The ecological importance of mixed-severity fires : nature's Phoenix / edtied by Dominick A. DellaSala, Chad T. Hanson.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

'Acknowledgments''Section 1: Biodiversity of Mixed- and High-Severity Fires';'Chapter 1: Setting the Stage for Mixed- and High-Severity Fire';'1.1. Earlier Hypotheses and Current Research';'Do Open and Park-Like Structures Provide an Accurate Historical Baseline for Dry Forest Types in Western US Forests?';'Does Time Since Fire Influence Fire Severity?';'What is the Evidence for Mixed- and High-Severity Fire?';'Aerial Photos';'Historical Reports';'Direct Records and Reconstructions from Early Land Surveys';'Tree Ring Reconstructions of Stand Densities and Fire History'

'Charcoal and Sediment Reconstructions''1.2. Ecosystem Resilience and Mixed- and High-Severity Fire';'1.3. Mixed- and High-Severity Fires Have Not Increased in Frequency as Assumed';'1.4. Conclusions';'References';'Chapter 2: Ecological and Biodiversity Benefits of Megafires';'2.1. Just What Are Megafires?';'2.2. Megafires as Global Change Agents';'2.3. Megafires, Large Severe Fire Patches, and Complex Early Seral Forests';'2.4. Historical Evidence of Megafires';'Rocky Mountain Region';'Eastern Cascades and Southern Cascades';'Oregon Coast Range and Klamath Region';'Sierra Nevada'

'Southwestern United States and Pacific Southwest''Black Hills';'2.5. Megafires and Landscape Heterogeneity';'2.6. Are Megafires Increasing?';'2.7. Language Matters';'2.8. Conclusions';'Appendix2.1. Fires of Historical Significance from Records Compiled By the National Interagency Fire Center (http://www.n ...';'References';'Chapter 3: Using Bird Ecology to Learn About the Benefits of Severe Fire';'3.1. Introduction';'3.2. Insights from Bird Studies';'Lesson 1: The Effects of Fire Are Context Dependent; Species Respond Differently to Different Fire Severities and Other Pos...'

'Time Since Fire''Old Growth';'Postfire Vegetation Conditions';'Lesson 2: Given the Appropriate Temporal and Vegetation Conditions, Most Bird Species Apparently Benefit from Severe Fire';'Lesson 3: Not only Do Most Bird Species Benefit from Severe Fire, but Some also Appear to Require Severe Fire to Persist';'Bird Species in Other Regions That Seem to Require Severe Fire';'Postfire Management Implications';'Fire Prevention Should Be Focused on Human Population Centers';'Fire Suppression Should Be Focused on the Wildland-Urban Interface (or Fireshed)'

The Ecological Importance of High-Severity Fires, presents information on the current paradigm shift in the way people think about wildfire and ecosystems. While much of the current forest management in fire-adapted ecosystems, especially forests, is focused on fire prevention and suppression, little has been reported on the ecological role of fire, and nothing has been presented on the importance of high-severity fire with regards to the maintenance of native biodiversity and fire-dependent ecosystems and species. This text fills that void, providing a comprehensive reference for documenting and synthesizing fire's ecological role.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (Ebsco, viewed June 15, 2015).

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