@mastersthesis {842, title = {Fire History and Fire Climate Relationships in Upper Elevation Forests of the Southwestern United States}, volume = {Ph.D}, year = {2007}, note = {

Please contact the Laboratory of Tree Ring Research for a copy of this dissertation. The file is too large to be uploaded at this time.

}, pages = {182}, school = {University of Arizona}, type = {Dissertation}, address = {Tucson}, abstract = {

Fire history and fire-climate relationships of upper elevation forests of the southwestern United States are imperative for informing management decisions in the face of increased crown fire occurrence and climate change. I used dendroecological techniques to reconstruct fires and stand-replacing fire patch size in Madrean Sky Islands and Mogollon Plateau. Reconstructed patch size (1685-1904) was compared with contemporary patch size (1996-2004). Reconstructed fires at three sites had stand-replacing patches totaling \> 500 ha. No historical stand-replacing fire patches were evident in the mixed conifer/aspen forests of the Sky Islands. Maximum stand-replacing fire patch size of modern fires (1129 ha) was greater than that reconstructed from aspen (286 ha) and spruce-fir (521 ha). Updated spruce-fir patches may be evidence of larger (\>2000ha) stand-replacing fire patches.

To provide climatological context for fire history I used correlation and regionalization analyses to document spatial and temporal variability in climate regions, and El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) teleconnections using 273 tree-ring chronologies (1732-1979). Four regions were determined by common variability in annual ring width. The component time score series replicate spatial variability in 20th century droughts (e.g., 1950\’s) and pluvials (e.g., 1910\’s). Two regions were significantly correlated with instrumental SOI and AMO, and three with PDO. Sub-regions within the southwestern U.S. varied geographically between the instrumental (1900-1979) and the pre-instrumental periods (1732-1899). Mapped correlations between ENSO, PDO and AMO, and tree-ring indices illustrate detailed sub-regional variability in teleconnections.

I analyzed climate teleconnections, and fire-climate relationships of historical upper elevation fires from 16 sites in 8 mountain ranges. I tested for links between Palmer Drought Severity Index and tree-ring reconstructed ENSO, PDO and AMO phases (1905-1978 and 1700-1904). Upper elevation fires (115 fires, 84 fire years, 1623-1904) were compared with climate indices. ENSO, PDO, and AMO affected regional PDSI, but AMO and PDO teleconnections changed between periods. Fire occurrence was significantly related to inter-annual variability in PDSI, precipitation, ENSO, and phase combinations of ENSO and PDO, but not AMO (1700-1904). Reduced upper elevation fire (1785-1840) was coincident with a cool AMO phase.

}, keywords = {AMO, climate, dendrochronology, dendroclimatology, ENSO, environment, fire, fire history, forest, madrean sky islands, mogollon plateau, mountain, PDO, southwest, teleconnection, tree ring, upper elevation, Watershed Management}, url = {http://ezproxy.library.arizona.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1375523671\&sid=1\&Fmt=2\&clientId=43922\&RQT=309\&VName=PQD.}, author = {Margolis, Ellis Quinn} } @mastersthesis {910, title = {Stand Replacing Fire History and Aspen Ecology in the Upper Rio Grande Basin}, volume = {Master of Science}, year = {2003}, pages = {94}, school = {University of Arizona}, address = {Tucson}, abstract = {

Dendroecological techniques were applied to reconstruct stand-replacing fire history in mixed conifer and spruce-fir forests in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Stand-replacing fire dates with annual accuracy and precision were determined using four lines of evidence for each of twelve sites within a 75,000 square kilometer area. The four lines of evidence were: (1) aspen inner-ring dates, (2) conifer death dates, (3) tree-ring width changes, or other morphological indicators of injury, and (4) fire scars. The annual precision of dating allowed the identification of significant synchrony of stand replacing fires among the 12 sites and regional surface fire events previously reconstructed from the large network of fire scar collections in the Southwest. Nearly all of these synchronous stand-replacing and surface fire years coincided with extreme droughts. This suggests that stand-replacing fire activity occurred primarily when drought conditions allowed fires to ignite and spread within these high elevation forests and/or for the spread of surface fires between lower and upper elevations. Fifty percent of reconstructed stand-replacing fires pre-dated large-scale Euro-American settlement in this region. This may suggest that land use practices (such as logging and mining) were not as important in promoting stand-replacing fires in these study sites, as compared with other areas in Colorado.

}, keywords = {aspen, basin, colorado, conifer, dendrochronology, dendroecology, Ecology, fire, fire history, new mexico, rio grande, spruce fir, stand replacing, tree ring}, author = {Margolis, Ellis Quinn} } @mastersthesis {911, title = {Restoring Ponderosa Pine Forests in the Black Hills, South Dakota}, volume = {Master of Science}, year = {2001}, pages = {50}, school = {University of Arizona}, address = {Tucson}, abstract = {

Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Laws.) forests have changed considerably during the past century, partly because recurrent fires have been absent for a century or more. In dense stands of ponderosa pine in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a layer of pine needles has replaced inderstory vegetation. I examined the disturbance history, soil seed bank, and effects of prescribed burning and overstory reduction on understory vegetation in a ponderosa pine stand in the northern Black Hills. Cessation of fires, prolific ponderosa pine regeneration, and logging led to a dense, even-aged stand with very little understory vegetation and few viable seeds in the soil seed bank. Understory vegetation did not respond to the restoration treatments the first growing season, but did respond the second growing season. Paucity of viable seeds in the soil seed bank does not appear to constrain recruitment of understory vegetation in dense ponderosa pine forests of South Dakota.

}, keywords = {black hills, fire history, overstory, pinus ponderosa, ponderosa pine, prescribed fire, restoring, soil seed bank, south dakota, stand age, understory}, author = {Wienk, Cody Lee} } @mastersthesis {516, title = {Fire History in Riparian Canyon Pine-Oak Forests and the Intervening Desert Grasslands of the Southwest Borderlands: A Dendroecological, Historical, and Cultural Inquiry}, volume = {MS}, year = {1998}, school = {University of Arizona}, address = {Tucson}, abstract = {

Dendroecological, documentary, and ethnoecological evidence were combined to provide an integrated understanding of past natural and cultural fires in the Southwest Borderlands. Fire frequency for the desert grasslands was inferred from synchronous intercanyon fire events. Mean fire intervals range between 4-8 years in canyon pine-oak forests, 4-9 years in the intervening desert grasslands, and 5-9 years in the mixed-conifer forests. Riparian canyon pine-oak forests were important corridors for fire spread between the desert grasslands and higher-elevation forests. The decline of post-settlement (\>1870s) fires typical of most forests in U.S., is not evident south of the border in Mexico.

Documentary evidence reveals the Apache had detailed knowledge of fire, that burning practices were controlled and limited, and ecosystem enhancement through intentional burning was not suggested. However, the common exception was burning practiced during wartime periods, principally by the Apache but also by the Spanish, Mexicans, and later Americans. Fire reconstructions indicate that wartime-period fires were significantly more frequent than peacetime periods at several canyon-rancher{\'I}a sites.

}, keywords = {apache, borderland, cultural, dendrochronology, dendroecological, desert grassland, ethnoecological, fire, fire history, historical, Mexico, oak, peacetime, pine, post settlement, riparian, southwest, spanish, wartime, Watershed Management}, author = {Kaib, J. Mark} } @mastersthesis {830, title = {A Dendrochronological Record of Pandora Moth (Coloradia Pandora, Blake) Outbreaks in Central Oregon}, volume = {MS}, year = {1997}, pages = {159}, school = {University of Arizona}, address = {Tucson}, abstract = {Pandora moth (Coloradia Pandora Blake) is a phytophagous insect, defoliating ponderosa pine trees in the western United States. However, long-term studies of this insect and its effects on the forest ecosystem have not been conducted. Using dendrochronological techniques, I examined past timing and intensity of defoliation through its effects on radial growth of trees in the forests of south central Oregon. Pandora moth leaves a distinctive ring-width "signature" that was easily identifiable in the wood. The growth for the first year of the signature was half the normal ring-width with narrow latewood. The following two years produced extremely narrow rings, with the entire suppression lasting from 4 to 18 years. Twenty-two individual outbreaks were reconstructed from this 620 year chronology. I found that pandora moth outbreaks were episodic in individual sites, with a return interval of 9 to 156 years. Conversely, on the regional scale of south central Oregon, outbreaks demonstrated a 37-year periodicity. On average, pandora moth defoliation caused a 29\% mean periodic growth reduction in defoliated ponderosa pine trees. Spread maps of the first year that sites demonstrated suppression were plotted revealing an apparent annual spread of the outbreaks. Examination of a fire history on one pandora moth outbreak site suggested that pandora moth outbreaks delay fire by interrupting the needle fall needed for fire spread. Superposed epoch analysis showed that the year that the outbreak was first recorded was significantly dry and the fourth year prior was significantly wet. Therefore, climate may be a triggering factor in pandora moth outbreaks. The stem analysis demonstrated that the percent volume reduction was the greatest at the base of the tree and declined further up the bole. The percent volume reduction in the canopy of the trees was variable with outlying high and low values. THe mean volume reduction per outbreak was .053 m3 per tree. Although this insect is considered a forest pest and causes inconvenience for people living nearby, pandora moth is not as widespread and damaging as some other phytophagous insects. However, its very distinctive ring-width signature and the length of the ponderosa pine record enables reconstruction of very long outbreak histories, which may deepen our understanding of the interaction between defoliating insects and their ecosystem. }, keywords = {Coloradia pandora, dendrochronology, entomology, fire, fire history, growth, insect, Oregon, outbreak, pandora moth, phytophagous, ponderosa pine, ring-width, tree ring}, author = {Speer, James Hardy} } @mastersthesis {573, title = {Fire History of the Gila Wilderness, New Mexico}, volume = {Master of Science}, year = {1983}, pages = {156}, school = {University of Arizona}, address = {Tucson}, abstract = {

A data base of fire occurrence was established for the Gila Wilderness by analyzing fire scars and compiling fire records. Cross sections of 44 fire scarred ponderosa pine trees (Pinus ponderosa Laws.) were collected from three study areas. Crossdating of more than 800 individual fire scars revealed that extensive surface fires were a common occurrence prior to 1900. Mean fire intervals for a 250-year period prior to 1900 were approximately four to eight years and fire intervals ranged from one to 26 years. Intensive grazing and fire suppression efforts after 1900 resulted in a sudden decrease in number of fires recorded by the sample trees.

A 72-year record (1909-1980) of fire occurrence in the Gila National Forest was compiled from Forest Service records. The fire records and fire scar evidence suggest a need for continued emphasis on fuels reduction and greater flexibility in the Prescribed Natural Fire program.

}, keywords = {crossdate, dendrochronology, fire, fire history, fire scar, gila national forest, gila wilderness, new mexico, pinus ponderosa, ponderosa pine, tree ring}, author = {Swetnam, T.} }