Romme et. al., (2011) Twenty Years after the 1988 Yellowstone Fires: Lessons about Disturbance and Ecosystems. Ecosystems 14: 1196-1215

The Impact of Fires on Ecosystems over Decades

Abstract

This paper is intended to review “Twenty Years After the 1988 Yellowstone Fires”, which is a comprehensive review paper that compare predictions of ecosystem impacts of 1988 Yellowstone fires to tangible effects examined up to 20 years afterward. It takes account of discussion of the development of the understanding of discipline of landscape processes over those 20 years.

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Background4

Research approach6

Results interpretation6

Conclusions6

The Impact of Fires on Ecosystems over Decades

Introduction

In the western USA, the 1988 Yellowstone fires were among the first, during the past 20 years, in what has demonstrated to be a surge in intensely terrible fires. Little was known, at the time of the fires, regarding the affects of such a large serious disruption as scientists had had not many preceding opportunities to analyze such an incident. Short and long-term impacts of the 1988 fires were predicted by ecologists on biogeochemistry, wildlife, vegetation, primary productivity, and aquatic ecosystems anchored in scientific knowledge of that time. These early predictions are allowed by twenty-plus years of subsequent study to be assessed. The majority of the initial predictions were at least supported to some extent, but some of them were proven false, others nuanced, while some post fire processes were totally unpredicted.

The studies carried out after the incidence of 1988 Yellowstone incidence accelerated advancements in ecology with an emphasis on the significance of spatial and temporal heterogeneousness, effects of contingent, and several interacting drivers. Post-1988 Yellowstone research has also modified public views of fire as an ecologic phenomenon and approaches towards fire management. Looking ahead to probable climatic change and more frequently occurred large fires, a foundation is provided by the well documented ecological outcomes to the 1988 Yellowstone fires for finding and assessing possible changes in fire regimes of temperate mountainous regions.

Background

A major constituent of ecological systems is disturbance, impacting aquatic, terrestrial, and marine ecology over an extensive range of scales. The state and course of an ecosystem is altered by disturbances that can largely influence ecosystem dynamics into the future. It is progressively more imperative for ecologists to assess present discernment of disturbance and synthesize what has been studied from long-term examinations of severe occurrences, as the disturbance regimes are varying globally. Keeping this view of disturbance in mind, Romme et. al. (2011), ...