Doctoral Dissertation Enhancement Project (DDEP): Exploring Climatic and Human Drivers of Fire Regime in a High-Elevation Mexican Forest

在之前的研究中，研究人员调查了气候对墨西哥北部东部马德雷山脉历史火灾制度的影响，他们发现厄尔尼诺Niño-Southern振荡（ENSO）对火灾发生的影响随着时间的推移而改变。19世纪30年代以前，ENSO效应与火灾的发生有显著的相关性。19世纪30年代以后，火灾与ENSO效应之间没有显著的关系。最近，研究人员发现ENSO事件与墨西哥北部马德雷山脉地区的火灾之间存在相关性。墨西哥这些地点的变化影响很有趣：这些变化在墨西哥其他地方发生过吗？还是说，墨西哥东北部地区的独特之处在于ENSO事件从干燥转向湿润的过渡地带？这项博士论文增强奖将支持研究生Larissa Yocom，在北亚利桑那大学Peter ful<e:1>博士的指导下，研究墨西哥高海拔森林中气候和人类对火灾制度的驱动因素。与墨西哥的何塞·维拉纽瓦-迪亚兹博士合作？ful<e:1>博士和Yocom女士将在墨西哥国家森林与农业调查研究所（INIFAP）建立一个新的实地站点，以调查厄尔尼诺Niño-Southern涛动（ENSO）对墨西哥中部火灾的变化影响。约科姆将在现场花费21天时间，收集火灾烧毁树木的年轮数据。Villanueva-Diaz和ful<e:1>将这些数据与历史上的ENSO模式联系起来。该项目将向南扩展目前北美的火灾气候网络，从而更好地了解ENSO效应与火灾频率之间的地理关系。

In previous research investigating climatic influences on historical fire regimes in the Sierra Madre Oriental of northern Mexico, researchers found that El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) effects on fire occurrence have changed over time. Before the 1830s, ENSO effects were significantly correlated with the occurrence of fire. After the 1830s, no significant relationship between fire and ENSO effects were reported. More recently, researchers have found a correlation between ENSO events and fire in the northern Mexico sites of the Sierra Madre. The changing impacts in those sites in Mexico are intriguing: have these changes occurred elsewhere in Mexico? Or is the northeastern Mexico site unique due to its location in a transition zone where ENSO events switch from drying to wetting?This Doctoral Dissertation Enhancement award will support graduate student Larissa Yocom, under the supervision of Dr. Peter Fulé of Northern Arizona University, in studying the climatic and human drivers of fire regime in a high-elevation Mexican forest. In collaboration with Dr. Jose Villanueva-Diaz of Mexico?s Instituto Nacional de Investigacion Forestal y Agropecuaria (INIFAP), Dr. Fulé and Ms. Yocom will establish a new field site in Parque Nacional Pico de Orizaba, Mexico, to investigate the changing effects of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on fires in central Mexico. Ms. Yocom will spend 21 days at the field site gathering tree ring data from fire-scarred trees, and will work with Drs. Villanueva-Diaz and Fulé to correlate these data with historical ENSO patterns. The project will expand the current North American fire-climate network substantially southward, allowing a better understanding of the geographical relationship between ENSO effects and fire frequency.