Post-fire conifer recovery and associated ecological drivers across large extents assessed from satellite and field observations
department or school: Forestry, Faculty of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Smith-Tripp, Sarah
issued: 2025-10-16T19:54:20Z
issued: 2025
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Recent wildfires have burned millions of hectares of North American forests, including over 4% of British Columbia since 2017. Post-fire monitoring in British Columbia lacks spatial and temporal continuity, limiting our capacity to predict and respond to changes in forest composition. Earth Observations satellites, such as Landsat, can help fulfil these data gaps; however, long-term observations require validating post-fire spectral responses to changes in recovering forest structure. Aligning the spatial and temporal scales of satellite imagery with field observations is challenging. Complementary remote sensing technologies, such as light detection and ranging (lidar) data from Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPAs), can complement field observations and help estimate forest structure at scales that align with satellite data. This dissertation links RPA lidar estimates of conifer recovery to unique spectral responses from Landsat, highlighting the importance of integrating different remote sensing technologies in monitoring. First, RPA estimates of conifer structure were related to spectral time-series data 16 years post-fire. Unique spectral trends were associated with distinct forest composition and density. Building on these findings, early spectral trends (as early as five years after fire) were matched to rates and patterns of conifer establishment, based on a space-for-time RPA lidar dataset 5-20 years post-fire. Research identified two groupings of post-fire recovery across interior BC. The two groupings represented mixed re-growth or early deciduous growth, followed by dense conifer growth. To investigate controls on conifer recovery, structural groups were associated with ecological drivers, such as post-fire drought or pre-fire basal area. Structural recovery groupings were best predicted by post-fire weather and pre-fire composition. Lastly, the structural groupings and associated ecological drivers were systematically compared to broader research on post-fir…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/92644
note: POST-FIRE CONIFER RECOVERY AND ASSOCIATED ECOLOGICAL DRIVERS ACROSS LARGE EXTENTS ASSESSED FROM SATELLITE AND FIELD OBSERVATIONS by Sarah Smith-Tripp B.A., Wellesley College, 2019 M.Sc., University of British Columbia, 2021 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Forestry) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) October 2025 © Sarah Smith-Tripp, 2025 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Post-fire conifer recovery and associated ecological drivers across large extents assessed from satellite and field observations submitted by Sarah Smith-Tripp In partial fulfillment of the requirements for The degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry Examining Committee: Nicholas C. Coops, Professor, Forest Resources Management, UBC Supervisor Joanne C. White, Research Scientist, Canadian Forest Service Supervisory Committee Member Lori Daniels, Professor, Forest Conservation Sciences, UBC University Examiner Karen Hodges, Professor, Biology, UBC Okanagan University Examiner Camille Stevens-Rumann, Associate Professor, Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University External Examiner Additional Supervisory Committee Members: Dominik Roeser, Professor, Forest Resources Management, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Sarah Gergel, Professor, Forest Conservation Sciences, UBC Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract Recent wildfires have burned millions of hectares of North American forests, including over 4% of British Columbia since 2017. Post-fire monitoring in British Columbia lacks spatial and temporal continuity, limiting our capacity to predict and respond to changes in forest composition. Earth Observations satellites, such as Landsat, can help fulfil these data gaps; however, long-term observations require validating p…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2025-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0450463
language: eng
degree discipline: Forestry
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Coops, Nicholas C.
type: Text
type: Dataset
type: Interactive Resource
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/92644