Twenty Years After the 1988 Yellowstone Fires: Lessons About Disturbance and Ecosystems |
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Authors: | William H Romme Mark S Boyce Robert Gresswell Evelyn H Merrill G Wayne Minshall Cathy Whitlock Monica G Turner |
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Institution: | (1) Warner College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA;(2) Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, T6G 2E9, Canada;(3) US Geological Survey, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, Bozeman, Montana 59715, USA;(4) Stream Ecology Center, Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho 83209, USA;(5) Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA;(6) Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA |
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Abstract: | The 1988 Yellowstone fires were among the first in what has proven to be an upsurge in large severe fires in the western USA
during the past 20 years. At the time of the fires, little was known about the impacts of such a large severe disturbance
because scientists had had few previous opportunities to study such an event. Ecologists predicted short- and long-term effects
of the 1988 fires on vegetation, biogeochemistry, primary productivity, wildlife, and aquatic ecosystems based on scientific
understanding of the time. Twenty-plus years of subsequent study allow these early predictions to be evaluated. Most of the
original predictions were at least partially supported, but some predictions were refuted, others nuanced, and a few postfire
phenomena were entirely unexpected. Post-1988 Yellowstone studies catalyzed advances in ecology focused on the importance
of spatial and temporal heterogeneity, contingent influences, and multiple interacting drivers. Post-1988 research in Yellowstone
also has changed public perceptions of fire as an ecological process and attitudes towards fire management. Looking ahead
to projected climate change and more frequent large fires, the well-documented ecological responses to the 1988 Yellowstone
fires provide a foundation for detecting and evaluating potential changes in fire regimes of temperate mountainous regions. |
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