EXTREME FIRE AND FUEL LIMITATIONS DRIVE FIRE EFFECTS IN JUNIPERUS WOODLAND

PREFACE Restoration of grassland and savanna communities receives considerable attention from ecologists, natural resource professionals, and landowners. Removal of fire is a primary driver of the woodland progression in grassland and savanna systems, yet reintroduction of fire into these systems has failed to reverse woody plant dominance. Here I focus on the use of extreme fire as a restoration tool in a Quercus savanna heavily invaded by Juniperus. Although previous work has shown reintroduction of fire to be largely unsuccessful, the use of extreme fire is largely unexplored. The first chapter, “Influence of scale and heterogeneity in linking fuel measurements with fire intensity and fire effects,” illustrates the shortcomings of traditional sampling techniques in analyses of fire behavior and fire effects within a heterogeneous environment. I go on to demonstrate the importance of spatial and temporal considerations in the sampling of fuels, fire behavior, and fire effects. The second chapter, “Probabilistic thresholds and the potential reversibility of juniper woodland communities using extreme fire, ” draws upon concepts from the first chapter to progress our viewpoint of fire as a tool in restoration. Specifically, I test ecologica