Climate and Spatial Patterns of Wildfire in North America

Climate interacts with wildfire at a range of spatial and temporal scales. In this chapter I describe a conceptual model that describes how climate (a top-down control) interacts with processes of vegetation development and topography (bottom-up controls) to give rise to characteristic disturbance regimes and observed patterns of wildfire throughout North America. At the shortest timescales (synoptic to seasonal), climate influences fine fuel moisture, ignition frequency, and rates of wildfire spread. At intermediate timescales (annual to interannual), climate affects the relative abundance and continuity of fine fuels, as well as the abundance and moisture content of coarser fuels. At longer timescales (decadal to centennial) climate determines the assemblage of species that can survive at a particular location. Interactions between these species’ characteristics and the influence of climatic processes on wildfire activity give rise to the characteristic disturbance regime and vegetation structure at a given location.

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