Fire Effects Monitoring of the 1992 Rainbow Fire, Devils Postpile National Monument: Vegetation Response 10 Years Post-Fire.
Caprio AC and Webster K. 2006. Fire Effects Monitoring of the 1992 Rainbow Fire, Devils Postpile National Monument: Vegetation Response 10 Years Post-Fire.. Devils Postpile National Monument, California
Prior to the mid-1800’s, fire ignited by lightning, Native Americans, and on rare occasions volcanic eruptions, had an integral role in shaping the Sierra Nevada ecosystem. The attributes of an areas fire regime (such as frequency, intensity, severity, size) significantly affect plant communities by selecting for species-specific fire adaptive traits, influencing plant dominance, diversity, and mosaic patterns (i.e. spotty fire spread leading to patchy plant distribution). Fire occurrence patterns and fire severity varied among plant communities and often from drainage to drainage within the same type of vegetation resulting in a complex local mosaic (Bond and Wilgen 1996; Kilgore and Taylor 1979; Skinner and Chang 1996). Prior to EuroAmerican settlement, fires were of predominantly low- and moderate-severity and resulted in patchy tree regeneration (Kilgore 1971, 1973), although uncommon high-severity fires have been documented (Caprio et al. 1994).
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Caprio, A.; Webster, K
- Date of Issue
- 2006
- Units
- DEPO
- Keywords
- Devils Postpile National Monument, FIRE, Fire Effects, Rainbow Fire, Vegetation, vegetative response