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Integrating plant physiology into simulation of fire behavior and effects Dickman, L. Turin; Jonko, Alexandra K.; Linn, Rodman R.; Altintas, Ilkay; Atchley, Adam L.; Bär, Andreas; Collins, Adam D.; Dupuy, Jean-Luc; Gallagher, Michael R.; Hiers, J. Kevin; Hoffman, Chad M.; Hood, Sharon M.; Hurteau, Matthew D.; Jolly, W. Matt; Josephson, Alexander; Loudermilk, E. Louise; Ma, Wu; Michaletz, Sean T.; Nolan, Rachael H.; O'Brien, Joseph J.; Parsons, Russell A.; Partelli-Feltrin, Raquel; Pimont, François; de Dios, Víctor Resco; Restaino, Joseph; Robbins, Zachary J.; Sartor, Karla A.; Schultz-Fellenz, Emily; Serbin, Shawn P.; Sevanto, Sanna; Shuman, Jacquelyn K.; Sieg, Carolyn H.; Skowronski, Nicholas S.; Weise, David R.; Wright, Molly; Xu, Chonggang; Yebra, Marta; Younes, Nicolas

Abstract

Wildfires are a global crisis, but current fire models fail to capture vegetation response to changing climate. With drought and elevated temperature increasing the importance of vegetation dynamics to fire behavior, and the advent of next generation models capable of capturing increasingly complex physical processes, we provide a renewed focus on representation of woody vegetation in fire models. Currently, the most advanced representations of fire behavior and biophysical fire effects are found in distinct classes of fine-scale models and do not capture variation in live fuel (i.e. living plant) properties. We demonstrate that plant water and carbon dynamics, which influence combustion and heat transfer into the plant and often dictate plant survival, provide the mechanistic linkage between fire behavior and effects. Our conceptual framework linking remotely sensed estimates of plant water and carbon to fine-scale models of fire behavior and effects could be a critical first step toward improving the fidelity of the coarse scale models that are now relied upon for global fire forecasting. This process-based approach will be essential to capturing the influence of physiological responses to drought and warming on live fuel conditions, strengthening the science needed to guide fire managers in an uncertain future.

Item Metadata

Title
Integrating plant physiology into simulation of fire behavior and effects
Creator
Dickman, L. Turin; Jonko, Alexandra K.; Linn, Rodman R.; Altintas, Ilkay; Atchley, Adam L.; Bär, Andreas; Collins, Adam D.; Dupuy, Jean-Luc; Gallagher, Michael R.; Hiers, J. Kevin; Hoffman, Chad M.; Hood, Sharon M.; Hurteau, Matthew D.; Jolly, W. Matt; Josephson, Alexander; Loudermilk, E. Louise; Ma, Wu; Michaletz, Sean T.; Nolan, Rachael H.; O'Brien, Joseph J.; Parsons, Russell A.; Partelli-Feltrin, Raquel; Pimont, François; de Dios, Víctor Resco; Restaino, Joseph; Robbins, Zachary J.; Sartor, Karla A.; Schultz-Fellenz, Emily; Serbin, Shawn P.; Sevanto, Sanna; Shuman, Jacquelyn K.; Sieg, Carolyn H.; Skowronski, Nicholas S.; Weise, David R.; Wright, Molly; Xu, Chonggang; Yebra, Marta; Younes, Nicolas
Contributor
University of British Columbia. Biodiversity Research Centre
Date Issued
2023-01-24
Description
Wildfires are a global crisis, but current fire models fail to capture vegetation response to changing climate. With drought and elevated temperature increasing the importance of vegetation dynamics to fire behavior, and the advent of next generation models capable of capturing increasingly complex physical processes, we provide a renewed focus on representation of woody vegetation in fire models. Currently, the most advanced representations of fire behavior and biophysical fire effects are found in distinct classes of fine-scale models and do not capture variation in live fuel (i.e. living plant) properties. We demonstrate that plant water and carbon dynamics, which influence combustion and heat transfer into the plant and often dictate plant survival, provide the mechanistic linkage between fire behavior and effects. Our conceptual framework linking remotely sensed estimates of plant water and carbon to fine-scale models of fire behavior and effects could be a critical first step toward improving the fidelity of the coarse scale models that are now relied upon for global fire forecasting. This process-based approach will be essential to capturing the influence of physiological responses to drought and warming on live fuel conditions, strengthening the science needed to guide fire managers in an uncertain future.
Subject
carbon dynamics; fire behavior; fire effects; fire modeling; plant physiology; remote sensing; vegetation-fire interactions; water dynamics
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2025-03-11
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0448183
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/90474
Affiliation
Science, Faculty of; Non UBC; Botany, Department of
Citation
Dickman, L.T., Jonko, A.K., Linn, R.R., Altintas, I., Atchley, A.L., Bär, A., Collins, A.D., Dupuy, J.-L., Gallagher, M.R., Hiers, J.K., Hoffman, C.M., Hood, S.M., Hurteau, M.D., Jolly, W.M., Josephson, A., Loudermilk, E.L., Ma, W., Michaletz, S.T., Nolan, R.H., O'Brien, J.J., Parsons, R.A., Partelli-Feltrin, R., Pimont, F., Resco de Dios, V., Restaino, J., Robbins, Z.J., Sartor, K.A., Schultz-Fellenz, E., Serbin, S.P., Sevanto, S., Shuman, J.K., Sieg, C.H., Skowronski, N.S., Weise, D.R., Wright, M., Xu, C., Yebra, M. and Younes, N. (2023), Integrating plant physiology into simulation of fire behavior and effects. New Phytol, 238: 952-970.
Publisher DOI
10.1111/nph.18770
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty; Researcher; Postdoctoral
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Attribution 4.0 International