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Fires without tanoak: the effects of a non-native disease on future community flammability

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Abstract

Non-native pathogens affect forests throughout North America, resulting in changes in species composition, structure, and ecosystem processes. We studied the effects of the emergent disease sudden oak death (SOD) and the resulting functional extinction of tanoak, a highly susceptible native tree with flammable litter, on future community flammability. We quantified four flammability metrics (flame height; flaming duration; smoldering duration; and fuel consumed) for litter from each of five species that co-occur with tanoak and for species mixtures with and without tanoak (n = 14). We combined these flammability metrics in a Principal Components Analysis to evaluate potential shifts in litter flammability from pre-SOD (with tanoak litter) to post-SOD (where tanoak was replaced equally with remaining species). Litter flammability changed following the loss of tanoak, but the differences were species- and community-specific. Mixed-evergreen fuels where coast Douglas-fir litter replaced tanoak experienced consistent declines in flammability. Few substantive changes occurred in communities where coast redwood or other hardwoods co-occurred. We found consistent synergistic flammability effects when multiple species’ litters were mixed; in cases where two or more species were mixed, most (75%) combinations burned with higher intensity (+8.1%) and fuelbeds flamed for a longer duration (+17.1%). Our work demonstrates that potential surface fire behavior in northwestern California may be dampened where Douglas-fir replaces tanoak, while those communities with other hardwoods or coast redwood may have redundant fuels and tanoak’s absence in future fires may be inconspicuous. These results underscore the potential for cascading effects of non-native pathogens on ecosystem function in fire-prone ecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

Laboratory assistance was provided by C. Shoemaker, M. Jones, and J. Szecsei. Discussions with D. Rizzo and R. Cobb stimulated the development of this research. We benefitted from advice and discussions with E. Engber, T. Shearman, M. Metz, J. Crotteau, and M. DeSiervo. E. Jules provided a thoughtful review of a previous version of the manuscript. The manuscript benefitted from helpful comments provided by the reviewers. Funding was provided by a University of California- California State University Collaborative Research Grant, the L.W. Schatz Demonstration Tree Farm, and the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region. JMV and HGK conceived and designed the study. HGK and JMV performed the research. JMV and JKK analyzed the data. JMV and JKK wrote the paper.

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Author notes

  1. Howard G. Kuljian: Deceased.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service, 400 North 34th Street Suite 201, Seattle, WA, 98103, USA

    J. Morgan Varner

  2. Wildland Fire Laboratory, Department of Forestry and Wildland Resources, Humboldt State University, One Harpst Street, Arcata, CA, 95521, USA

    Howard G. Kuljian

  3. Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, 310 West Campus Drive, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Jesse K. Kreye

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  1. J. Morgan Varner
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  2. Howard G. Kuljian
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Correspondence to J. Morgan Varner.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 2.

Table 2 Burning characteristics of litterbeds for each pair-wise species combination of pre-Sudden Oak Death and post-Sudden Oak Death (without tanoak)
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Varner, J.M., Kuljian, H.G. & Kreye, J.K. Fires without tanoak: the effects of a non-native disease on future community flammability. Biol Invasions 19, 2307–2317 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-017-1443-z

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