Spatial variability of wildland fuel characteristics in northern Rocky Mountain ecosystems
By: Robert E. Keane, Kathy Gray, Valentina Bacciu
Contributors: Gray, Kathy L.; Bacciu, Valentina; Rocky Mountain Research Station (Fort Collins, Colo.)
Series: Research paper RMRS -- RP-98; Research paper RMRS -- RP-98.
Publisher: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Fort Collins, CO
Language: eng
Number of pages: 56
Subjects: Wildfires; Risk assessment; Landscape ecology; Plant litter; Flammability; Coarse woody debris; Plant biomass
Description: We investigated the spatial variability of a number of wildland fuel characteristics for the major fuel components found in six common northern Rocky Mountain ecosystems. Surface fuel characteristics of loading, particle density, bulk density, and mineral content were measured for eight fuel components--four downed dead woody fuel size classes (1, 10, 100, 1000 hr), duff, litter, shrub, and her--on nested plots located within sampling grids to describe their variability across spatial scales. We also sampled canopy bulk density, biomass, and cover for each plot in the grid. The spatial distribution and variability of surface and canopy fuel characteristics are described using the variance, spatial autocorrelation, semi-variograms, and Moran's I. We found that all fuels had high variability in loading (two to three times the mean), and this variability increased with the size of fuel particle. We also found that fuel components varied at different scales, with fine fuels varying at scales of 1 to 5 m, coarse fuels at 10 to 150 m, and canopy fuels at 100 to 500 m. Findings and data from this study can be used to sample, describe, and map fuel characteristics, such as loading, at the appropriate spatial scales to accommodate the next generation of fire behavior prediction models.
Notes: Cover title.

"October, 2012."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-56).

Also available on the World Wide Web.