David M. Engle

3 items:

Soil Moisture as an Indicator of Growing-Season Herbaceous Fuel Moisture and Curing Rate in Grasslands Soil moisture depletion during the growing season can induce plant water stress, thereby driving declines in grassland fuel moisture and accelerating curing. These drying and curing dynamics and their dependencies on soil moisture are inadequately represented in fire danger models. To elucidate these relationships, grassland fuelbed characteristics and soil moisture were monitored in nine patches of tallgrass prairie under patch-burn management in Oklahoma, USA, during two growing seasons. This study period included a severe drought (in 2012), which resulted in a large wildfire outbreak near the study site. Fuel moisture of the mixed live and dead herbaceous fuels (MFM) clearly tracked soil moisture, expressed as... Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
Using Regional Climate Projections to Guide Grassland Community Restoration in the Face of Climate Change Grassland loss has been extensive worldwide, endangering the associated biodiversity and human well-being that are both dependent on these ecosystems. Ecologists have developed approaches to restore grassland communities and many have been successful, particularly where soils are rich, precipitation is abundant, and seeds of native plant species can be obtained. However, climate change adds a new filter needed in planning grassland restoration efforts. Potential responses of species to future climate conditions must also be considered in planning for long-term resilience. We demonstrate this methodology using a site-specific model and a maximum entropy approach to predict changes in habitat suitability for 33 grassland... Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
Measured Soil Moisture is a Better Predictor of Large Growing-Season Wildfires than the Keetch–Byram Drought Index Abstract (from https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/sssaj/abstracts/81/3/490): In situ soil moisture measurements have the potential to improve wildfire danger assessments, which often rely on the Keetch–Byram Drought Index (KBDI) as a soil moisture surrogate. However, the relative merits of measured soil moisture and KBDI as indicators of wildfire danger are unknown. Therefore, our objectives were to (i) identify relationships between drought indices (KBDI or fraction of available water capacity, FAW) and wildfire size for 34,939 growing and dormant-season wildfires, (ii) compare relationships between each drought index and wildfire probability for 501 large (≥ 405 ha) growing-season and dormant-season... Categories: Publication; Types: Citation; Tags: Drought, Drought, Fire and Extreme Weather, South Central CASC

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