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International Journal of Wildland Fire International Journal of Wildland Fire Society
Journal of the International Association of Wildland Fire
International Journal of Wildland Fire

International Journal of Wildland Fire

Volume 24 Number 3 2015

WF14034Global patterns in fire leverage: the response of annual area burnt to previous fire

Owen F. Price, Juli G. Pausas, Navashni Govender, Mike Flannigan, Paulo M. Fernandes, Mathew L. Brooks and Rebecca Bliege Bird
pp. 297-306

We calculated fire leverage (the unit reduction in unplanned fire area resulting from one unit of previous fire) for six global case studies. Two showed leverage and four did not, confirming that prescribed fire treatment only reduces unplanned fire area in certain regions.

WF13097Parametric uncertainty quantification in the Rothermel model with randomised quasi-Monte Carlo methods

Yaning Liu, Edwin Jimenez, M. Yousuff Hussaini, Giray Ökten and Scott Goodrick
pp. 307-316

Operational fire behaviour models are based on several uncertain input parameters that describe the fire environment. We propose using global sensitivity analysis to reduce model complexity, and use optimised sensitivity derivative enhanced sampling together with random-start Halton sequences to produce an ensemble of model runs. Our proposed method improves standard Monte Carlo simulation errors with a lower computational overhead.

WF14029Integrating ground and satellite-based observations to determine the degree of grassland curing

Danielle Martin, Tao Chen, David Nichols, Rachel Bessell, Susan Kidnie and Jude Alexander
pp. 329-339

For improved assessment of grassland curing (senescence) in Victoria, south-eastern Australia, a new satellite curing model was developed, based on historical satellite and ground-based observations. With use of the new satellite model, an integrated model was developed, combining near-real-time satellite data with weekly curing observations from the ground.


Live fuel moisture content (LFMC), leaf ignition, and their relationships with environmental variables were assessed for six Patagonian species of Argentina. LFMC was inversely correlated with leaf ignition and was positively correlated with environmental variables in species showing low LFMC. Results help understand fire behaviour of Patagonian forests, and are useful for comparison with other fire-prone ecosystems.

WF14054Fuel flammability and fire responses of juvenile canopy species in a temperate rainforest ecosystem

Heidi C. Zimmer, Tony D. Auld, Lesley Hughes, Catherine A. Offord and Patrick J. Baker
pp. 349-360

Rainforests were once thought to be highly sensitive to fire, but recent research suggests otherwise. We found that juveniles of three rainforest species, including the critically endangered Wollemi pine, resprouted after fire. Resprouting may have helped these species to persist in fire-prone landscapes.

WF14082Fuel accumulation and forest structure change following hazardous fuel reduction treatments throughout California

Nicole M. Vaillant, Erin K. Noonan-Wright, Alicia L. Reiner, Carol M. Ewell, Benjamin M. Rau, Josephine A. Fites-Kaufman and Scott N. Dailey
pp. 361-371

We quantified fuel treatment effects on surface fuel load, vegetation cover and forest structure before and after fire-only and mechanical treatments in California. We suggest a second-entry treatment 8 years after the initial treatment to reduce accumulating fuel loads, understorey vegetation and small-diameter trees in order to maintain and extend the intended effectiveness of treatments.

WF14001Predicting wildfire occurrence distribution with spatial point process models and its uncertainty assessment: a case study in the Lake Tahoe Basin, USA

Jian Yang, Peter J. Weisberg, Thomas E. Dilts, E. Louise Loudermilk, Robert M. Scheller, Alison Stanton and Carl Skinner
pp. 380-390

Using a spatial point process model, we predicted that lightning-caused wildfires may increase faster than human-caused fires in response to climate change in the Lake Tahoe Basin, USA. However, such prediction was highly uncertain, highlighting the importance of multi-model inference and uncertainty analysis in fire occurrence studies.


Regression models were used to predict average burnt areas and assess the relative influence of weather, vegetation and topography in the distribution of wildfires in central Quebec. Interactions between those factors proved important and allowed accurate predictions of burnt areas at a resolution of 350 km2 and 11 years.

WF14040Predictive modelling of fire occurrences from different fire spread patterns in Mediterranean landscapes

Andrea Duane, Míriam Piqué, Marc Castellnou and Lluís Brotons
pp. 407-418

Fire regimes are changing worldwide. Here, we introduce a novel approach for assessing changes in fire regimes in a Mediterranean area from the modelling of different fire typologies according to their dominant spread pattern. This can help us to better understand fire impacts and it can lead to new ways of predicting global change effects on fire regimes.


The study proposed a framework for reconstructing time series of burned areas in the taiga–steppe transition zone of northern Mongolia using MODIS composites. The synergistic use of spring MODIS composite (Julian dates, JD 97–177), logistic regression and MODIS active fire product successfully reconstructed long-term burned areas in the taiga–steppe transition zone.


We examined effects of wildfire and topography on soil N availability in a Chinese boreal forest. Topography greatly influenced the distribution of soil N availability. However, wildfire altered this pattern by increasing soil available N, suggesting that wildfire exerts a fertilisation effect shortly after fire and decreases topographic influences.

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