatively depending on the speciï¬c elements examined, as well as treatment type, timing, and intensity. In this study, we use overstory tree growth responses, measured seven years after the most common fuel treatments, to estimate forest health. Across the ï¬ve species analyzed, observed mortality and future vulnerability were consistently low in the mechanical- only treatment. Fire-only was similar to the control for all species except Douglas-ï¬r, while mechanical-plus-ï¬re had high observed mortality and future vulnerability for white ï¬r and sugar pine. Given that overstory trees largely dictate the function of forests and services they provide (e.g., wildlife habitat, carbon sequestration, soil stability) these results have implications for understanding longer-term impacts of common fuel treatments on forest resilience.
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Árvores
/
Florestas
/
Agricultura Florestal
/
Conservação dos Recursos Naturais
/
Incêndios Florestais
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2014
Tipo de documento:
Article