Fire Behavior Rate of spread Intensity Crown or ground Continuous or non-continuous front Complete burn or mosaic Extreme fire behavior ROS – affected by; Climate – drought Weather (wind) Topography – fire runs upslope more quickly Vegetation – Typical moisture content - some species such as aspen can serve to alter rate of spread – canopy fire can drop to the ground upon encountering an aspen stand (high moisture content). Conversely flammable species increase ROS Density – Seney bog birch density Condition and arrangement of fuels – few, or densely packed fuels with high moisture content can slow fire whereas many loosely arranged fuels with low content increase ROS Intensity – affected by; Weather – wind, moisture, and temperature Topography – fire moving up a hill will pre-heat the vegetation upslope which will make it burn more readily Available fuels Chemical factors – chemicals in tree and plant leaves make some species explosive – Seney and leatherleaf MVNWR and phragmites Extreme behavior – horizontal roll vortices – Mack Lake fire in Lower Michigan (19??)

Fire Behavior Why is it important to consider fire behavior? Safety – volatile species Fire behavior results in various fire effects Intensity – ground or crown Duration of burning Safety – examples of volatile species have oils and terpines in their leaves – leatherleaf, phragmites, get some western species examples ROS – increased residence time is associated with more intense effects

Fire Effects Abiotic Air Soils Water Biotic - every single species reacts to fire in a unique manner! Aquatic Terrestrial Abiotic Air - Slow ROS, high intensity fire can consume greater amounts of fuels which can result in increased amounts of smoke with associated particulates. My original thesis proposal and air quality standards due to peat Soils – Slow ROS burns hotter and can bake soils. This affects how water and nutrients move through soil spaces and their availability for roots of vegetation. Water – Intense fires that remove majority of soil stabilizing vegetation can result in sedimentation in streams and rivers. This can affect physical shape of streambed and water quality Biotic Aquatic – same stream affected by erosion – altered stream beds – decreased depth can alter stream temperature which can affect cold water fish species Terrestrial Vegetation - Soil creatures – soil heating has negative effect but mosaic burn patterns allow for recolonization

Fire Effects - General Fire effects vary by: size and intensity of fire individuals verses populations the season as it relates to phenology Many mechanisms of survival protection of critical reproductive tissues avoidance Is the fire occurring during the breeding, nesting, brooding season?

Fire Effects – Vegetation Classified according to their response to fire Fire-Intolerant Plants – highly flammable and completely destroyed Fire-Tolerant Plants – able to withstand some forms of fire and grow despite some damage Fire Resistant Plants – suffer little damage Response to fire categories –– fire tolerant plants are also known as resprouters, some of which store extra energy in their roots for recovery and growth

Fire Effects –Vegetation Many different effects of fire on plants Negative Individual death Positive Alteration of surface light and/or temperature regime Release of canopy seeds Germination of soil seeds Increased Seedling establishment Productivity Flowering Seed dispersal distances

Fire Effects - Wildlife Effects vary by: species and mobility habitat needs age of animal stage of fire – during and after type of animal – predator verses prey How readily an animal can move out the path of a fire Yellow rail – masters Stage of fire – bears and woodpeckers after a fire searching for beetles and grubs in trees, etc.