Theses and Dissertations Collection

Grasslands and other types of grass dominant ecosystems account for the majority of global fire events. Under climate change towards less humid and extended hot and dry periods, vulnerability of grass dominated ecosystems to a fire is projected to increase. Fire behavior is one of the key factors for understanding fire patterns and effects. This small-scale grass-fire experiment sought to explain how fire behavior properties of two bunchgrass species respond to increase in fuel density and composition. Although the results confirmed that higher fuel load and increased percentage of cheatgrass abundance leads to the increase in total mass consumption, the rate of consumption and flame length, the relation with the decrease in the burning time is less defined. The burning properties of Idaho fescue were less influenced by increase in cheatgrass presence. These results highlight that changing fire behavior due to the increase in cheatgrass abundance is species specific and that more research is needed to understand the dynamics of both cheatgrass and other invasive species on fire behavior in grass dominated ecosystems.