Organized Oral Session
Henry Adams, PhD
Professor
Washington State University
Pullman, Washington, United States
Aaron Sparks
University of Idaho, United States
Alistair Smith
University of Idaho, United States
Pyro-ecophysiology, the study of how vegetation interacts with fire as mediated by plant physiology, is an active subdiscipline in ecology that has emerged in the last 5-10 years. With this session we aim to bring together researchers in this field who investigate the mechanisms of how vegetation interacts with fire, in order to better understand and predict dynamics that affect wildfire across the landscape. Historically, fire ecology research has been descriptive in nature, where patterns observed after fire have been used to interpret how wildfire interacts with vegetation, and very little research has explored mechanistic causes. Recent research in pyroecophysiology explores how drought stress affects live fuel moisture, and how this relates to changes in ignitability, heat intensity, and consumption of live fuels, with an aim toward improved prediction of wildfire risk from live fuels. This research is particularly relevant for dessication-tolerant plant species that can survive under a wide range of plant moisture content, such as chamise and other chaparral shrubs in California and juniper species in the southern Great Plains. Other work seeks to determine how much heat is lethal to trees and other plants, and how this varies among species, and also how bark anatomy can affect the transmission of heat to the cambium, phloem, and xylem tissues that are critically important for tree survival. Another important component of pyroecophysiology includes research that aims to determine the physiological mechanisms of fire-induced mortality of trees and other plants. Unlike popular conceptions based on media images of the most severe impacts of wildfire, most trees are not wholly consumed during wildfire, reduced to blackened stumps and snags. The majority of trees that die following wildfire experience delayed mortality months to years following fire. However, an understanding of which physiological systems fail first and drive mortality is not fully resolved. Results of some studies point to hydraulic failure in the xylem, and the resulting inability to transport water, as the primary mortality mechanism. Other research suggests heat-injury to the phloem,and the resulting inability to move assimilated carbon from the canopy to roots, is the primary mechanism. Other work investigates whether post-fire recovery in carbon assimilation (photosynthesis) can explain whether trees live or die following wildfire. Research in this field also seeks to link physiological responses at the plant or organ-level to remote sensing observations that can be used to scale mechanistic understanding to forest stands and landscapes.
Presenting Author: Aaron Sparks – University of Idaho
Co-author: Alexander Blanco – University of Idaho
Co-author: David Wilson – Moscow High School
Co-author: Dylan Schwilk – Texas tech University
Co-author: Daniel M. Johnson – University of Georgia
Co-author: Henry D. Adams, PhD – Washington State University
Co-author: David Bowman – University of Tasmania
Co-author: Douglas Hardman – University of Idaho
Co-author: Alistair Smith – University of Idaho
Presenting Author: Sharon M. Hood, PhD – USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station
Co-author: Charlotte C. Reed – USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station
Presenting Author: Max Moritz – University of California Cooperative Extension and Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara
Co-author: Indra S. Boving – UC Santa Barbara
Co-author: Joe V. Celebrezze – Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara
Co-author: Kristina Fauss – UC Santa Barbara
Co-author: Isaac Park – University of California - Santa Barbara
Presenting Author: Raquel Partelli – University of British Columbia
Co-author: Anthony S. Bova – USDA Forest Service
Co-author: Willian Mell – USDA Forest Service
Co-author: Adam Atchley – Los Alamos National Laboratory
Co-author: Sean T. Michaletz – The University of British Columbia
Presenting Author: Andreas Bär – University of Innsbruck, Austria
Co-author: Stefan Mayr – University of Innsbruck, Austria