The Role of Landscape Context in Forests Recovering from Fire
Open Access
- Author:
- Peeler, Jamie
- Graduate Program:
- Geography
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- April 19, 2021
- Committee Members:
- Alan Taylor, Major Field Member
Laura Leites, Outside Unit & Field Member
Douglas Miller, Major Field Member
Erica Smithwick, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Cynthia Brewer, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- regeneration
stand-replacing fire
scale
pattern
dispersal
forest
resilience - Abstract:
- We live in a time of widespread human impact that tipped Earth into a new epoch called the Anthropocene. In this new epoch, the United States (US) entered a new fire era that poses significant environmental challenges and costs to society. Due to climate change, built-up fuels, and human ignitions, fires are increasing in size and frequency. In response to these larger, more frequent, and more severe fires, interest in forest resilience (the capacity of a forest to “bounce back” following fire or another disturbance) has grown recently. Forest resilience relies on multiple ecosystem processes to jumpstart recovery. One critical ecosystem process is seed dispersal, in which surviving trees supply seeds to burn sites with fire-killed trees and promote post-fire tree recovery. In the field, scientists often estimate seed dispersal using the straight-line distance to nearest surviving tree. However, straight-line distance does not capture additional surviving trees, limiting accountability for surrounding landscape context and seed supply. To better account for landscape context, scientists could learn from lessons in another ecosystem: coral reefs. Knowledge on corals, disturbance, and seascape context led to innovative thinking on using spatial interactions to manage coral reef resilience to social-environmental change. Understanding how equivalent spatial interactions occur in landscapes could deepen knowledge of forest resilience in the western US. Accordingly, I designed a dissertation that answers an overarching question: what is the role of landscape context in post-fire tree recovery? As a critical first step, in Chapter 2 I identified the spatial scales in which landscape context relates to post-fire tree recovery. In Chapter 3, I used spatial scales identified in Chapter 2 to investigate how landscape context interacts with local site suitability. In Chapter 4, I used findings in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 to discuss how lessons from terrestrial and marine ecosystems can support ecosystem resilience in the Anthropocene. Collectively, the dissertation provides pathways to better incorporate spatial interactions into land management in a new fire era.