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Fire in eastern ecosystems

Dale D. Wade·Brent L. Brock·Patrick H. Brose·James B. Grace·G. A. Hoch·William A. Patterson III
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Abstract

Prior to Euro-American settlement, fire was a ubiquitous force across most of the Eastern United States. Fire regimes spanned a time-scale from chronic to centuries. Fire severity varied from benign to extreme (fig. 1-2). Today, fire is still a major force on the landscape. In some ecosystems fire stabilizes succession at a particular sere, while in others, succession is set back to pioneer species. The wide range in fire regimes coupled with elevation and moisture gradients produce a myriad of plant communities that continually change over time in both stature and composition, although it is not uncommon for the major species to remain dominant. Discussion is primarily about major vegetation types, for example, oak-hickory. However, some minor types such as spruce-fir and Table Mountain pine are also covered. Vegetation types are discussed under the most representative fire regime type, recognizing that some vegetation types overlap two fire regime types (table 4-1).

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90° N90° S · 180° W ← longitude → 180° E
Source-reported bounding extent: 25.025884063244828° to 49.38237278700955° latitude; -97.1630859375° to -67.060546875° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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Dale D. Wade, Brent L. Brock, Patrick H. Brose, James B. Grace, G. A. Hoch, William A. Patterson III. 2000. Fire in eastern ecosystems. https://doi.org/10.2737/rmrs-gtr-42-v2

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