The Klamath Bird Observatory

 

Fire History

Research Question-

How have patterns of bird distribution been influenced by fire, fire suppression and habitat management in the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion?

 

Fire suppression may decrease the frequency with which fires burn in low- and moderate-severity fire regimes. When fires become less frequent, fuels may accumulate, potentially altering patterns of fire severity. Such changes may alter the influence of fire on vegetation structure and bird abundance. Although there have been no studies that directly address how bird communities are affected by habitat changes from fire suppression in the Klamath-Siskiyou region, bird communities most vulnerable to fire-supression induced changes are likely those in low-severity, high-frequency fire regimes (e.g. mixed-conifer, oak woodlands, and chaparral) that are well represented in the Klamath-Siskiyou region. Because fire suppression may continue in the Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion, the long-term effects on bird communities should be evaluated.

We are assembling information on fire history to describe the extent and frequency of fire in the Klamath/Siskiyou ecoregion over the last 100 years. We will combine this information with more than 10,000 point counts (Figure 1, below) and use time since last fire and frequency of burns as explanatory variables to model bird abundance across the landscape.

 

 

PUBLICATIONS
Huff, M.H., N.E. Seavy, J.D. Alexander, and C.J. Ralph. In Press. Fire and birds in the maritime Pacific Northwest. Invited paper submitted to Studies in Avian Biology in April 2003. [ABSTRACT]

Alexander, J. D., C. J. Ralph, B. Hogoboom, N. E. Seavy, and S. Janes. 2004. Understanding effects of fire suppression, fuels treatment, and wildfire on bird communities in the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion. Pp. 42-66 in K. L. Mergenthaler, J. E. Williams, and E. S. Jules (Eds.), Proceedings of the Second Conference on Klamath-Siskiyou Ecology. Siskiyou Field Insititute, Cave Junction, Oregon. [ABSTRACT]

PRESENTATIONS AT MEETINGS AND WORKSHOPS

Alexander, J. D., C. J. Ralph, B. Hogoboom, J. Menke, and N. E. Seavy. Determining the ecological effects of fire suppression, fuels treatment, and wildfire through bird monitoring in the Klamath Ecoregion of Southern Oregon and Northern California. Cooper Ornithological Society, National Meeting, 2003.


Figure 1. Upper panel: Map of Klamath Demographic Network point count stations in northern California surveyed between 1992 and 2002. Lower panel: Map of historical fire records (in red) for the same region between 1910 and 1995. This information will enhance our understanding of how to use birds as ecological indicators of post-fire recovery.

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Klamath Bird Observatory
PO Box 758
Ashland, OR
97520
(541) 201-0866
kbo@KlamathBird.org