Fire in California's Ecosystems

Fire in California's Ecosystems
Author: Jan W. van Wagtendonk
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 567
Release: 2018-06-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0520961919

Fire in California’s Ecosystems describes fire in detail—both as an integral natural process in the California landscape and as a growing threat to urban and suburban developments in the state. Written by many of the foremost authorities on the subject, this comprehensive volume is an ideal authoritative reference tool and the foremost synthesis of knowledge on the science, ecology, and management of fire in California. Part One introduces the basics of fire ecology, including overviews of historical fires, vegetation, climate, weather, fire as a physical and ecological process, and fire regimes, and reviews the interactions between fire and the physical, plant, and animal components of the environment. Part Two explores the history and ecology of fire in each of California's nine bioregions. Part Three examines fire management in California during Native American and post-Euro-American settlement and also current issues related to fire policy such as fuel management, watershed management, air quality, invasive plant species, at-risk species, climate change, social dynamics, and the future of fire management. This edition includes critical scientific and management updates and four new chapters on fire weather, fire regimes, climate change, and social dynamics.

Flames in Our Forest

Flames in Our Forest
Author: Stephen F. Arno
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2013-04-10
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1597266035

Shaped by fire for thousands of years, the forests of the western United States are as adapted to periodic fires as they are to the region's soils and climate. Our widespread practice of ignoring the vital role of fire is costly in both ecological and economic terms, with consequences including the decline of important fire-dependent tree and undergrowth species, increasing density and stagnation of forests, epidemics of insects and diseases, and the high potential for severe wildfires. Flames in Our Forest explains those problems and presents viable solutions to them. It explores the underlying historical and ecological reasons for the problems associated with our attempts to exclude fire and examines how some of the benefits of natural fire can be restored Chapters consider: the history of American perceptions and uses of fire in the forest how forest fires burn effects of fire on the soil, water, and air methods for uncovering the history and effects of past fires prescribed fire and fuel treatments for different zones in the landscape Flames in Our Forest presents a new picture of the role of fire in maintaining forests, describes the options available for restoring the historical effects of fires, and considers the implications of not doing so. It will help readers appreciate the importance of fire in forests and gives a nontechnical overview of the scientific knowledge and tools available for sustaining western forests by mimicking and restoring the effects of natural fire regimes.

Fire Ecology

Fire Ecology
Author: Henry A. Wright
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 546
Release: 1982-03-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780471090335

Regional Silviculture of the United States, 2nd Edition John W. Barrett This is the only regional silviculture text now on the market. It assesses the significant biological, physical, and economic qualities of forest regions in the continental U.S., and their effect on silviculture practices. The first chapter provides an overview of the forests of the U.S. and introduces the topic of social and institutional constraints on silviculture. Subsequent chapters each deal with a specific forest region, are written by a person intimately acquainted with the locality, and follow a regular outline to provide cohesion and facilitate regional comparisons. 1980 551 pp. Forest Ecology, 3rd Edition Stephen H. Spurr and Burton V. Barnes The growing interest and literature in this field created a need for a fresh updating of this classic text. It remains a comprehensive yet highly readable account of real world forests, including ecological aspects of successful forest management. Broad coverage embraces genetics and variation, environmental factors, site, community relations, ecosystem studies, glacial forest history, post-settlement history, compostition and succession. 1980 687 pp. Wildlife Biology, 2nd Edition Raymond F. Dasmann This updated and revised edition of the standard introductory text brings together the principles of ecology and population biology and the practice of wildlife conservation and management. It presents basic information on the value and present status of wild animal life, including a history of human relationships with and attitudes toward wildlife. Examines wildlife within the context of ecosystems, indicating why single-species approaches to conservation and management often fail. 1981 212 pp.

Ecosystems of California

Ecosystems of California
Author: Harold Mooney
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 1008
Release: 2016-01-19
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0520278801

This long-anticipated reference and sourcebook for CaliforniaÕs remarkable ecological abundance provides an integrated assessment of each major ecosystem typeÑits distribution, structure, function, and management. A comprehensive synthesis of our knowledge about this biologically diverse state, Ecosystems of California covers the state from oceans to mountaintops using multiple lenses: past and present, flora and fauna, aquatic and terrestrial, natural and managed. Each chapter evaluates natural processes for a specific ecosystem, describes drivers of change, and discusses how that ecosystem may be altered in the future. This book also explores the drivers of CaliforniaÕs ecological patterns and the history of the stateÕs various ecosystems, outlining how the challenges of climate change and invasive species and opportunities for regulation and stewardship could potentially affect the stateÕs ecosystems. The text explicitly incorporates both human impacts and conservation and restoration efforts and shows how ecosystems support human well-being. Edited by two esteemed ecosystem ecologists and with overviews by leading experts on each ecosystem, this definitive work will be indispensable for natural resource management and conservation professionals as well as for undergraduate or graduate students of CaliforniaÕs environment and curious naturalists.

Fire Ecology of Pacific Northwest Forests

Fire Ecology of Pacific Northwest Forests
Author: James K Agee
Publisher:
Total Pages: 520
Release: 1993-11
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

A leading expert in the emerging field of fire ecology, James Agee analyzes the ecological role of fire in the creation and maintenance of the natural forests common to most of the western U.S. In addition to examining fire from an ecological perspective, he provides insight into its historical and cultural aspects, and also touches on some of the political issues that influence the use of fire. Although the focus of chapters on the ecology of specific forest zones is on the Pacific Northwest, much of the book addresses issues that are applicable to other regions. Illustrations, tables, index.

Prescribed Burning in California Wildlands Vegetation Management

Prescribed Burning in California Wildlands Vegetation Management
Author: Harold Biswell
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2023-11-10
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0520354060

Harold Biswell's decades of research and field experience were a major factor in developing policies of controlled or prescribed burning, which mimics or reintroduces the natural fire cycle. This comprehensive study introduces the principles and practices of prescribed burning, which apply far beyond California, within a historical and ecological perspective. Available for the first time in paperback, with a new foreword by James Agee, this book places Biswell's study—and his legacy—in the context of recent developments in the field.

Fire Ecology and Management: Past, Present, and Future of US Forested Ecosystems

Fire Ecology and Management: Past, Present, and Future of US Forested Ecosystems
Author: Cathryn H. Greenberg
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 513
Release: 2021-10-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030732673

This edited volume presents original scientific research and knowledge synthesis covering the past, present, and potential future fire ecology of major US forest types, with implications for forest management in a changing climate. The editors and authors highlight broad patterns among ecoregions and forest types, as well as detailed information for individual ecoregions, for fire frequencies and severities, fire effects on tree mortality and regeneration, and levels of fire-dependency by plant and animal communities. The foreword addresses emerging ecological and fire management challenges for forests, in relation to sustainable development goals as highlighted in recent government reports. An introductory chapter highlights patterns of variation in frequencies, severities, scales, and spatial patterns of fire across ecoregions and among forested ecosystems across the US in relation to climate, fuels, topography and soils, ignition sources (lightning or anthropogenic), and vegetation. Separate chapters by respected experts delve into the fire ecology of major forest types within US ecoregions, with a focus on the level of plant and animal fire-dependency, and the role of fire in maintaining forest composition and structure. The regional chapters also include discussion of historic natural (lightning-ignited) and anthropogenic (Native American; settlers) fire regimes, current fire regimes as influenced by recent decades of fire suppression and land use history, and fire management in relation to ecosystem integrity and restoration, wildfire threat, and climate change. The summary chapter combines the major points of each chapter, in a synthesis of US-wide fire ecology and forest management into the future. This book provides current, organized, readily accessible information for the conservation community, land managers, scientists, students and educators, and others interested in how fire behavior and effects on structure and composition differ among ecoregions and forest types, and what that means for forest management today and in the future.