Tree species influence boreal forest fire behavior and subsequent effects on climate

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://news.uci.edu/press-releases/tree-species-influence-boreal-forest-fire-behavior-and-subsequent-effects-on-climate/

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Tree species influence boreal forest fire behavior and subsequent effects on climate[/font]

[font size=4]UCI study explains different patterns in North American, Eurasian blazes[/font]

[font size=3]Irvine, Calif., Feb. 2, 2015 – For a better understanding of how forest fires behave and interact with climate, scientists are turning to the trees. A new study out of UC Irvine shows that differences in individual tree species between Eurasia and North America alter the continental patterns of fire – and that blazes burning the hottest actually cool the climate.

“High-intensity canopy fires are prevalent in boreal North America, whereas lower-intensity surface fires are common in Eurasia,” said Brendan Rogers, a UCI doctoral student now at Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts. “These differences have large-scale implications for fire ecology, climate modeling and forest management. Yet their patterns, consequences and underlying causes were not well understood.”

Using remote sensing imagery, he and UCI Earth system science professors James Randerson and Michael Goulden found that conifer trees are the drivers – rather than the passive victims – of the types of fire that consume them.

In North America, for example, tree species known as “fire embracers” have evolved to both spread and be destroyed by fire. Mature stands of black spruce, which are ubiquitous in Canada and Alaska, burn like a torch and cause intense treetop fires that kill the canopy.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2352

[Demeter]

1. I talk to the trees, but they don't listen to me...

so now, it's time people shut up and listen, instead....