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马德雷山脉东方山脉历史火灾制度的影响，发现厄尔尼诺-南方涛动(ENSO)对火灾发生的影响随着时间的推移而变化。19世纪30年代以前，ENSO效应与火灾的发生密切相关。19世纪30年代以后，火灾与ENSO效应之间没有显著关系的报道。最近，研究人员发现，ENSO事件与墨西哥北部马德雷山脉遗址的火灾之间存在相关性。墨西哥这些遗址的变化影响令人好奇：这些变化在墨西哥其他地方发生过吗？或者墨西哥东北部的地点是独一无二的，因为它位于ENSO事件从干燥到潮湿的过渡区？这个博士论文增强奖将支持研究生拉丽莎·约科姆在北亚利桑那大学的彼得·富雷博士的指导下，研究墨西哥高海拔森林火灾制度的气候和人类驱动因素。富莱博士和约科姆女士将与墨西哥S国家林业和农业研究所的Jose Villanueva-Diaz博士合作，在墨西哥国家皮科-奥里萨巴公园建立一个新的现场，研究厄尔尼诺-南方涛动(ENSO)对墨西哥中部火灾的变化影响。约科姆女士将在实地工作21天，从火灾伤痕累累的树木上收集树轮数据，并将与维拉纽瓦-迪亚兹博士和富雷博士合作，将这些数据与历史上的ENSO模式相关联。该项目将大幅向南扩展目前的北美火灾气候网络，使人们能够更好地了解ENSO效应和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.