Fire behavior characteristics of buffelgrass-fueled fires and native plant community composition in invaded patches
Fire behavior characteristics of buffelgrass-fueled fires and native plant community composition in invaded patches
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jaridenv.2011.04.024
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发表时间：
2011-11-01
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
McPherson, G. R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
McDonald, C. J.;McPherson, G. R.
在澳大利亚到北美，水牛草的入侵都有记录，这表明了大规模野火的最终结果。在人口稠密的地区，如诺加莱斯，索诺拉和图森和凤凰城，亚利桑那州水牛草种群呈指数增长。虽然已经进行了大量的研究水牛草，相对较少的是知道由水牛草燃料火灾产生的火灾行为。为了确定哪些非生物和生物特征最能预测火灾行为，在亚利桑那州南部的四个规定的火灾中测量了火灾行为特征。鉴于已知水牛草会降低其他生态系统中的原生植物丰富度，因此评估了水牛草丰富度与原生植物覆盖之间的关系。水牛草火灾比周围生态系统的火灾更强烈，即使在具有类似燃料的社区也是如此。有一个很强的负相关关系，水牛角覆盖和本地植物覆盖。此外，水牛草似乎是入侵有利的微型网站，而不是物种贫乏的社区，并从前者的网站辐射。从历史上看，干旱地区很少发生火灾，但随着燃料的增加，由于干旱地区的天气会促进强烈的火灾行为，正如本研究所观察到的那样，管理人员将越来越多地观察并需要减轻危险的火灾。(C)2011爱思唯尔有限公司保留所有权利。
Buffelgrass invasions have been documented in Australia to North America, pointing to an end result of large-scale wildfires. In heavily populated areas such as Nogales, Sonora and Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona buffelgrass populations are growing exponentially. Although much research has been conducted on buffelgrass, relatively little is known about fire behaviors produced by a buffelgrass-fueled fire. To determine which abiotic and biotic characteristics best predict fire behavior, fire-behavior characteristics were measured in four prescribed fires in southern Arizona. Given that buffelgrass is known to decrease native plant richness in other ecosystems, the relationship between buffelgrass abundance and native plant cover was evaluated. Buffelgrass fires are more intense than fires in surrounding ecosystems, even in communities with comparable fuels. There is a strong negative relationship between buffelgrass cover and native plant cover. In addition, buffelgrass appears to be invading favorable microsites rather than species-poor communities and is radiating from the former sites. Historically, fire was rare in arid regions, but with the increase in fuels and because arid regions have weather that promotes intense fire behavior, as observed in this study, managers will increasingly observe and need to mitigate hazardous fires. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.