PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #55: Fire Ecology. Presiding: M. Moritz.
Wednesday, August 8, 2001. 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Hall of Ideas H.
Fuel loads in tweleve southeastern Ohio mixed-oak stands.
Riccardi, Cynthia1, McCarthy, Brian1, 1
ABSTRACT- Forest fire behavior and intensity are largely related to fuel characteristics. Fuel characteristics include size, shape, loading, moisture content, and arrangement of living and dead plant material. Some studies (mostly western conifer forests) have yielded complex models to predict fire intensity incorporating numerous variables. However, fuel loads have been poorly studied in much of the eastern deciduous forest. Models for western forests are likely not appropriate to second-growth mixed-oak or oak-hickory hardwood forests common to central Appalachia. To elucidate fire fuel loads in the region, ground and surface fuels were measured from July through September 2000 along seventy-two 20 m transects in each of 12 forest stands in southeastern Ohio (N = 864). Ground fuels included the L, F, and H forest floor layers (litter and duff). Surface fuels included 1-, 10-, and 100-hr fine fuels and coarse woody debris (CWD), which was greater than 75mm in diameter that intersected the 20m sampling plane. The mean (±SE) litter and duff depths were 27.3 (0.42) and 26.4 (0.42) mm respectively. Fine wood and surface fuels contributed 0.719, 3.67, and 4.02 MT⋅ha-1. Sound and rotten CWD was 16.1 (0.27) and 17.8 (0.41) cm, respectively. Our data provide a detailed quantification of fuel loads that will ultimately contribute to the elucidation of fire behavior in the Central Hardwoods region.
KEY WORDS: CWD, Fuel, Appalachia