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1,989 results for “Fires”
FIGURE 4 in Heterophylly and post-fire flowering of Lippia horridula (Verbenaceae): a "phoenix" of Brazilian Cerrado
FIGURE 4. Distribution map of Lippia horridula in the Brazilian Cerrado domain (the arrow indicates a new record for the state of Maranhão).
FIGURE 3. Herbarium specimens. A in Heterophylly and post-fire flowering of Lippia horridula (Verbenaceae): a "phoenix" of Brazilian Cerrado
FIGURE 3. Herbarium specimens. A. Holotype of Eriope horridula: Specimen W.J. Burchell 8426-5 (K!, http://specimens.kew.org/ herbarium/K000470883), with presence of vegetative parts only (arrow). B. Specimen Walter et al. 4617 (CEN!) with the presence of reproductive structures only.
The Data For Spatial Variations of Stellar Elemental Abundances in FIRE Simulations of Milky Way-Mass Galaxies: Patterns Today Mostly Reflect Those at Formation
<p>Spatial patterns of stellar elemental abundances encode rich information about a galaxy’s formation<br>history. We analyze the radial, vertical, and azimuthal variations of metals in stars, both today and at<br>formation, in the FIRE-2 cosmological simulations of Milky Way-mass galaxies, and we compare<br>with the Milky Way. Overall, spatial variations of stellar metallicities show only modest differences between formation and today; spatial variations today primarily reflect the conditions of stars at birth, with spatial redistribution of stars after birth contributing secondarily. </p> <p> </p> <p>This data abides by CC-BY.</p>
Sugarloaf Hill Fire Containment Soil Experiment
<p>Untargeted metabolomics data of organic extracts of soil recovered from Sugarloaf Hill in Riverside, CA, after a fire event that was contained through use of air-dropped flame retardant.</p>
Data accompanying "Pre-fire Vegetation Conditions and Topography Shape Burn Mosaics of Siberian Tundra Fire Scars"
<p>This dataset contains the data used in the burned area classificaiton and statistical analysis in:</p> <p><em>Rietze et al. (<strong>in prep.</strong>) - Pre-fire Vegetation Conditions and Topography Shape Burn Mosaics of Siberian Tundra Fire Scars</em></p> <p>All code to preprocess, analyze and visualize this data can be found under <a href="https://github.com/nrietze/SiberiaFires" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://github.com/nrietze/SiberiaFires</a>.</p> <p><strong>Folder structure:</strong></p> <p>This dataset contains three major components:</p> <ol> <li>The feature layers like training polygons used for the burned area classification and areas of interest.</li> <li>The burned area maps produced from 3 m PlanetScope imagery.</li> <li>The raster layers used in the statistical analysis, e.g., pre-processed digital elevation models and burned area products.</li> </ol> <pre><code>└───geodata ├───feature_layers │ ├───aoi_wv │ ├───burn_polygons │ │ └───planet │ └───training_polygons └───raster ├───arcticDEM ├───burned_area │ └───planet ├───landsat ├───predictors └───water_area └───planet</code></pre> <p><strong>Detailed description of content:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><em><strong>Feature layers</strong></em></p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td>planet_masks.shp</td> <td>Manually delineated polygons to mask out undetected clouds in the Berelech and Lapcha sites.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>aoi_wv/aois_analysis.geojson</td> <td>Square areas of interest for data cropping and selection.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>burn_polygons/planet/rough_burn_perimeter_{<em>fire scar name</em>}.shp</td> <td>6 shapefiles (1 per fire scar) that contain the fire perimeter generated in ArcGIS.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>training_polygons/training_polygons_burn_area.shp</td> <td>Training polygons for all fire scars used for the burned area classification.</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Raster data</em><br></strong></p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td>arcticDEM/aoi_{<em>fire scar name</em>}_dem_v3_utm.tif</td> <td>Elevation data (<a href="https://polargeospatialcenter.github.io/stac-browser/#/external/pgc-opendata-dems.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/arcticdem/mosaics/v3.0/2m.json">ArcticDEM v3</a>) reprojected to UTM 55N and cropped to the square areas of interest of each fire scar. </td> </tr> <tr> <td>burned_area/ba_descals_landsat_2020_utm_shifted.tif</td> <td>Landsat-based burned area from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn9768" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Descals et al. (2022)</a>, contains data from "Tile 17" only. Dara was reprojected to UTM 55N align with the Landsat-8 Collection-2 Level-2 grid. (burned class (2019) = 29, burned class (2020) = 30, unburned = 0)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>burned_area/N75E145_burn_class_UTM_55N.tif</td> <td>Landsat-based burned area from <a href="https://vapd.gitlab.io/post/gabam/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wei et al. (2022)</a>. Dara was reprojected to UTM 55N align with the Landsat-8 Collection-2 Level-2 grid. (burned class = 255, unburned = 0)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>burned_area/planet/{<em>fire scar name</em>}_burned_area_top5TD.tif</td> <td>Binary PlanetScope-based burned area (this study) for each fire scar based on random forest classifiers using the top 5 predictors ranked by transformed divergence (TD). (burned class = 2, unburned = 1)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>landsat/LC08_L2SP_115010_20200608_20200824_02_T1_{<em>spectral or quality band</em>}.TIF</td> <td>Landsat-8 Collection-2 Level-2 pre-fire image from 8 June 2020. B4 = RED, B5 = NIR, ST_B10 = LST</td> </tr> <tr> <td>landsat/LC08_L2SP_116010_20200615_20200824_02_T1_{<em>spectral or quality band</em>}.TIF</td> <td>Landsat-8 Collection-2 Level-2 pre-fire image from 15 June 2020. B4 = RED, B5 = NIR, ST_B10 = LST</td> </tr> <tr> <td>predictors/{<em>fire scar name</em>}_predictors_30m.tif</td> <td>Raster maps of model predictors & the response <em>burned_fraction</em> for the ZOIB model (exported in "ZOIB_model.R" before running the model). Raster bands are named.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>water_area/{<em>fire scar name</em>}_Landsat_mask.tif</td> <td>Landsat-8 binary (water = 2, clear pixels = 1) water mask for each fire scar based on the Quality assessment rasters.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>water_area/planet/{<em>fire scar name</em>}__water_area_top5TD.tif</td> <td>[deprecated] 3 m resolution water areas classified from PlanetScope imagery. Not used for the analysis.</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p> </p> <p><strong>Using this data:</strong></p> <p>Clone the Github repository before downloading this data and insert the contents of this dataset into the empty "data" folder from the Github repo. </p> <p>Important: Please move the entire "geodata" folder into the "data" folder from the code repo.</p> <p>If you use this data, please cite as follows:</p> <p>Rietze, N., Heim, R. J., Troeva, E., Schaepman-Strub, G. & Assmann, J. J. (in prep.). Data accompanying "Pre-fire Vegetation Conditions and Topography Shape Burn Mosaics of Siberian Tundra Fire Scars" [Data set]. Zenodo. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12650945" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12650945</a></p> <p><strong>Abstract (from manuscript):</strong></p> <p>The fire season of 2020 in Siberia set a precedent for extreme wildfires in the Arctic tundra. Large fires burned in the carbon-rich permafrost landscape, releasing vast amounts of carbon, and changing land surface processes by burning vegetation and organic soils. However, little is known about the mosaics of burned and unburned patches formed by tundra fires and the underlying processes that generate them. In this study, we investigated six fire scars in the northeastern Siberian tundra using high-resolution PlanetScope imagery (3 m) to map burned fraction within the scars. We then used Bayesian mixed models to identify which biotic and abiotic predictors influenced the burned fraction. We observed high spatial variation in burned fraction across all tundra landforms common to the region. Current medium-resolution fire products could not capture this heterogeneity, thereby underestimating the burned area of fire scars by a factor of 1.1 to 4.4. The heterogeneity of the burn mosaic indicates a mix of burned and unburned patches, with median unburned patch sizes being smaller than 180 to 324 m². Pre-fire land surface temperature, vegetation heterogeneity and topography predicted burn fraction in our analysis, matching factors previously shown to influence large-scale fire occurrence in the Arctic. Future studies need to consider the fine-scale heterogeneity within tundra landscapes to improve our understanding and predictions of fire spread, carbon emissions, post-fire recovery and ecosystem functioning.</p> <p><strong>Acknowledgements (from manuscript):</strong></p> <p>N.R. was supported through the TRISHNA Science and Electronics Contribution (T-SEC), ESA PRODEX Trishna T-SEC project (PEA C4000133711). Field work and vegetation sample processing were conducted in the scope of State Assignment of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (Project AAAA-A21-121012190038-0), using the equipment of the Centre for collective use of Federal Research Centre "Yakut Scientific Centre" (grant no. 13.TsKP.21.0016). We would like to thank Planet Labs fo free access to PlanetScope imagery. We would like to thank Tim Gyger for helpful discussions regarding our statistical analysis. The authors declare no competing interests.</p>
Data from: Multiple large inversions and breakpoint rewiring of gene expression in the evolution of the fire ant social supergene
Supergenes consist of co-adapted loci that segregate together and are associated with adaptive traits. In the fire ant Solenopsis invicta, two 'social' supergene variants regulate differences in colony queen number and other traits. Suppressed recombination in this system is maintained, in part, by a >9 Mb inversion, but the supergene is larger. Has the supergene in S. invicta undergone multiple large inversions? The initial gene content of the inverted allele of a supergene would be the same as that of the wild-type allele. So, how did the inversion increase in frequency? To address these questions, we cloned one extreme breakpoint in the fire ant supergene. In doing so, we found a second large (>800 Kb) rearrangement. Furthermore, we determined the temporal order of the two big inversions based on the translocation pattern of a third small fragment. Because the S. invicta supergene lacks evolutionary strata, our finding of multiple inversions may support an introgression model of the supergene. Finally, we showed that one of the inversions swapped the promoter of a breakpoint-adjacent gene, which might have conferred a selective advantage relative to the non-inverted allele. Our findings provide a rare example of gene alterations arising directly from an inversion event.
Data from: Turning down the heat: vegetation feedbacks limit fire regime responses to global warming
Climate change is projected to dramatically increase boreal wildfire activity, with broad ecological and socio-economic consequences. As global temperatures rise, periods with elevated fire weather are expected to increase in frequency and duration, which would be expected to increase the number and size of fires. Statistical forecasts or simulations of future fire activity often account for direct climatic effects only, neglecting other controls of importance, such as biotic feedbacks. This could result in overestimating the effects of climate change on fire activity, if the future distribution of vegetation or fuels were to change. We incorporated sensitivity to climate or fire weather and vegetation in a fire simulation model, and represented explicitly two key biotic feedbacks linked to succession and regeneration processes. We used this model to forecast annual fire activity from 2011 to 2099 over a large region of boreal forest in Québec, Canada, dominated by balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill) and yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britt.) or paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.), with and without the biotic feedbacks. Our simulations show that vegetation changes triggered by fire disturbance altered future fire activity, and may even be as important a driver as climate change itself. Indeed, over the course of the century, vegetation changes were projected to offset much of the increase in fire activity that would be expected due to global warming as such. It follows that if biotic feedbacks are not included in statistical or simulation-based forecasts, the resultant projections of future fire activity could be biased upwards to a very considerable degree. For the case of end-of-century mean annual burn rate, we estimated this positive bias to be as high as 400%. Accounting for biotic feedbacks in simulation models is therefore necessary for accurate projection of future wildfire activity and associated vegetation changes. Purely statistical forecasts based on current vegetation cannot be relied upon, in the presence of biotic feedbacks. Our results further suggest that vegetation management could reduce fire risk in some systems by altering the abundance and distribution of the most highly flammable fuels, and thus mitigate the impact of climate change on fire activity.
Data from: Genetic structure of a naturally regenerating post-fire seedling population: Pinus halepensis as a case study
To study the effects of wildfire on population genetics of a wind pollinated and wind dispersed tree, we have analyzed the genetic structure of a post-fire, naturally regenerating seedling population of Pinus halepensis Miller, on Mt. Carmel, Israel. We tested the existence of spatial genetic structure, which is expected due to the special spatial demographic structure of the post-fire seedling and sapling populations of this species. Explicitly, we asked whether or not seedlings that germinated under large, burned, dead pine trees are also their offspring. The results revealed that the post-fire seedling population is polymorphic, diverse, and reflects the pre-fire random mating system. In contrast to our prediction, we found no division of the post-fire seedling population to distinct sub-populations. Furthermore, as a result of post-fire seed dispersal to longer range than the average pre-fire inter-tree distance, seedlings found under individual burned trees were not necessarily their sole offspring. Although the population as a whole showed a Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, significant excess of heterozygotes was found within each tallest seedlings group growing under single, large, burned pine trees. Our finding indicates the possible existence of intense natural selection for the most vigorous heterozygous genotypes that are best adapted to the special post-fire regeneration niche, which is the thick ash bed under large, dead, pine trees.
Data from: Post-fire response and genetic diversity in Erica coccinea: connecting population dynamics and diversification in a biodiversity hotspot
Understanding the proceses of biological diversification is a central topic in evolutionary biology. The South African Cape fynbos, one of the major plant biodiversity hotspots out of the tropics, has prompted several hypotheses about the causes of generation and maintenance of biodiversity. Fire has been traditionally invoked as a key element to explain high levels of biodiversity in highly speciose fynbos taxa, such as the genus Erica. In this study, we have implemented a microevolutionary approach to elucidate how plant-response to fire may contribute to explain high levels of diversification in Erica. By using microsatellite markers, we investigated the genetic background of seeder (fire-sensitive) and resprouter (fire-resistant) populations of the fynbos species Erica coccinea. We found higher within-population genetic diversity and higher among-population differentiation in seeder populations and interpreted these higher levels of genetic diversification as a consequence of the comparatively shorter generation times and faster population turnover in the seeder form of this species. Considering that genetic divergence among populations may be seen as the initial step to speciation, the parallelism between these results and the pattern of biodiversity at the genus level offers stimulating insights into understanding causes of speciation of the genus Erica in the Cape fynbos.
Data from: Severe fire weather and intensive forest management increase fire severity in a multi-ownership landscape
Many studies have examined how fuels, topography, climate, and fire weather influence fire severity. Less is known about how different forest management practices influence fire severity in multi-owner landscapes, despite costly and controversial suppression of wildfires that do not acknowledge ownership boundaries. In 2013, the Douglas Complex burned over 19,000 ha of Oregon & California Railroad (O&C) lands in Southwestern Oregon, USA. O&C lands are comprised of a checkerboard of private industrial and federal forestland (Bureau of Land Management, BLM) with contrasting management objectives, providing a unique experimental landscape to understand how different management practices influence wildfire severity. Leveraging Landsat based estimates of fire severity (Relative differenced Normalized Burn Ratio, RdNBR) and geospatial data on fire progression, weather, topography, pre-fire forest conditions, and land ownership, we asked 1) what is the relative importance of different variables driving fire severity, and 2) is intensive plantation forestry associated with higher fire severity? Using Random Forest ensemble machine learning, we found daily fire weather was the most important predictor of fire severity, followed by stand age and ownership, followed by topographic features. Estimates of pre-fire forest biomass were not an important predictor of fire severity. Adjusting for all other predictor variables in a general least squares model incorporating spatial autocorrelation, mean predicted RdNBR was higher on private industrial forests (RdNBR 521.85 ± 18.67 SE) versus BLM forests (398.87 ± 18.23 SE) with a much greater proportion of older forests. Our findings suggest intensive plantation forestry characterized by young forests and spatially homogenized fuels, rather than pre-fire biomass, were significant drivers of wildfire severity. This has implications for perceptions of wildfire risk, shared fire management responsibilities, and developing fire resilience for multiple objectives in multi-owner landscapes.
Future fire-driven landscape changes along a southwestern US elevation gradient
<p>Over the 21st century, the combined effects of increased fire activity and climate changes are expected to altered forest composition and structure in many ecosystems by changing post-fire successional trajectories and recovery. The southwestern US mountains encompass varied vegetation types and species according to elevation which do not respond the same to changing climate and fire regime. Moreover, fire exclusion applied during the early 20<sup>th</sup> century has altered forest structure and fuel loads compared to their natural states (i.e. without fire suppression). Consequently, uncertainties persist about future vegetation shifts along the elevation gradient.</p> <p>In this study, we simulated future vegetation dynamics along an elevation gradient in the southwestern US comprising pinyon-juniper woodlands, ponderosa pine forests and mixed conifer forests for the period 2000-2099, to quantify the effects of future climate conditions and projected wildfires on species productivity and distribution.</p> <p>While we expected to find larger changes at low elevation due to warmer and drier conditions, the largest changes occurred at high elevation in mixed-conifer forests and were caused by wildfire. The largest increase in high-severity and large fires were recorded in this vegetation type, leading to high mortality of the dominant species, <i>Picea engelmannii</i> and <i>Abies lasiocarpa</i>, which are not adapted to fire. The loss of these two species reduced biomass productivity at high elevation. In ponderosa pine forests and pinyon-juniper woodlands, fewer vegetation changes occurred due to higher abundance of well-adapted species to fire and the lower fuel loads mitigating projected fire activity, respectively.</p> <p>Thus, future research should prioritize understanding of the processes involved in future vegetation shifts in mixed-conifer forests in order to mitigate the risk of loss of diversity specific to high-elevation forests and the decrease in biomass productivity, and thus carbon storage capacity, of these ecosystems due to wildfires.</p>
Data and R code from: Fire-induced loss of the world's most biodiverse forests in Latin America
<p>Fire plays a dominant role in deforestation, particularly in the tropics, but the relative extent of transformations and influence of fire frequency on eventual forest loss remain unclear. Here we analyze the frequency of fire and its influence on post-fire forest trajectories between 2001-2018. We account for ~1.1% of Latin American forests burnt in 2002-2003 (8,465,850 ha). Although 40.1% of forests (3,393,250 ha) burned only once, by 2018~48% of the evergreen forests converted to other, primarily grass-dominated uses. While greater fire frequency yielded more transformation, our results reveal the staggering impact of even a single fire. Increasing fire frequency imposes greater risks of irreversible forest loss, transforming forests into ecosystems increasingly vulnerable to disturbance and degradation. Reversing this trend is indispensable to both mitigate and adapt to climate change globally. As climate change transforms fire regimes across the region, key actions are needed to conserve Latin American forests.</p>
Data from: Climatic thresholds shape northern high-latitude fire regimes and imply vulnerability to future climate change
Boreal forests and arctic tundra cover 33% of global land area and store an estimated 50% of total soil carbon. Because wildfire is a key driver of terrestrial carbon cycling, increasing fire activity in these ecosystems would likely have global implications. To anticipate potential spatiotemporal variability in fire-regime shifts, we modeled the spatially explicit 30-yr probability of fire occurrence as a function of climate and landscape features (i.e. vegetation and topography) across Alaska. Boosted regression tree (BRT) models captured the spatial distribution of fire across boreal forest and tundra ecoregions (AUC from 0.63–0.78 and Pearson correlations between predicted and observed data from 0.54–0.71), highlighting summer temperature and annual moisture availability as the most influential controls of historical fire regimes. Modeled fire–climate relationships revealed distinct thresholds to fire occurrence, with a nonlinear increase in the probability of fire above an average July temperature of 13.4°C and below an annual moisture availability (i.e. P-PET) of approximately 150 mm. To anticipate potential fire-regime responses to 21st-century climate change, we informed our BRTs with Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 climate projections under the RCP 6.0 scenario. Based on these projected climatic changes alone (i.e. not accounting for potential changes in vegetation), our results suggest an increasing probability of wildfire in Alaskan boreal forest and tundra ecosystems, but of varying magnitude across space and throughout the 21st century. Regions with historically low flammability, including tundra and the forest–tundra boundary, are particularly vulnerable to climatically induced changes in fire activity, with up to a fourfold increase in the 30-yr probability of fire occurrence by 2100. Our results underscore the climatic potential for novel fire regimes to develop in these ecosystems, relative to the past 6000–35 000 yr, and spatial variability in the vulnerability of wildfire regimes and associated ecological processes to 21st-century climate change.
Data from: Regional variation in interior Alaskan boreal forests is driven by fire disturbance, topography, and climate
High latitude regions are warming rapidly with important ecological and societal consequences. Utilizing two landscape-scale datasets from interior Alaska, we compared patterns in forest structure in two regions with sharply differing fire disturbance, topography, and climate. Our goal was to evaluate a set of hypotheses concerning possible warming-driven changes in forest structure suggested by recent literature. We found essentially consistent habitat associations for the tree flora across two disparate study areas concomitant with considerable differences in observed patterns of forest structure and composition. Our results confirmed expected increases in broadleaved species occupancy and abundance in the warmer, more fire-affected study region along with considerably higher tree occupancy and abundance in high elevation areas there. However, contrary to our predictions, we found no evidence of expected reductions in conifer occupancy or increases in non-fire related tree mortality. Instead, both individual and combined tree species occupancy, density, abundance, and richness were considerably higher in the warmer, more fire-influenced region, except in the warmest, driest areas (steep and south-facing slopes at low elevation). Our comparison of two landscape-scale datasets suggests that changes in tree distribution and forest structure in interior Alaska will proceed unevenly, governed by a mosaic of site-dependent influences wherein forest community composition and species dominance will shift along different trajectories and at different rates according to variation in underlying landscape attributes. Although there were clear differences in forest structure between the two areas that were likely attributable to differences in growing season warmth and fire disturbance, we found scant support for the concept of an incipient, ongoing biome shift in interior Alaska resulting from impending diminution of boreal forest cover over the short to medium term. Indeed, we suggest that (depending on severity of disturbance dynamics and the rapidity of future warming) cooler areas of interior Alaska's forest may reasonably be expected to sustain marginal increases in forest cover with additional warming, at least in certain topographic positions (such as poorly drained basins and cool treeline sites) and/or geographic regions, prior to any landscape-scale diminution of forest cover due to warming.
FTICR-MS Dataset for 'Playing with FiRE: A genome resolved view of the soil microbiome responses to high severity forest wildfire'
<p>This dataset is the raw data for FTICR-MS used in Nelson et al.: 'Playing with FiRE: A genome resolved view of the soil microbiome responses to high severity forest wildfire'. The files correspond to the raw spectral files for each sample and can be opened with Bruker data analysis software. The numbers correspond to sample number (See Supplementary Data 1 in publication for sample metadata) and the r1 and r2 identifiers indicate if there were replicates of that sample.</p>
Supplementary data: What drives grassland-forest boundaries? Assessing fire and frost effects on tree seedling survival and architecture
<ol> <li>Fire and frost represent two major hurdles for the persistence of trees in open grassy biomes and have both been proposed as drivers of grassland-forest boundaries in Africa.</li> <li>We assess the response of young tree seedlings, which represent a vulnerable stage in tree recruitment, to traumatic fire and frost disturbances.</li> <li>In a greenhouse experiment, we investigated how seedling traits predicted survival and resprouting ability in response to fire <i>vs</i> frost; we characterised survival strategies of seedlings in response to the two disturbances, and we documented how the architecture of surviving seedlings is affected by fire <i>vs</i> frost injury.</li> <li>Survival rates were similar under both treatments. However, different species displayed different levels of sensitivity to fire and frost. Seedling survival was higher for older seedlings and seedlings with more basal leaves. Survivors of a fire event lost more biomass than the survivors of a frost event. However, the architecture of recovered fire and frost treated seedlings were mostly similar. Seedlings that recovered from fire and frost treatments were often shorter than those that had not been exposed to any disturbance, with multiple thin branches, which may increase vulnerability to the next frost or fire event.</li> <li> <i>Synthesis</i>. Fire caused more severe aboveground damage compared to a single frost event, suggesting that fire is an important driver of tree distribution in these open grassland systems. However, the impact of repeated frost events may be equally severe, and needs to be investigated. Also, woody species composition may be influenced by phenomena that affect the timing and frequency of seedling exposure to damage, as mortality was found to be dependent on seedling age. Therefore, changes in fire regime and climate (esp. changes that bring about less frost and reduced fire intensity and frequency) are likely to result in changes in the composition and the structure of the woody components of these systems.</li> </ol>
Effects of large herbivores on fire regimes and wildfire mitigation
<p>1. Abandonment of agricultural land is widespread in many parts of the world, leading to shrub and tree encroachment. The increase of flammable plant biomass, i.e. fuel load, increases the risk and intensity of wildfires. Fuel reduction by herbivores is a promising management strategy to avoid fuel build-up and mitigate wildfires. However, their effectiveness in mitigating wildfire damage may depend on a range of factors, including herbivore type, population density and feeding patterns.<br> <br> 2. Here we review the evidence on whether management with herbivores can reduce fuel load and mitigate wildfires, and if so, how to identify suitable management that can achieve fire mitigation objectives while providing other ecosystem services. We systematically reviewed studies that investigated links between herbivores, fire hazard, fire frequency and fire damage.<br> <br> 3. We found that in general, herbivores reduce fuel load most effectively when they are mixed-feeders, when grazing and browsing herbivores are combined, and when herbivore food preferences match the local vegetation. In some cases, the combination of herbivory with other management strategies, such as mechanical clearing, is necessary to reduce wildfire damage.<br> <br> 4. We conclude that herbivores have the capacity to mitigate wildfire damage, and we provide guidance for grazing management for wildfire mitigation strategies. As areas undergoing land abandonment are particularly prone to wildfires, the maintenance or promotion of grazing by domestic or wild herbivores is a promising tool to reduce wildfire risk in a cost-effective way, while also providing other ecosystem services. Relevant land-use policies, including fire-suppression policies, agricultural and forest(ry) policies could incentivise the use of herbivores for better wildfire prevention.</p>
Fire alters diversity, composition and structure of dry tropical forests in the Eastern Ghats
<p>Fire is known to have dramatic consequences on forest ecosystems around the world, and on the livelihoods of forest-dependent people. While the Eastern Ghats of India have high abundances of fire-prone dry tropical forests, little is known about how fire influences the diversity, composition and structure of these communities. Our study aims to fill this knowledge gap by examining the effects of presence and absence of recent fire on tropical dry forest communities within Kadiri watershed, Eastern Ghats. We sampled plots with and without evidence of recent fire in the Eswaramala Reserve Forest in 2008 and 2018. Our results indicate that even though stem density increases in the recently burned areas, species richness is lower because communities become dominated by a few species with fire resistance and tolerance traits, such as thick bark and clonal sprouting. Further, in the presence of fire, the size structure of these fire-tolerant species shifts towards smaller-sized, resprouting individuals. Our results demonstrate that conservation actions are needed to prevent further degradation of forests in this region and the ecosystem services they provide.</p>
Fig. 1 in Emergence of Buprestidae, Cerambycidae, and Scolytinae (Coleoptera) from Mountain Pine Beetle-Killed and Fire-Killed Ponderosa Pines in the Black Hills, South Dakota, USA
Fig. 1. Box plot showing the number of wood borers collected from bolts of one-year-old mountain pine beetle (MPB)-killed trees (n = 4), two-year- old MPB-killed trees (n = 6), one-year-old fire-killed trees (n = 5), and two-year-old fire-killed trees (n = 5). Letters above the bars represent means which if followed by the same letter are not significantly different (p ≤ 0.05, Tukey- Kramer multiple comparisons test). The solid and dashed lines within the box represent the median and the mean, respectively. Box ends represent the first and third quartiles. The lower and upper horizontal lines above and below the box are at the last points less than 1.5 times the interquartile range from the first and third quartiles. Points represent the actual data, and the circle for the 1-yr fire indicates that the point next to it is an outlier.
Data from: Influence of habitat availability and fire disturbance on the northern range boundary of eastern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis L.)
Aim <p>Non-climatic constraints on species northern range boundaries are often overlooked in attempts to predict climate-induced range shifts. Here, we examined the effects of habitat availability and fire disturbance on the distribution of eastern white cedar (<i>Thuja occidentalis</i> L.) at the northern boundary of its range.</p> Location <p>North-western Quebec, Canada (46-51° N and 74-79° W)</p> Methods <p>We used forest inventory data (<i>n</i>=4,987) to characterize white-cedar habitat based on edaphic and topographic conditions at sampled sites along a 600-km latitudinal gradient. Non-metric multidimensional scaling was used to assess habitat similarity of sites in the south, where white-cedar stands are abundant, and sites in the north, where white-cedar stands are rare. We constructed ensemble white cedar distribution models based on habitat variables in the south and compared ensemble forecast projections of white cedar in the north with observed occurrences to determine if habitat availability was limiting. We independently estimated the age of white-cedar stands and adjacent stands without white cedar along the gradient. ANOVA was performed to test the age difference between white-cedar and adjacent stands to determine if the location of white-cedar stands was influenced by disturbance, primarily stand-replacing fire.</p> Results <p>Habitat availability was not limiting the distribution of eastern white cedar at its northern range boundary. White cedar did not occupy most sites with suitable habitat in the north, suggesting that other factors prevent white cedar from establishing more stands northward. White-cedar stands were older than adjacent stands without white cedar all along the gradient, but the difference was more pronounced in the north. This suggests that white-cedar stands in the north are restricted to undisturbed areas.</p> Main conclusions <p>Fire disturbance, more than habitat availability, limits the distribution of white cedar at its northern range boundary. Projections of white cedar distribution under climate change that ignore fire could overestimate the ability of warming temperatures to extend its northern range limit.</p>
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These curated guides explain access requirements, typical timelines, costs, and reuse considerations for widely used research datasets.
Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.