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Data release for tracking rates of post-fire conifer regeneration distinct from deciduous vegetation recovery across the western U.S.

Metadata Updated: July 6, 2024

Post-fire shifts in vegetation composition will have broad ecological impacts. However, information characterizing post-fire recovery patterns and their drivers are lacking over large spatial extents. In this analysis we used Landsat imagery collected when snow cover (SCS) was present, in combination with growing season (GS) imagery, to distinguish evergreen vegetation from deciduous vegetation. We sought to (1) characterize patterns in the rate of post-fire, dual season Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) across the region, (2) relate remotely sensed patterns to field-measured patterns of re-vegetation, and (3) identify seasonally-specific drivers of post-fire rates of NDVI recovery. Rates of post-fire NDVI recovery were calculated for both the GS and SCS for more than 12,500 burned points across the western United States. Points were partitioned into faster and slower rates of NDVI recovery using thresholds derived from field plot data (n=230) and their associated rates of NDVI recovery. We found plots with conifer saplings had significantly higher SCS NDVI recovery rates relative to plots without conifer saplings, while plots with ≥50% grass/forbs/shrubs cover had significantly higher GS NDVI recovery rates relative to plots with <50%. GS rates of NDVI recovery were best predicted by burn severity and anomalies in post-fire maximum temperature. SCS NDVI recovery rates were best explained by aridity and growing degree days. This study is the most extensive effort, to date, to track post-fire forest recovery across the western U.S. Isolating patterns and drivers of evergreen recovery from deciduous recovery will enable improved characterization of forest ecological condition across large spatial scales.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
@Id http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/9c0e3d70780eaee654a47924cfd98548
Identifier USGS:5e0ba605e4b0b207aa0f7ea2
Data Last Modified 20201013
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 7a4db481-d6bf-468f-a843-df1683926297
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -123.732,35.042,-103.174,48.96
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash e8f2e49e580ec94b3bace63ad8038596d26b70250f1ffc696f522bdcbb19030f
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -123.732, 35.042, -123.732, 48.96, -103.174, 48.96, -103.174, 35.042, -123.732, 35.042}

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