气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): Small-scale water deficits after wildfires create long-lasting ecological impacts

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DOI	10.1088/1748-9326/ab79e4
	Small-scale water deficits after wildfires create long-lasting ecological impacts
	O'Connor R.C.; Germino M.J.; Barnard D.M.; Andrews C.M.; Bradford J.B.; Pilliod D.S.; Arkle R.S.; Shriver R.K.
发表日期	2020
ISSN	17489318
卷号	15 期号:4
英文摘要	Ecological droughts are deficits in soil-water availability that induce threshold-like ecosystem responses, such as causing altered or degraded plant-community conditions, which can be exceedingly difficult to reverse. However, 'ecological drought' can be difficult to define, let alone to quantify, especially at spatial and temporal scales relevant to land managers. This is despite a growing need to integrate drought-related factors into management decisions as climate changes result in precipitation instability in many semi-arid ecosystems. We asked whether success in restoration seedings of the foundational species big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) was related to estimated water deficit, using the SoilWat2 model and data from >600 plots located in previously burned areas in the western United States. Water deficit was characterized by: (1) the standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI), a coarse-scale drought index, and (2) the number of days with wet and warm conditions in the near-surface soil, where seeds and seedlings germinate and emerge (i.e. days with 0-5 cm deep soil water potential >-2.5 MPa and temperature above 0 °C). SPEI, a widely used drought index, was not predictive of whether sagebrush had reestablished. In contrast, wet-warm days elicited a critical drought threshold response, with successfully reestablished sites having experienced seven more wet-warm days than unsuccessful sites during the first March following summer wildfire and restoration. Thus, seemingly small-scale and short-term changes in water availability and temperature can contribute to major ecosystem shifts, as many of these sites remained shrubless two decades later. These findings help clarify the definition of ecological drought for a foundational species and its imperiled semi-arid ecosystem. Drought is well known to affect the occurrence of wildfires, but drought in the year(s) after fire can determine whether fire causes long-lasting, negative impacts on ecosystems. © Not subject to copyright in the USA. Contribution of U.S. Geological Survey.
英文关键词	Ecological drought; Fire; Sagebrush; Seeding; Water deficit
语种	英语
scopus关键词	Climate change; Drought; Fires; Plants (botany); Restoration; Soil moisture; Artemisia tridentata; Ecological impacts; Management decisions; Semi-arid ecosystems; Soil water availability; Spatial and temporal scale; Water availability; Western United States; Ecosystems; climate change; drought; ecological impact; grass; plant community; precipitation (climatology); seasonal variation; semiarid region; soil water; spatiotemporal analysis; wildfire; United States; Artemisia tridentata
来源期刊	Environmental Research Letters
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/154084
作者单位	U.S. Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Boise, ID, United States; USDA - Agricultural Research Service, Fort Collins, CO, United States; U.S. Geological Survey, Southwest Biological Science Center, Flagstaff, AZ, United States; Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	O'Connor R.C.,Germino M.J.,Barnard D.M.,et al. Small-scale water deficits after wildfires create long-lasting ecological impacts[J],2020,15(4).
APA	O'Connor R.C..,Germino M.J..,Barnard D.M..,Andrews C.M..,Bradford J.B..,...&Shriver R.K..(2020).Small-scale water deficits after wildfires create long-lasting ecological impacts.Environmental Research Letters,15(4).
MLA	O'Connor R.C.,et al."Small-scale water deficits after wildfires create long-lasting ecological impacts".Environmental Research Letters 15.4(2020).