Fire as it interacts with landscape ecology, restoration ecology, community ecology, invasive species, and wildlife. This includes fire regimes, fire behavior and fire effects.

Current Projects

Burn severity mapping using Landsat TM imagery, quantification of burn severity on the ground and through remote sensing, pattern analysis of burn severity and quantification of current fire regimes.

Fire Ecology focuses on the effects of fire on ecosystems including soils, watersheds, air, flora, fauna and humans. These effects range from the microsite to entire landscapes and the concept of fire regimes are critical. Fire Science focuses on fire behavior characteristics and modeling those characteristics. This includes an understanding of fire weather, fuels and the basic principles of fire spread and combustion.

An understanding of both fire ecology and fire science are critical in natural resource land management and in understanding how fuel treatments across the landscape will help with restoring or changing fire regimes and changing fire behavior. The issues that surround communities settled in fire-prone ecosystems extend past the wildland urban interface and require a basic understanding of the fire ecology and fire behavior of the ecosystems involved.

Education

B.S., University of California, Davis, 1996
Ph.D., University of California, Davis, 2005

Contact Information

Past Courses Taught