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

在以前的研究中，研究人员调查了气候对墨西哥北方马德雷东方山脉历史火灾状况的影响，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发生变化。 在19世纪30年代之前，ENSO效应与火灾的发生有着显著的相关性。 19世纪30年代以后，没有关于火灾和ENSO效应之间存在显著关系的报道。 最近，研究人员发现ENSO事件与墨西哥北方马德雷山脉的火灾之间存在相关性。 墨西哥这些地点不断变化的影响令人感兴趣：这些变化是否发生在墨西哥其他地方？ 或者，墨西哥东北部的地点是独一无二的，因为它位于ENSO事件从干燥到湿润的过渡区？这个博士论文增强奖将支持研究生Larissa Yocom，在北方亚利桑那大学的Peter Fulé博士的监督下，研究高海拔墨西哥森林火灾制度的气候和人类驱动因素。 与墨西哥的Jose Villanueva-Diaz博士合作？在国家森林和农业研究所（INIFAP）的领导下，Fulé博士和Yocom女士将在墨西哥国家皮科德奥里扎巴公园建立一个新的实地考察点，调查厄尔尼诺-南方涛动（ENSO）对墨西哥中部火灾的影响。 Yocom女士将在实地工作21天，收集火灾后树木的年轮数据，并将与Villanueva-Diaz和Fulé博士合作，将这些数据与历史上的ENSO模式联系起来。 该项目将把目前的北美火灾-气候网络向南大幅度扩展，以便更好地了解厄尔尼诺/南方涛动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.