Final Report Supplement - Joint Fire Science Program

Zotero Report zotero://report/items/520446_XG98FERT-520446_89BHQIMS-520446...
Type Journal Article
Author Durland L. Shumway
Author Marc D. Abrams
Author Charles M. Ruffner
Abstract We document the fire history and associated ecological changes of an old-growth forest stand in western
Maryland, U.S.A. The study area is located on the side slopes of a ridge system (Savage Mountain). Twenty
basal cross sections were obtained from old trees cut in 1986, which provided evidence of 42 fires from 1615 to
1958. Nine fires were recorded in the sample trees in the 17th century, 13 in the 18th century, 12 in the 19th
century, and eight in the early to mid-20th century. However, there were no major fire years after 1930. The
Weibull modal fire interval was 7.6 years. Oaks recruited consistently from the early 1600s to the early 1900s,
but there was increased Acer rubrum L. and Betula lenta L. recruitment with fire suppression after 1930.
Species recruitment patterns and long-term fire history reported in this study offer important direct support for
the hypothesis that periodic fire played an important role in the historical development and perpetuation of oak
forests of the mid-Atlantic region before and after European settlement.
Publication Canadian Journal of Forest Research
Volume 31
Issue 8
Pages 1437–1443
Date August 2001
Journal Abbr Can. J. For. Res.
DOI 10.1139/x01-079
ISSN 0045-5067
URL http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/x01-079
Date Added Sunday, August 28, 2011 5:26:09 PM
Modified Wednesday, August 31, 2011 12:30:14 AM
A 400-year history of fires on lake islands in south-east Sweden
Type Journal Article
Author Mats Niklasson
Author Igor Drobyshev
Author Tomasz Zielonka
Abstract Island-lake ecosystems are suitable for testing scale dependence in forests disturbance theories thanks to
differences in the potential for fire spread on islands and the mainland. We investigated past fire regime on the
mainland and on islands in a large lake in south-east Sweden. We used dendrochronological methods to
reconstruct fire disturbances on 18 small islands (0.04–24.1 ha) and in 43 sites in the surrounding 75-km2
landscape over the last 400 years. In the past, fires were frequent on both islands and mainland but not
synchronised on an annual scale. Significant temporal changes occurred around the middle of the 18th century.
Before 1750, fires were less frequent on islands than on the mainland (median fire return interval 58 v. 25 years
respectively). However, an inversion of this pattern was observed during 1750–1860: islands showed even
shorter fire intervals than mainland locations, suggesting additional and likely human-related source of ignitions
(median fire return interval 15 v. 29 years respectively). A substantial decrease in fire activity in both islands
and mainland was apparent in 1860–1890. We suggest that the present fire regime (the last 100 years) on the
small islands is largely natural as fire suppression is not present there. The dynamic nature of the fire regime on
islands still requires further studies: islands may, at times, attract lightning, humans with fire, or both.
Publication International Journal of Wildland Fire
Volume 19
Issue 8
Pages 1050–1058
Date December 2010
Journal Abbr Int. J. Wildland Fire
DOI 10.1071/WF09117
ISSN 1448-5516
URL http://www.publish.csiro.au/?
paper=WF09117
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