Current understanding of aspen fire ecology in western North America includes the paradoxical characterization that aspen-dominated stands, although often regenerated following fire, are “fire-proof”. We tested this idea by predicting potential fire behavior across a gradient of aspen dominance in northern Utah using the Forest Vegetation Simulator and the Fire and Fuels Extension. The wind spe...

Although the silvicultural use of prescribed fire has been researched for almost 70 years, new advances are still being made. These advaace~ are primarily the result of (1) a better under%andktg of fire as an ecological process and (2) the use of this knowledge to restore declining ecosystems, save threatened and endangered species, enhance natural beauty, and regulate composition and structure...

Fire suppression in the Southern Appalachians has led to changes in forests dominated by yellow pine (Pinus subgenus pinus) and oak (Quercus) species. Recently, management agencies have begun to prescribe fire with the aim of restoring pre-suppression conditions. Here, I examine the use of prescribed fire in the Southern Appalachians from two perspectives. First, I review the values and goals t...

A 50-yr precedent was reversed in 1995 when, following a powerful windstorm, salvage logging was disallowed in the protected Adirondack Park State Forest Preserve of New York, United States. Damage from a similar windstorm in 1950 had provoked massive salvage operations, approved by the New York State legislature on the grounds of fire prevention and resource conservation. Following the 1995 st...

When satellite data on fire activity first became available for the globe it confirmed perceptions that there is a great deal of burning in Africa. The striking number of active fires recorded in Africa compared with other parts of the world with similar environmental characteristics point to the importance of humans in altering fire regimes on this continent. Humans have been using fire in Afr...

ABSTRACT: Bushfire, as a major external ecological factor, diversifies bushland environments. Monitoring bushfire-prone landscape patterns and vegetation recovery after fires is critical for the long-term bushland management. Landscape ecology studies using remotely sensed imagery have been effective to identify the relationship between landscape patterns and ecological processes. This paper us...

Because some consequences of fire resemble the effects of industrial forest harvesting, forest management is often considered as a disturbance having effects similar to those of natural disturbances. Although the analogy http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol2/iss2/art6/ (1 of 11) [9/5/2008 10:08:21 AM] Conservation Ecology: Variability in fire frequency and forest composition i...'s southeastern...

The disease triangle is a basic and highly flexible tool used extensively in forest pathology. By linking host, pathogen, and environmental factors, the model provides etiological insights into disease emergence. Landscape ecology, as a field, focuses on spatially heterogeneous environments and is most often employed to understand the dynamics of relatively large areas such as those including m...