Climate change, fuel and fire behaviour in a eucalypt forest

A suite of models was used to examine the links between climate, fuels and fire behaviour in dry eucalypt forests in south‐eastern Australia. Predictions from a downscaled climate model were used to drive models of fuel amount, the moisture content of fuels and two models of forest fire behaviour at...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Global change biology 2012-10, Vol.18 (10), p.3212-3223
Main Authors: Matthews, Stuart, Sullivan, Andrew L., Watson, Penny, Williams, Richard J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Biomass
Climate change
Climatology. Bioclimatology. Climate change
dry sclerophyl forest
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Forest & brush fires
forest fire
Forest management
fuel hazard
fuel moisture
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Meteorology
simulation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A suite of models was used to examine the links between climate, fuels and fire behaviour in dry eucalypt forests in south‐eastern Australia. Predictions from a downscaled climate model were used to drive models of fuel amount, the moisture content of fuels and two models of forest fire behaviour at a location in western Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. We found that a warming and drying climate produced lower fine fuel amounts, but greater availability of this fuel to burn due to lower moisture contents. Changing fuel load had only a small effect on fuel moisture. A warmer, drier climate increased rate of spread, an important measure of fire behaviour. Reduced fuel loads ameliorated climate‐induced changes in fire behaviour for one model. Sensitivity analysis of the other fire model showed that changes in fuel amount induced changes in fire behaviour of a similar magnitude to that caused directly by sensitivity to climate. Projection of changes in fire risk requires modelling of changes in vegetation as well as changes in climate. Better understanding of climate change effects on vegetation structure is required.
ISSN:1354-1013
1365-2486
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2012.02768.x