Find research datasets worth reusing
Search datasets from major research repositories and use ShareScore to quickly assess how well each record supports discovery, access, and reuse.
368
datasets available to search
ShareScore release 0.7.1
Dataset results
368 results for “wildfires”
Data for: Assessing above and belowground recovery from ammonium sulphate addition and wildfire in a lowland heath: mycorrhizal fungi as potential indicators.
<p>Atmospheric pollution containing soil-nitrifying ammonium sulphate ((NH<sub>4</sub>)<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>) affects semi-natural ecosystems worldwide. Long-term additions of (NH<sub>4</sub>)<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> to nitrogen(N)-limited habitats, including heathlands, increase climate stress affecting recovery from wildfires. Although heathland vegetation largely depends on ericoid mycorrhizal fungi (ErM) to access soil N, we lack a detailed understanding of how prolonged exposure to (NH<sub>4</sub>)<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> may alter ErM community composition and host plants' reliance on fungal partners following wildfire and affect recovery. Simulation of atmospheric pollution ((NH<sub>4</sub>)<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>) occurred bi-weekly for 5 years after a 2006 wildfire in a UK heathland. Ten years after treatments ceased, we measured vegetation structure, lichen and lichen photobiont composition, soil characteristics, ErM colonisation, ErM diversity in roots and soil, and assessed ErM potential as novel recovery indicators. Heather height and density, and <a>moss </a>groundcover, were greater in N-enriched plots. Lichen community indices showed significant treatment effects but without differences in photobionts. Soil pH and Mg were significantly lower in treated plots while soil cation exchange capacity was significantly higher. There were no detectable differences in ErM composition and keystone ErM taxa between control and treated plots. Soil carbon stock measures were variable. Our results indicate atmospheric pollution following fire can have significant lingering effects above- and belowground. ErM diversity and root colonization were not assessed in the original N-addition experiment; we advocate for their inclusion in future studies as an integral part of the recovery assessment toolkit. We show that mycorrhizal fungi diversity is a viable ecological tool and summarise key steps for ErM identification.</p>
Managing for ecosystem response to drought and wildfire on the Colorado Plateau
<p>These data are responses to survey questions (see below) given to staff associated with natural resource management on the Colorado Plateau, U.S.A. The survey was intended to understand how managers perceived: 1) the degree to which managed lands have experienced drought, wildfire, and related stressors; 2) the current and future responses of ecosystems to these stressors and associated changes to natural resource condition; 3) the role of natural resource management interventions in preparing for stressors and ecosystem response; 4) limitations and barriers to management interventions. The survey consisted of quantitative questions, including a combination of close-ended (yes or no) questions, select-all-that-apply questions, ranked choice questions, and 3-point, 5-point, and 11-point Likert-scale questions. The survey also included qualitative open-ended and fill-in-the-blank questions. The survey was implemented within the Qualtrics program hosted at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. The numbered questions below (Q1, Q2, etc.) correspond to the columns in the spreadsheet, with possible answers chosen by survey participants indicated below each question. Each participant is a row in the spreadsheet. All identifying information of the participants has been removed to maintain their anonymity. </p>
Dataset of how animal movement paths in a landscape vary due to wildfire
<p>Animals navigate landscapes based on perceived risks vs. rewards, as inferred from features of the landscape. In the wild, knowing how strongly animal movement is directed by landscape features is difficult to ascertain, but widespread disturbances such as wildfires can serve as natural experiments. We tested the hypothesis that wildfires homogenize the risk/reward landscape, causing movement to become less directed, given that fires reduce landscape complexity as habitat structures (e.g., tree cover, dense brush) are burned<em>. </em>We used satellite imagery of a research reserve in Northern California to count and categorize paths made primarily by mule deer (<em>Odocoileus hemionus</em>) in grasslands. Specifically, we compared pre-wildfire (August 2014) and post-wildfire (September 2018) image history layers among locations that were or were not impacted by wildfire (i.e., a Before/After Control/Impact design). Wildfire significantly altered spatial patterns of deer movement: more new paths were gained and more old paths were lost in areas of the reserve that were impacted by wildfire; movement patterns became less directed in response to fire, suggesting that the risk/reward landscape became more homogenous, as hypothesized. We found evidence to suggest that wildfire affects deer populations at spatial scales beyond their scale of direct impact and raises the interesting possibility that deer perceive risks and rewards at different spatial scales. In conclusion, our study provides an example of how animals integrate spatial information from the environment to make movement decisions, setting the stage for future work on the broader ecological implications for populations, communities, and ecosystems, an emerging interest in ecology.</p>
Wildfire, prescribed burn, and agricultural burn smoke PM2.5 estimates for CA, WA, and OR 2014-2020
<p>Wildfires, prescribed burns, and agricultural burns all impact ambient air quality across the Western U.S.; however, little is known about how communities across the region are differentially exposed to smoke from each of these fire types. To address this gap, we quantify smoke exposure stemming from wildfire, prescribed, and agricultural burns across Washington, Oregon, and California from 2014-2020 using a fire type-specific biomass burning emissions inventory and the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model. We examine fire type-specific PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentration by race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and in relation to the Center for Disease Control's Social Vulnerability Index. Overall, population average PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentrations are greater from wildfires than from prescribed and agricultural burns. While we found limited evidence of exposure disparities among sub-groups across the full study area, we did observe disproportionately higher exposures to wildfire-specific PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposures among Native communities in all three states and, in California, higher agricultural burn-specific PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposures among lower socioeconomic groups. We also identified, for all three states, areas of significant spatial clustering of smoke exposures from all fire types and increased social vulnerability. These results provide a first look at the differential contributions of smoke from wildfires, prescribed burns, and agricultural burns to PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposures among demographic subgroups, which can be used to inform more tailored exposure reduction strategies across sources.</p>
Supporting data for identifying microclimate tree seedling refugia in post-wildfire landscapes
<p>High-severity wildfire in arid regions has caused ecological state change, transforming previously forested areas into shrublands. This dramatically alters the climatic envelope for tree seedlings, rendering the likelihood of returning post-wildlife landscapes to their previous state relatively low. We used a combination of sUAS imagery, satellite data and in-situ microclimate data recordings, together with a machine learning approach, to model monthly near-ground minimum, mean and max temperature as well as relative humidity and vapor pressure deficit in a previously forested area, which is now dominated by shrubs species. Spatially explicit models predicted recorded microclimate well (<i>r</i> = <span>0.73 to 0.97), and projections of models highlighted the solar buffering capacity of existing vegetation to alter the maximum temperature in the hottest month by ~12<sup>o</sup>C, increase relative humidity by ~20% and reduced vapor pressure deficit by 0.3mbar in locations 2m apart. By harnessing these microclimate refugia, the success rate of reforestation efforts in post-wildfire landscapes could be substantially increased and mitigate seedlings from climate warming at local scales.</span></p>
Data from: Wildfire catalyzes upward range expansion of trembling aspen in southern Rocky Mountain beetle-killed forests
<p>In this study, we assessed whether recent wildfires and spruce beetle outbreaks promoted upward range expansion of trembling aspen (<i>Populus tremuloides</i>) in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado. We assessed aerial imagery for presence/absence of aspen in the study area and ground truthed a subset of these points to compare the aerial imagery analysis with field records of aspen. From these data we determined the upper elevational limit of aspen in the study area before fire. We then conducted field surveys at and above the upper elevational limit of aspen in burned and unburned, but beetle killed areas and collected data on stand structure, surface cover, seedling density and microsite conditions associated with seedlings. </p>
Wildfire severity alters drivers of interaction beta-diversity in plant-bee networks
Spatial variation in species interactions (interaction β-diversity) and its ecological drivers are poorly understood, despite their relevance to community assembly, conservation, and ecosystem functioning. We investigated effects of wildfire severity on patterns and four proximate ecological drivers of interaction β-diversity in plant-bee communities across three localities in the Northern Rocky Mountains (Montana, USA). Wildfires decreased interaction β-diversity but increased interaction frequency (number of visits) and richness (number of links). After controlling for interaction frequency and richness, standardized effect sizes of interaction β-diversity were highest following mixed-severity wildfires, intermediate following high-severity wildfires, and lowest in unburned landscapes, suggesting that wildfire increases spatial aggregation of plant-bee interactions. Moreover, higher effect sizes in burned landscapes were largely determined by turnover in the species composition of both trophic levels rather than by interaction rewiring (spatial turnover in local species interactions not due to species turnover). The underrepresented level of rewiring indicated spatial consistency in post-disturbance patterns of interactions among co-occurring species. Together, our findings suggest that wildfire alters the β-diversity of mutualistic species interactions via linked assembly of plant-bee communities and provide insights into how environmental change alters complex networks of species interactions.
Global Impact of Heat from Wildfire on Convection and Aerosols
<p>Dataset of model output in the work 'Global Impact of Heat from Wildfire on Convection and Aerosols'.</p> <p>Dataset File List</p> <p>File headed with 'CTL' : model output in the CTL run with aerosols but without heat from fires</p> <p>1. CTL_Aerosols.nc : output of aerosol variables in the CTL run </p> <p>2. CTL_Convection_Part1.nc : part1 output of convection variables in the CTL run</p> <p>3. CTL_Convection_Part2.nc : part1 output of convection variables in the CTL run</p> <p>File headed with 'EXP' : model output in the EXP run with both aerosols and heat from fires</p> <p>1. EXP_Aerosols.nc : output of aerosol variables in the EXP run </p> <p>2. EXP_Convection_Part1.nc : part1 output of convection variables in the EXP run</p> <p>3. EXP_Convection_Part2.nc : part1 output of convection variables in the EXP run</p>
Western US MTBS-Interagency (WUMI) wildfire dataset
<p>Annual forest area burned (AFAB) in the western United States (US) has increased as a positive exponential function of rising aridity in recent decades. This non-linear response has important implications for AFAB in a changing climate, yet the cause of the exponential AFAB-aridity relationship has not been given rigorous attention. We investigated the exponential AFAB-aridity relationship in western US forests using a new 1984-2019 database of fire events and 2001-2020 satellite-based records of daily fire growth. While forest-fire frequency and duration grow linearly with aridity, the exponential AFAB-aridity relationship results from the exponential growth rates of individual fires. Larger fires generally have more potential for growth due to more extensive firelines. Thus, forces that promote fire growth, such as aridification, have more potent effects on larger fires. As aridity increases linearly, the potential for growth of large fires accelerates, leading to exponential increases in AFAB.</p>
Wildfire as a natural stressor and its effect on female phenotype and ornament development
<p>Controlled low-intensity fires are commonly used in ecosystem management for both habitat restoration and wildfire management. Animals in those ecosystems may respond to fire by shifting energy allocation away from reproduction and growth, and toward maintenance. Stress-induced shifts in energy allocation may affect expression of condition-dependent sexual signals, which are sensitive to energetic and physiological trade-offs mediated by glucocorticoids. Here, we examine the effect of fire on ornament expression, corticosterone, and other phenotypic traits in a population of striped plateau lizards, <i>Sceloporus virgatus</i>, affected by the Horseshoe 2 Fire in the Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona, USA. The condition-dependent female ornament was significantly smaller the month following the fire than two years prior, and was both smaller and less orange on the burned site relative to a nearby unburned site. These patterns are similar to those found in a previous experimental study examining the response of the ornament to corticosterone manipulations. Yet, in the current study, corticosterone levels were not different in lizards on the burned and unburned sites. Perhaps glucocorticoid levels already returned to baseline, or do not adequately track environmental change. Females tended to be smaller and lighter on the burned site than the unburned site, however the year after the fire, body condition was higher for females on the burned site, indicating a rapid recovery and potential long-term benefits in response to low-intensity fires in this fire-adapted ecosystem. We found that the lizards adjusted energy allocation away from sexual signaling and growth in response to low-intensity fires. As fires and fire management are likely to increase in response to changing fire regimes across the globe, it will be important to consider behavioral and physiological responses of impacted species, as well as population, community, and ecosystem level responses.</p>
Drivers of extreme wildfire years in the 1965–2019 fire regime of the Tłı̨chǫ First Nation territory, Canada
<p>Datasets, metadata and Rscript used to describe 1965-2019 wildfire regime and extreme wildfire years in central NWT.</p> <p> </p>
Wildfire influences individual growth and breeding dispersal, but not survival and recruitment in a montane amphibian
Global wildfire regimes are changing rapidly, with widespread increases in the size, frequency, duration, and severity of wildfires. Whereas the effects of wildfire on ecological state variables such as occupancy, abundance, and species diversity are relatively well-documented, changes in population vital rates (e.g., survival, recruitment) and individual responses (e.g., growth, movement) to wildfire are more limited because of the detailed information needed on the same individuals both pre- and post-fire. We capitalized on the 2018 Roosevelt wildfire, which occurred during our six-year (2015–2020) capture-mark-recapture study of boreal toads (<i>Anaxyrus boreas boreas</i>; <i>n</i> = 1415) in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, USA, to evaluate the responses of population vital rates and individual metrics to wildfire. We employed robust design capture-recapture models to compare the growth, dispersal, survival, and recruitment of adult boreal toads pre- and post-fire at burned versus unburned sites. At burned locations, growth increased two-years post-fire compared with the year directly following wildfire and was higher two-years post-fire than any other interval during our study period. Boreal toads dispersed to alternative breeding patches more at burned sites than unburned sites and dispersal increased two-years post-fire compared with the year directly following wildfire. Annual survival and recruitment did not differ between pre- and post-fire years nor among pre-fire years, the year following wildfire, and two-years post-fire. We demonstrate that, in certain contexts, dispersal can play a major role in changes to state variables (e.g., abundance) after wildfire, as opposed to other vital rates such as survival and recruitment. Our study represents an important step towards understanding the biological processes that underlie observed patterns in state variables following wildfire, which ultimately will be critical for the effective management of species in landscapes experiencing shifts in fire activity.
Model output dataset for Ardyna et al. (2022) Wildfire aerosol deposition likely amplified a summertime Arctic phytoplankton bloom
<p>Daily July and August 2014 aerosol optical depth (AODVIS) and nitrogen deposition (NDEP) output from simulations using Community Earth System Model. Data owner: Diana Bernstein (diana.bernstein@usm.edu).</p>
Data from: Interactive effects of wildfires, season, and predator activity shape mule deer movements
<p>Wildfires are increasing in size, frequency, and severity due to climate change and fire suppression, but the direct and indirect effects on wildlife remain largely unresolved. Fire removes forest canopy, which can improve forage for ungulates but also reduce snow interception, leading to a deeper snowpack and potentially increased vulnerability to predation in winter. If ungulates exhibit predator-mediated foraging, burns should generally be selected for in summer to access high-quality forage and avoided in winter to reduce predation risk in deep snow. Fires also typically increase the amount of deadfall and initiate growth of dense understory vegetation, creating obstacles that may confer a hunting advantage to stalking predators and a disadvantage to coursing predators. To minimize risk, ungulates may therefore avoid burns when and where stalking predators are most active, and use burns when and where coursing predators are most active. We used telemetry data from GPS-collared mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), cougars (Puma concolor), and wolves (Canis lupus) to develop step selection functions to examine how mule deer navigated species-specific predation risk across a landscape in northern Washington, USA that has experienced substantial wildfire activity during the past several decades. We considered a diverse array of wildfire impacts, accounting for both the severity of the fire and time since the burn (1 to 35 years) in our analyses. We observed support for the predator mediating foraging hypothesis: mule deer generally selected for burned areas in summer and avoided burns in winter. In addition, deer increased use of burned areas when and where wolf activity was high and avoided burns when and where cougar use was high in winter, suggesting the hunting mode of resident predators mediated the seasonal response of deer to burns. Deer were not more likely to die by predation in burned than in unburned areas, indicating that they adequately manage fire-induced changes to predation risk. As fire activity increases with climate change, our findings indicate the impact on ungulates will depend on tradeoffs between enhanced summer forage and functionally reduced winter range, mediated by characteristics of the predator community.</p>
Conifer seedling demography reveals mechanisms of initial forest resilience to wildfires in the northern Rocky Mountains
<p>Climate warming and an increased frequency and severity of wildfires are expected to transform forest ecosystems, in part through altered post-fire vegetation trajectories. Such a loss of forest resilience to wildfires arises due to a failure to pass through one or more critical demographic stages, or "filters," including seed availability, germination, establishment, and survival. Here we quantify the relative influence of microclimate and microsite conditions on key stages of post-fire seedling demography in two large, lightning-ignited wildfires from the regionally extensive fire season of 2017 in the northern Rocky Mountains, U.S.A. We tracked conifer seedling density, survival, and growth in the first three years post-fire in 69 plots spanning gradients in fire severity, topography, and climate; all plots were limited to within 100 m of a seed source to assure seed availability. Microclimate conditions were inferred based on measurements in a subset of 46 plots. We found abundant post-fire conifer regeneration, with a median of 2,633 seedlings per hectare after three years, highlighting early resilience to wildfire. This robust regeneration was due in part to moderate post-fire climate conditions, supporting high survivorship (>50% on average) of all seedlings tracked over the study period (n = 763). A statistical model based on variables describing potential seed availability, microclimate, fire severity, understory vegetation, and soil nitrogen availability explained 75% of the variability in seedling density among plots. This analysis highlights the overarching importance of fine-scale heterogeneity in fire effects, which determine microclimate conditions and create diverse microsites for seedlings, ultimately facilitating post-fire tree regeneration. Our study elucidates mechanisms of forest resilience to wildfires and demonstrates the utility of a demographic perspective for anticipating forest responses to future wildfires under changing environmental conditions.</p>
Data Compilation Supporting the Development of gas signatures of smouldering peat wildfire from emission factors
<p>This is the dataset of emission factors used for the paper "Development of gas signatures of smouldering peat wildfires from emission factors" published in 2022 in <em>Journal of the International Association of Wildland Fire</em>.</p> <p>Smouldering peat fires are responsible for regional haze episodes and cause environmental, social and health crisis. Owing to the unique burning characteristics of smouldering peat, identifying and detecting this kind of fire from flaming and among all wildfire fuels remain a challenge. This work explores and develops smouldering peat gas signatures using emission factor (EF) data from the literature. Systematic comparisons and statistical analyses were carried out to investigate the difference and statistical significance of 28 forms of EF combinations created from the 4 most abundant gas species (CO2, CO, CH4 and NH3) from smouldering peat, flaming savanna and grassland, agricultural residue and forest fires.</p>
Data from: Tamm Review: a meta-analysis of thinning, prescribed fire, and wildfire effects on subsequent wildfire severity in conifer dominated forests of the Western US
<p>Increased understanding of how active forest management (i.e., mechanical thinning, prescribed burning, and managed wildfire) affects subsequent wildfire severity is urgently needed as people and forests face a growing wildfire crisis. In response, we reviewed scientific literature for the US West and completed a meta-analysis that answered three questions: (1) How much do treatments reduce wildfire severity within treated areas? (2) How do the effects vary with treatment type, treatment age, and forest type? (3) How does fire weather moderate the effects of treatments? We found overwhelming evidence that mechanical thinning with prescribed burning, mechanical thinning with pile burning, and prescribed burning only are effective at reducing subsequent wildfire severity, resulting in reductions in severity from 62% to 72% relative to untreated areas. In comparison, thinning only was less effective – underscoring the importance of treating surface fuels when mitigating wildfire severity is the management goal. The efficacy of these treatments did not vary among forest types assessed in this study and was high across a range of fire weather conditions. Prior wildfire had more complex impacts on subsequent wildfire severity, which varied with forest type and initial wildfire severity. Across treatment types, we found that effectiveness of treatments declined over time, with the mean reduction in wildfire severity decreasing nearly threefold when wildfire occurred greater than 10 years after initial treatment. Our meta-analysis provides up-to-date information on the extent to which active forest management reduces wildfire severity and facilitates better outcomes for people and forests during future wildfire events. </p>
Prioritizing wildfire fuel management in California
<p><strong><span>The resources available for managing wildfire risk are insufficient and ultimately finite , while the risk of catastrophic fires is enormous and growing. Prioritization of responses is thus critical, but the basis for comparing the costs and societal benefits of alternative investments in wildfire mitigation is woefully inadequate. Here, we assess and compare the costs of landscape-scale fuel treatment to the benefits of avoided destruction of property and smoke-related health impacts, and identify areas where the net benefits are greatest statewide. We find that re-prioritizing treatment areas could increase net benefits by a factor of more than 7 relative to historical treatments, with average net benefits in the top decile of areas (i.e., 28,000 km<sup>2</sup>)<sup> </sup>of >$225k per km<sup>2 </sup>(as compared to an estimated $90k per km<sup>2</sup> of past treatments). By integrating physical, epidemiological, and economic methods, our results reveal large opportunities for improving the cost-effectiveness of wildfire fuel treatments, and demonstrate a general framework that can be applied by land managers in all wildfire-prone areas.</span></strong></p>
Assessing moss transplant methods to enhance Sphagnum moss recovery in post-wildfire hydrophobic peat
<p><strong>Wildfire is the dominant disturbance in northern peatlands and can release large quantities of carbon to the atmosphere through combustion. Post-fire peat hydrophobicity can inhibit moss regeneration, thereby decreasing the potential for post-fire carbon sequestration. To investigate how to enhance post-fire recovery we assessed two moss restoration methods (plugs and fragments) in an Alberta poor fen two and three years following wildfire. P<strong>ost-fire peat hydrophobicity and moss regeneration was characterized in four surface cover types: Severely Burned Feather moss hollows (SB-F), Severely Burned Sphagnum fuscum hummocks (SB-S), Lightly Burned S. fuscum hummocks (LB-S), and Lightly Burned Feather moss lawns (LB-F). We then <strong>conducted experiments testing the success of moss plugs and fragments of varying moss species at LB-F and SB-F surface covers, which had high hydrophobicity and low post-fire moss recovery.</strong></strong></strong></p>
Canada's extreme wildfires dominate the decline in global land carbon sinks in 2023
<p>Terrestrial land carbon sinks are strongly influenced by climate extremes, and 2023 is the warmest year on record, accompanied by an El Niño event, extreme wildfires, and extreme precipitation and drought, but their impact on global land sinks in 2023 remains unclear. Here, we used the Global Carbon Assimilation System, version 2, to estimate recent global land sinks by assimilating the OCO-2 ACOS v11.1 XCO2 retrievals. We estimate the global land sink to be -1.63 ± 0.52 PgC/yr in 2023. Compared to 2017-2022, it decreases by 0.59 PgC/yr, in which net ecosystem exchange decreases by only 0.14 PgC/yr, but wildfire emissions increase significantly by 0.45 PgC/yr, mainly in Canada. Our findings suggest that extreme wildfires are an important threat to land sinks under global warming.</p>
ScienceDex guides
Understand access before you commit
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.