Citation

Sunderman SO, Weisberg PJ. Int. J. Wildland Fire 2012; 21(8): 1014-1024.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, International Association of Wildland Fire, Fire Research Institute, Publisher CSIRO Publishing)

DOI

10.1071/WF11172

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Little is known about the fire ecology of desert springs, despite their importance for biodiversity and for provision of ecosystem services. Desert spring ecosystems are characterised by high and continuous fuel loads compared with surrounding uplands, suggesting that fire may play a significant ecological role. For the Ash Meadows spring complex in the south-western USA, we used ecological-niche factor analysis and a Bayesian model averaging regression technique to characterise the environmental conditions associated with spatially explicit burn probability and burn severity over a 24-year period. Burn probability and burn severity were both more strongly associated with fuel availability than with proximity to anthropogenic ignition sources; however, areas with more homogeneous vegetation cover were positively associated with high-severity burns but were negatively associated with burn probability. Burn probability was greater near areas of high anthropogenic influence, whereas areas further from anthropogenic alteration were more likely to experience high-severity fire. Riparian forest and emergent wetland vegetation were most likely to burn although they were among the rarest vegetation types. Human activities may strongly influence fire regimes in desert spring wetlands through groundwater pumping and introductions of exotic plants that alter fuelbed heterogeneity and shift the balance among woody and herbaceous vegetation.

Language: en