Fine‐scale fire patterns mediate forest structure in frequent‐fire ecosystems

• Published in: Ecosphere (Washington, D.C) Vol. 11; no. 7
• Main Authors: Ritter, Scott M., Hoffman, Chad M., Battaglia, Mike A., Stevens‐Rumann, Camille S., Mell, William E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.07.2020; Wiley
• Subjects: Consumption; cooling; crown fire; crown fire transition; ecological restoration; Ecosystems; Environmental changes; Environmental restoration; fire behavior; fire regime; Forest & brush fires; forest ecology; Forest ecosystems; Forest fires; forest management; forests; fuels (fire ecology); group size; Heat transfer; Moisture content; pattern‐process feedback; Physics; restoration; self‐regulation; spatial pattern; thermal energy; tree crown; tree mortality; tree torching; Trees; Vegetation; wildfire; Wildfires; United States > US
• ISSN: 2150-8925; 2150-8925
• DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.3177

In frequent‐fire forests, wildland fire acts as a self‐regulating process creating forest structures that consist of a fine‐grained mosaic of isolated trees, tree groups of various sizes, and non‐treed openings. Though the self‐regulation of forest structure through repeated fires is acknowledged, f...