Dissertation Research: Fog and the fire regime in southern California shrublands

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For many Mediterranean regions around the world fire disturbance is important and can have important ecological and economic consequences. One of the primary controls on fire occurrence, behavior and size is the amount of water present in plants (called ?live fuel moisture?). When live fuel moisture is low, fires spread more. Although rainfall is thought to be the main determinant for plant water content, coastal California experiences seasonal fog during the late summer when drought is strongest. Plants in this region may be able to use fog as a water source which could alter their water content. This project seeks to understand this potential connection between fog and fire disturbance for coastal California. The first objective is to determine whether or not coastal shrubland plant species are using fog water. The proposed research utilizes natural differences in water isotopes between rain and fog to determine what type of water plants are using, and when. By tracking different sources of water uptake, this project can establish a link between fog and flammability of coastal ecosystems in California.Understanding fire disturbance in Southern California is a high priority for science and industry alike. Live fuel moisture is a critical component of the National Fire Danger Rating System as well as numerous fire modeling efforts. This project will effectively inform the greater fire science community about the controls on fire disturbance in coastal California. It may also demonstrate the use of a novel water source for California shrub ecosystems. This is important for the field of plant ecology as fog water use in plants is a relatively new discovery. Overall, this study will be the first attempt to connect a rarely studied climatic event, fog, to local and regional scale disturbance patterns. The results from this study will enter the scientific discourse through publications and conference presentations at the local and international levels. The researchers have a strong commitment to involving undergraduates in research and mentoring them, especially underrepresented groups, through their college careers. In addition to mentoring undergraduates the investigators will continue to work with outreach programs for mentoring young scientists and with UCSB?s programs such as CAMP (California Alliance for Minority Participation) and the Research Mentorship Program, a program for exposing high school students to scientific research.