F624, Fall 2015 …Course Outline, Readings, and Assignments
8-25 … Course introduction
 Introductions, course overview, and brief presentation on High Park Fire
I. Historical Fire Regimes
8-27 … Concepts of fire regimes and HRV
 Swetnam, T. W., C. D. Allen, and J. L. Betancourt. 1999. Applied historical ecology:
using the past to manage for the future. Ecological Applications 9:1189-1206.
 Jackson, S. T. 2006. Vegetation, environment, and time: The origination and termination
of ecosystems. Journal of Vegetation Science 17:549-557.
9-1 … Fire regimes in frequent-fire forests
 Brown, P.M, C.L. Wienk, and A.J. Symstad. 2008. Fire and forest history at Mount
Rushmore. Ecological Applications 18:1984-1999.
 Farris, C.A., C.H. Baisan, D.A. Falk, S.R. Yool, and T.W. Swetnam. 2010. Spatial and
temporal corroboration of a fire-scar-based fire history in a frequently burned ponderosa
pine forest. Ecological Applications 20:1598-1614.
 Fule, P.Z., M. Ramos-Gomez, C. Cortes-Montano, and A.M. Miller. 2011. Fire regime in
a Mexican forest under indigenous resource management. Ecological Applications
21:764-775.
9-3 … Fire regimes in infrequent-fire and mixed-frequency forests
 Sibold, J.S., T.T. Veblen, and M.E. Gonzales. 2006. Spatial and temporal variation in fire
regimes in subalpine forests across the Colorado Front Range in Rocky Mountain
National Park, Colorado, USA. Journal of Biogeography 32:631-647.
 Baker. W.L., T.T. Veblen, and R.L. Sherriff. 2007. Fire, fuels and restoration of
ponderosa pine-Douglas fir forests in the Rocky Mountains, USA. Journal of
Biogeography 34:251-269.
9-8 … Wrapping up this section
 Distribute and discuss assignment #1
II. What Controls Fire Regimes
9-10 … Ignition source and frequency
 Johansson, M.U., M. Fetene, A. Malmer, and A. Granstrom. 2012. Tending for cattle:
traditional fire management in Ethiopian montane heathlands. Ecology and Society
17:article #19.
 Gott, B. 2005. Aboriginal fire management in south-eastern Australia: aims and
frequency. Journal of Biogeography 32:1203-1208.
9-15 … Weather, climate, and fuels
 Moritz, M.A., T.J. Moody, M.A. Krawchuk, M.Hughes, and A. Hall. 2010. Spatial
variation in extreme winds predicts large wildfire locations in chaparral ecosystems.
Geophysical Research Letters 37: article L04801.
 Balch, J.K., B.A. Bradley,C.M. D’Antonio, and J. Gomez-Dans. 2013. Introduced annual
grass increases regional fire activity across the arid western USA (1980-2009). Global
Change Biology 19:173-183.
9-17 … Bark beetle outbreaks and fire
 Harvey, B.J., D.C. Donato, and M.G. Turner. 2014. Recent mountain pine beetle
outbreaks, wildfire severity, and postfire tree regeneration in the US Northern Rockies.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111 (42):15120-15125.
 Powell, E.N., P.A Townsend, and K.F. Raffa. 2012. Wildfire provides refuges from local
extinction but is an unlikely driver of outbreaks by mountain pine beetle. Ecological
Monographs 81:69-84.
9-22 … Synthesis
 Beckage, B., W. J. Platt, M. G. Slocum, and Panko, B. 2003. Influence of the El Nino
Southern Oscillation on fire regimes in the Florida Everglades. Ecology 84:3124-3130.
 Krawchuk, M.A., and M.A. Moritz. 2011. Constraints on global fire activity vary across a
resource gradient. Ecology 92:121-132.
9-24 … Re-visiting the High Park Fire
 Micah Wright presentation: "Characterizing the effects of burn severity, mountain pine
beetle, and microhabitat on lodgepole pine regeneration following the High Park Fire"
9-29 … Wrapping up this section
 Assignment #1 due by end of day
10-1 … Reviewing assignment #1
 Present selections from assignment #1 reports
III. Fire as an Evolutionary Process
10-6 … Concepts of fire adaptation, and lack thereof
 Keeley, J.E., J.G. Pausas, P.W. Rundel, W.J. Bond, and R.A. Bradstock. 2011. Fire as an
evolutionary pressure shaping plant traits. Trends in Plant Science 16:406-411.
 Kinnaird, M. F., and T. G. O’Brien. 1998. Ecological effects of wildfire on lowland
rainforest in Sumatra. Conservation Biology 12(5):954-956.
 Cochrane, M. A. 2003. Fire science for rainforests. Nature 421:913-919
10-8 … TBA
10-13 … Cone serotiny
 Schoennagel, T.A., M.G. Turner, and W.H. Romme. 2003. The influence of fire interval
and serotiny on postfire lodgepole pine density in Yellowstone National Park. Ecology
84:2967-2978.
 Gauthier, S; Bergeron, Y; Simon, JP. 1996. Effects of fire regime on the serotiny level of
jack pine. The Journal of Ecology. 84(4):539-548.
 Talluto, M.V., and C.W. Benkman. 2014. Conflicting selection from fire and seed
predation drives fine-scales phenotypic variation in a widespread North American
conifer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111(26):9543-9548.
10-15 … Wrapping up this section
 Distribute and discuss assignment #2
IV. Fire Effects on Communities and Ecosystems
10-20 … Effects on plant communities
 Bond, W.J., F.I. Woodward, and G.F. Midgley. 2005. The global distribution of
ecosystems in a world without fire. New Phytologist 165:525-538.
 Abella, S.R., and P.J. Fornwalt. 2015. Ten years of vegetation assembly after a North
American mega fire. Global Change Biology 21:789-802.
 Johnstone, J.F., T.N. Hollingsworth, F.S. Chapin III, and M.C. Mack. 2010. Changes in
fire regime break the legacy lock on successional trajectories in Alaskan boreal forest.
Global Change Biology 16:1281-1295.
10-22 … TBA
10-27 … Effects on birds and streams
 Kotliar, N.B., P.L. Kennedy, and K. Ferree. 2007. Avifaunal responses to fire in
southwestern montane forests along a burn severity gradient. Ecological Applications
17:491-507.
 Hutto, R.L. 2008. The ecological importance of severe wildfires: some like it hot.
Ecological Applications 18:1827-1834.
 Rhoades, C.C., D. Entwhistle, and D. Butler. 2011. The influence of wildfire extent and
severity on streamwater chemistry, sediment, and temperature following the Hayman
Fire, Colorado. International Journal of Wildland Fire 20:430-442.
10-29 … Effects on soil erosion and biogeochemical processes
 Meyer, G.A., S.G. Wells, and A.J. Timothy Jull. 1995. Fire and alluvial chronology in
Yellowstone National Park: climatic and intrinsic controls on Holocene geomorphic
processes. Geological Society of America Bulletin 107:1211-1230.
 Smithwick, E. A. H., M. G. Turner, M. C. Mack, and F. S. Chapin III. 2005. Post-fire soil
N cycling in northern conifer forests affected by severe, stand-replacing wildfires.
Ecosystems 8:163-181.
11-3 … Wrapping up this section
 Assignment #2 due by end of day
11-5 … Reviewing assignment #2
 Present selections from assignment #2 essays
11-10 … Research proposals, reviews, panels, and the award process
 Distribute and discuss assignment #3
V. Ecological Issues Related to Fire Management
11-12 … The “fire deficit” and mega-fires
 Morgan, P., E.K. Heyerdahl, and C.E. Gibson. 2008. Multi-season climate synchronized
forest fires throughout the 20th century, Northern Rockies, USA. Ecology 89:717-728.
 Marlon, J.R., et al. 2012. Long-term perspective on widlfires in the western USA.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences E535-E543.
 Attiwill, P., and D. Binkley. 2013. Exploring the mega-fire reality: a “Forest Ecology and
Management” conference. Forest Ecology and Management 294:1-3.
11-17 … … Mitigating fire risk
 Stephens, S.L., et al. 2012. The effects of forest fuel-reduction treatments in the United
States. BioScience 62:549-560.
 Waltz, A.E.M., M.T. Stoddard, E.L. Kalies, J.D. Springer, D.W. Huffman, and A.S.
Meador. 2014. Effectiveness of fuel reduction treatments: assessing metrics of forest
resiliency and wildfire severity after the Wallow Fire, AZ. Forest Ecology and
Management 334:43-52.
 Schoennagel, T., C.R. Nelson, D.M. Theobald, G.C. Carnwath, and T.B. Chapman.
Implementation of National Fire Plan treatments near the wildland-urban interface in the
western United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106(26):1070610711.
 Keeley, J.E. 2006. Fire management impacts on invasive plants in the western United
States. Conservation Biology 20:1523-1739.
11-19 … Postfire salvage and rehabilitation
 Donato, D. C., J. B. Fontaine, J. L. Campbell, W. D. Robinson, J. B. Kauffman, and B. E.
Law. 2006. Post-wildfire logging hinders regeneration and increases fire risk. Science
311:352.
 Wagenbrenner, J.W., L.H. MacDonald, R.N. Coats, P. Robichaud, and R.E. Brown.
2015. Effects of post-fire salvage logging and a skid trail treatment on ground cover,
soils, and sediment production in the interior western United States. Forest Ecology and
Management 335:176-193.
11-24 & 11-26 … NO CLASS (THANKSGIVING BREAK)
VI. Future Fire Regimes
11-30 (Monday) … Assignment #3 (research proposal) due by end of day
12-1 … Projecting future fire regimes
 Westerling, A.L., M.G. Turner, E.A.H. Smithwick, W.H. Romme, and M.G. Ryan. 2011.
Continued warming could transform Greater Yellowstone fire regimes by mid-21st
century. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108(32):13165-13170.
 Moritz, M.A., M. Parisien, E. Batllori, M.A. Krawchuk, J. van Dorn, D.J. Ganz, and K.
Hayhoe. 2012. Climate change and disruptions of global fire activity. Ecosphere 3(6):
article 49.
 Distribute research proposals for review
12-3 … Responding to future fire regimes
 Fule, P.Z. 2008. Does it make sense to restore wildland fire in changing climate?
Restoration Ecology 16:526-531.
 Turner, M.G. 2010. Disturbance and landscape dynamics in a changing world. Ecology
91:2833-2849.
12-7 (Monday) … Proposal review due by end of day; submit to instructor + review panel
12-8 … Wrapping up this section
12-10 … Meeting time for research proposal review panel
12-15 (6:20-8:20 pm) … Presentation of the review panel’s deliberations and decisions