Reconstruction of natural fire regimes
- Background
- Abstract
- Approach
- Results
- Publications
Abstract
The dynamic fire regime is a result of interactions among forest ecosystem components under various conditions. This study examined the question of whether ecological modeling could provide a complementary method for reconstructing natural fire regimes. Simulation of forest fire effects has been one component of the SEM-LAND model, and the simulation results were validated by empirical observations from west-central Alberta, Canada. Sensitivity analysis revealed that model behavior was not influenced significantly by the initial forest age mosaic pattern or the critical value of daily precipitation that would be enough to stop a fire event. The results indicated that ecological modeling could help forest managers to evaluate proposed forest policy involving emulation of natural disturbance patterns through harvesting.
Project status
- Completed