Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Biophysical influences on the spatial distribution of fire in the desert grassland region of the southwestern USA

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Landscape Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Context

Fire is an important driver of ecological processes in semiarid systems and serves a vital role in shrub-grass interactions. In desert grasslands of the southwestern US, the loss of fire has been implicated as a primary cause of shrub encroachment. Where fires can currently be re-introduced given past state changes and recent restoration actions, however, is unknown and controversial.

Objectives

Our objective was to evaluate the interactive effects of climate, urban development, and topo-edaphic properties on fire distribution in the desert grassland region of the southwestern United States.

Methods

We characterized the spatial distribution of fire in the Chihuahuan Desert and Madrean Archipelago ecoregions and investigated the influence of soil properties and ecological site groups compared to other commonly used biophysical variables using multi-model inference.

Results

Soil-landscape properties significantly influenced the spatial distribution of fire ignitions. Fine-textured bottomland ecological site classes experienced more fires than expected in contrast to upland sites with coarse soil textures and high fragment content that experienced fewer fire ignitions than expected. Influences of mean annual precipitation, distance to road/rail, soil available water holding capacity (AWHC) and topographic variables varied between ecoregions and political jurisdictions and by fire season. AWHC explained more variability of fire ignitions in the Madrean Archipelago compared to the Chihuahuan Desert.

Conclusions

Understanding the spatiotemporal distribution of recent fires in desert grasslands is needed to manage fire and predict responses to climate change. The use of landscape units such as ecological sites presents an opportunity to improve predictions at management scales.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abatzoglou JT, Kolden CA (2013) Relationships between climate and macroscale area burned in the western United States. Int J Wildland Fire 22(7):1003–1020

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson DR (2008) Model based inference in the life sciences. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ansley RJ, Castellano MJ (2006) Strategies for savanna restoration in the southern Great Plains: effects of fire and herbicides. Restor Ecol 14(3):420–428

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ansley RJ, Pinchak WE, Teague WR, Kramp BA, Jones DL, Barnett K (2010) Integrated grazing and prescribed fire restoration strategies in a mesquite savanna: II. Fire behavior and mesquite landscape cover responses. Rangel Ecol Manag 63(3):286–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beckage B, Platt WJ, Panko B (2005) A climate-based approach to the restoration of fire-dependent ecosystems. Restor Ecol 13(3):429–431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bestelmeyer BT, Tugel AJ, Peacock GL et al (2009) State-and-transition models for heterogeneous landscapes: a strategy for development and application. Rangel Ecol Manag 62(1):1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bestelmeyer BT, Ward JP, Havstad KM (2006) Soil-geomorphic heterogeneity governs patchy vegetation dynamics at an arid ecotone. Ecology 87(4):963–973

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks ML, Matchett JR (2006) Spatial and temporal patterns of wildfires in the Mojave Desert, 1980–2004. J Arid Environ 67:148–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown DE (1994) Biotic communities: southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown TJ, Hall BL, Mohrle CR, Reinbold HJ (2002) Coarse assessment of federal wildland fire occurrence data, report for the national wildfire coordinating group. CEFA Report 02-04. Desert Research Institute, Program for Climate, Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Ecosystem and Fire Applications, p 35

  • Cade BS (2015) Model averaging and muddled multimodel inference. Ecology 96(9):2370–2382

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cox JR (1988) Seasonal burning and mowing impacts on sporobolus-wrightii grasslands. J Range Manag 41(1):12–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crimmins MA, Comrie AC (2004) Interactions between antecedent climate and wildfire variability across south-eastern Arizona. Int J Wildland Fire 13(4):455–466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dennison PE, Brewer SC, Arnold JD, Moritz MA (2014) Large wildfire trends in the western United States, 1984–2011. Geophys Res Lett 41(8):2928–2933

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dick-Peddie W (1993) New Mexico vegetation past, present, and future. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque

    Google Scholar 

  • Dilts TE, Sibold JS, Biondi F (2009) A weights-of-evidence model for mapping the probability of fire occurrence in Lincoln County, Nevada. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 99(4):712–727

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Odorico P, Okin GS, Bestelmeyer BT (2012) A synthetic review of feedbacks and drivers of shrub encroachment in arid grasslands. Ecohydrology 5(5):520–530

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drewa PB, Peters DPC, Havstad KM (2006) Population and clonal level responses of a perennial grass following fire in the northern Chihuahuan Desert. Oecologia 150(1):29–39

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Faivre N, Jin Y, Goulden ML, Randerson JT (2014) Controls on the spatial pattern of wildfire ignitions in Southern California. Int J Wildland Fire 23(6):799–811

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray ME, Dickson BG (2015) A new model of landscape-scale fire connectivity applied to resource and fire management in the Sonoran Desert, USA. Ecol Appl 25(4):1099–1113

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gray ME, Dickson BG, Zachmann LJ (2014) Modelling and mapping dynamic variability in large fire probability in the lower Sonoran Desert of south-western Arizona. Int J Wildland Fire 23(8):1108–1118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halpern CB, Haugo RD, Antos JA, Kaas SS, Kilanowski AL (2012) Grassland restoration with and without fire: evidence from a tree-removal experiment. Ecol Appl 22(2):425–441

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hawbaker TJ, Radeloff VC, Stewart SI, Hammer RB, Keuler NS, Clayton MK (2013) Human and biophysical influences on fire occurrence in the United States. Ecol Appl 23(3):565–582

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hegeman EE, Dickson BG, Zachmann LJ (2014) Probabilistic models of fire occurrence across National Park Service units within the Mojave Desert Network, USA. Landscape Ecol 29(9):1587–1600

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalabokidis KD, Koutsias N, Konstantinidis P, Vasilakos C (2007) Multivariate analysis of landscape wildfire dynamics in a Mediterranean ecosystem of Greece. Area 39(3):392–402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khumalo G, Holechek J, Thomas M, Molinar F (2008) Soil depth and climatic effects on desert vegetation dynamics. Rangel Ecol Manag 61(3):269–274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krawchuk MA, Moritz MA (2011) Constraints on global fire activity vary across a resource gradient. Ecology 92(1):121–132

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krueger ES, Ochsner TE, Engle DM, Carlson JD, Twidwell D, Fuhlendorf SD (2015) Soil moisture affects growing-season wildfire size in the southern great plains. Soil Sci Soc Am J 79(6):1567–1576

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • LANDFIRE (2012a) Existing vegetation type layer, LANDFIRE 1.3.0. U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey. http://landfire.cr.usgs.gov/viewer/. Accessed 21 Mar 2016

  • LANDFIRE (2012b) Vegetation departure layer, LANDFIRE 1.3.0. U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey. http://landfire.cr.usgs.gov/viewer/. Accessed 21 Mar 2016

  • Littell JS, McKenzie D, Peterson DL, Westerling AL (2009) Climate and wildfire area burned in western U.S. ecoprovinces, 1916–2003. Ecol Appl 19(4):1003–1021

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McClaran MP, Van Devender TR (1995) The desert grassland. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson

    Google Scholar 

  • McPherson GR (1995) The role of fire in the desert grasslands. In: McClaran MP, Van Devender TR (eds) The desert grassland. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, pp 130–151

    Google Scholar 

  • McWethy DB, Higuera PE, Whitlock C, Veblen TT, Bowman DMJS, Cary GJ, Perry GLW (2013) A conceptual framework for predicting temperate ecosystem sensitivity to human impacts on fire regimes. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 22(8):900–912

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meunier J, Romme WH, Brown PM (2014) Climate and land-use effects on wildfire in northern Mexico, 1650–2010. For Ecol Manag 325:49–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michaud GA, Monger HC, Anderson DL (2013) Geomorphic-vegetation relationships using a geopedological classification system, northern Chihuahuan Desert, USA. J Arid Environ 90:45–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monger HC, Bestelmeyer BT (2006) The soil-geomorphic template and biotic change in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. J Arid Environ 65(2):207–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naito AT, Cairns DM (2011) Patterns and processes of global shrub expansion. Prog Phys Geogr 35(4):423–442

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Narayanaraj G, Wimberly MC (2012) Influences of forest roads on the spatial patterns of human- and lightning-caused wildfire ignitions. Appl Geogr 32(2):878–888

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neuenschwander LF, Wright HA (1984) Edaphic and microclimate factors affecting tobosagrass regrowth after fire. J Range Manag 37(2):116–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parisien M-A, Snetsinger S, Greenberg JA et al (2012) Spatial variability in wildfire probability across the western United States. Int J Wildland Fire 21(4):313–327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Platt WJ, Entrup AK, Babl EK, Coryell-Turpin C, Dao V, Hebert JA, Timilsina N (2015) Short-term effects of herbicides and a prescribed fire on restoration of a shrub-encroached pine savanna. Restor Ecol 23(6):909–917

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poulos HM (2009) Mapping fuels in the Chihuahuan Desert borderlands using remote sensing, geographic information systems, and biophysical modeling. Can J For Res-Rev Can De Rech For 39(10):1917–1927

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • PRISM Climate Group (2012) Oregon State University, http://www.prism.oregonstate.edu/. Accessed 11 July 2012

  • R Core Team (2014) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. http://www.R-project.org/

  • Riley KL, Abatzoglou JT, Grenfell IC, Klene AE, Heinsch FA (2013) The relationship of large fire occurrence with drought and fire danger indices in the western USA, 1984–2008: the role of temporal scale. Int J Wildland Fire 22(7):894–909

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scholes RJ, Archer SR (1997) Tree-grass interactions in savannas. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 28:517–544

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Short KC (2015) Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992–2013 [FPA_FOD_20150323], 3rd edn. Forest Service Research Data Archive, Fort Collins. doi:10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.3

    Google Scholar 

  • Soil Survey Staff (2014) National value added look up (valu) table database for the gridded soil survey geographic (gSSURGO) database for the United States of America and the Territories, Commonwealths, and Island Nations served by the USDA-NRCS. United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/. Accessed 1 Dec 2014 (FY2015 official release)

  • Swetnam T, Baisan C (1996) Historical fire regime patterns in the southwestern United States since AD 1700. In: Allen CD (ed) Fire effects in southwestern forest: proceedings of the 2nd La Mesa fire symposium, pp 11–32

  • Toledo D, Kreuter UP, Sorice MG, Taylor CA Jr (2014) The role of prescribed burn associations in the application of prescribed fires in rangeland ecosystems. J Environ Manag 132:323–328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner RM, Webb RH, Bowers JE, Hastings JR (2003) The changing mile revisited. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson

    Google Scholar 

  • Twidwell D, Fuhlendorf SD, Taylor CA Jr, Rogers WE (2013) Refining thresholds in coupled fire-vegetation models to improve management of encroaching woody plants in grasslands. J Appl Ecol 50(3):603–613

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Auken OW (2000) Shrub invasions of North American semiarid grasslands. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 31:197–215

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Auken OW (2009) Causes and consequences of woody plant encroachment into western North American grasslands. J Environ Manag 90(10):2931–2942

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Linn PF, Nussear KE, Esque TC, DeFalco LA, Inman RD, Abella SR (2013) Estimating wildfire risk on a Mojave Desert landscape using remote sensing and field sampling. Int J Wildland Fire 22(6):770–779

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitman E, Batllori E, Parisien MA, Miller C, Coop JD, Krawchuk MA, Haire SL (2015) The climate space of fire regimes in north-western North America. J Biogeogr 42(9):1736–1749

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whittaker RH, Niering WA (1965) Vegetation of the santa catalina mountains, arizona—a gradient analysis of the south slope. Ecology 46(4):429–452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang J, Weisberg PJ, Dilts TE, Loudermilk EL, Scheller RM, Stanton A, Skinner C (2015) Predicting wildfire occurrence distribution with spatial point process models and its uncertainty assessment: a case study in the Lake Tahoe Basin, USA. Int J Wildland Fire 24(3):380–390

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the USDA ARS Postdoctoral Research Associate Program and the NSF Long-Term Ecological Research Program (DEB0080412). We would like to acknowledge C. Stripling for sharing data from the Texas Forest Service database, S. Schrader for help with collecting and processing spatial data for environmental covariates, B. Cade for suggestions regarding model averaging and D. James for help with R code.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range, MSC 3JER, New Mexico State University, Box 30003, Las Cruces, NM, 88003, USA

    Matthew R. Levi & Brandon T. Bestelmeyer

Authors
  1. Matthew R. Levi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Brandon T. Bestelmeyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew R. Levi.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 137 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Levi, M.R., Bestelmeyer, B.T. Biophysical influences on the spatial distribution of fire in the desert grassland region of the southwestern USA. Landscape Ecol 31, 2079–2095 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-016-0383-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-016-0383-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation