Identification of Fire Refugia in Rocky Mountain Ecosystems of the U.S. and Canada: Development and Application of the Refugium Concept for Biodiversity Conservation over Large Spatial and Temporal Scales
We described the climate space of fire regimes in northwestern North America (Whitman and others 2015), and we are refining an approach to identify fire refugia – areas that do not burn or burn with lower severity through multiple fire events. We continue our collaboration to test the function of refugia for biodiversity conservation under current and future climate and fire scenarios. We continue to seek funding to support development of products to inform decision-making in land/easement acquisition, identification of critical areas for maintaining landscape and process connectivity/permeability, and extension of the temporal context for spatial conservation decision making. The approach is testable for transferability to other locations and ecosystems such as sagebrush-steppe, which have parallel issues.
We described the climate space of fire regimes in northwestern North America (Whitman and others 2015), and we are refining an approach to identify fire refugia – areas that do not burn or burn with lower severity through multiple fire events. We continue our collaboration to test the function of refugia for biodiversity conservation under current and future climate and fire scenarios. We continue to seek funding to support development of products to inform decision-making in land/easement acquisition, identification of critical areas for maintaining landscape and process connectivity/permeability, and extension of the temporal context for spatial conservation decision making. The approach is testable for transferability to other locations and ecosystems such as sagebrush-steppe, which have parallel issues.
We described the climate space of fire regimes in northwestern North America (Whitman and others 2015), and we are refining an approach to identify fire refugia – areas that do not burn or burn with lower severity through multiple fire events. We continue our collaboration to test the function of refugia for biodiversity conservation under current and future climate and fire scenarios. We continue to seek funding to support development of products to inform decision-making in land/easement acquisition, identification of critical areas for maintaining landscape and process connectivity/permeability, and extension of the temporal context for spatial conservation decision making. The approach is testable for transferability to other locations and ecosystems such as sagebrush-steppe, which have parallel issues.
We described the climate space of fire regimes in northwestern North America (Whitman and others 2015), and we are refining an approach to identify fire refugia – areas that do not burn or burn with lower severity through multiple fire events. We continue our collaboration to test the function of refugia for biodiversity conservation under current and future climate and fire scenarios. We continue to seek funding to support development of products to inform decision-making in land/easement acquisition, identification of critical areas for maintaining landscape and process connectivity/permeability, and extension of the temporal context for spatial conservation decision making. The approach is testable for transferability to other locations and ecosystems such as sagebrush-steppe, which have parallel issues.