This paper examines the utility of hyperspectral remote sensing to detect fresh and dry biomass, water content, and plant area index of burned and unburned grassland in southern California. Contrary to many previously published reports, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI, a vegetation greenness index) was not a good indicator of any of these important biophysical properties in eit...

Fire causes dramatic short-term changes in vegetation and ecosystem function, and may promote rapid vegetation change by creating recruitment opportunities. Climate warming likely will increase the frequency of wildfire in the Arctic, where it is not common now. In 2007, the unusually severe Anaktuvuk River fire burned 1039 km(2) of tundra on Alaska's North Slope. Four years later, we harvested...

Woodland restoration sites planted with Quercus lobata (valley oak) often have serious invasions of nonnative annual grasses and thistles. Although prescribed fire can effectively control these exotics, restoration managers may be reluctant to use fire if it causes substantial mortality of recently planted saplings. We studied the effects of prescribed fires on the survival and subsequent growt...

Accurate trace-metal and strontium-isotope analyses of archaeological corn cobs require that metal contaminants be removed prior to chemical analysis. Archaeological cobs are often coated with construction debris, dust, or soilwhich containsmineral particles. In addition,most archaeological cobs are partially or completely burned and the burned parts incorporatemineral debris in their hardened ...

Several countries have set ambitious targets for the transport sector that mandate a gradual increase in advanced biofuel content coming years. The current work addresses this transition and indicates two promising gasoline bio-blendstocks: Anisole isobutanol. whole value chains of these bio-components were considered, focusing on end-use performance, but also analyzing feedstock its conversion...

This study was undertaken in the context of a project of reclamation of a burned forest area applying municipal waste compost (MWC) and it consisted of an incubation experience carried out under laboratory conditions. The objectives of this research were to asses the effect of three doses of MWC added to burned and unburned calcareous soils on a) SOM mineralization and b) soil microbiological p...

We study the Riemann problem with forward combustion due to injection of air into a porous medium containing solid fuel. We neglect air compressibility and heat loss to the rock formation. Given initial reservoir and injection conditions, we prove that there is a unique time asymptotic wave sequence for combustion with complete oxygen consumption. The sequence consists of a region of unburned a...

Fires can generate spatial variation in trophic interactions such as insect herbivory. If trophic interactions mediated by fire influence nutrient cycling, they could feed back on the more immediate consequences of fire on nutrient dynamics. Here we consider herbivore-induced effects on oak litter quality and decomposition within a long-term manipulation of fire frequency in central Minnesota, ...