Anthropogenic influences on potential fire spread in a pyrogenic ecosystem of Florida, USA |
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| Authors: | Brean W Duncan Paul A Schmalzer |
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| Institution: | (1) Dynamac Corporation, Mail Code:DYN-2, Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899, USA |
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| Abstract: | Fire has historically been an important ecological factor maintaining southeastern U.S. vegetation. Humans have altered natural
fire regimes by fragmenting fuels, introducing exotic species, and suppressing fires. Little is known about how these alterations
specifically affect spatial fire extent and pattern. We applied historic (1920 and 1943) and current (1990) GIS fuels maps
and the FARSITE fire spread model to quantify the differences between historic and current fire spread distributions. We held
all fire modeling variables (wind speed and direction, cloud cover, precipitation, humidity, air temperature, fuel moistures,
ignition source and location) constant with exception of the fuel models representing different time periods. Model simulations
suggest that fires during the early 1900's burned freely across the landscape, while current fires are much smaller, restricted
by anthropogenic influences. Fire extent declined linearly with patch density, and there was a quadratic relationship between
fire extent and percent landscape covered by anthropogenic features. We found that as little as 10 percent anthropogenic landcover
caused a 50 percent decline in fire extent. Most landscapes (conservation or non-conservation areas) are now influenced by
anthropogenic features which disrupt spatial fire behavior disproportionately to their actual size. These results suggest
that land managers using fire to restore or maintain natural ecosystem function in pyrogenic systems will have to compensate
for anthropogenic influences in their burn planning.
This revised version was published online in May 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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| Keywords: | Fire modeling Fuel fragmentation FARSIDE Historic Pyrogenic Southeast U S |
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