Ch 6: Characterizing Fire Regimes | Fire In California's Ecosystems

If we want to manage the California ecosystem well, it helps to know the historical pattern of wildfire in an area, and there are four main techniques we use to characterize these fire regimes.

The first approach is sedimentary charcoal and pollen. After a fire, the charcoal will wash away and accumulate in areas like lake beds. A sediment sample is like a timeline, which allows you to estimate fire activity in the past. By analyzing the pollen, you can also classify what kinds of vegetation were present.

A more precise timeline can be found through dendrochronology, where you count the tree rings and look for fire scars, while also potentially identifying the “stand-origin date.”

We can also turn to anecdotal and written information, like reports, journals, and Native American oral histories.

For more recent fires, we have all kinds of data, including mapped fire perimeters, aerial photographs, and satellite imagery.

Source:
Ch 6: Fire In California's Ecosystems 2nd ed

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[robertforrest]

A really interesting lesson Holt...thanks for the info.

[ronaldrose]

Hello 👋 Holt, greetings from Northern California. Thank you for sharing this informative video. I appreciate your attention to detail. Stay safe out there and keep up your great work. 😊

[newuser]

Living in the Foothills of the Sierras, this is very valuable information. Thank you.

[roblangsdorf]

Look up the RATE book that was published about 2005. That is "Radio Activity and the age of The Earth." It studies many of the problems with Radio Activite dating techniques.

[roblangsdorf]

Question: Why is the coldest time of night usually an hour or 2 before sunrise instead at sunrise?