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A survey of pyrogenic carbon in Kootenay National Park burned soils, and its positive effect on the establishment of pine-fungal ectomycorrhizal symbiosis
DownloadSpring 2020
Wildfire is a natural disturbance in Rocky Mountain forest landscapes. Fire plays an important role in maintaining stand structure, woody debris consumption, and soil nutrient cycling. Fire exclusion in these ecosystems has expanded forest cover, altered stand structures, and allowed...
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Fall 2016
Humans are the major cause of forest fires in the spring in Alberta, and have resulted in major property damage in both the Flat Top Complex fires in 2011 and the Fort McMurray fire in 2016. Fire occurrence prediction (FOP) models can help predict when and where fires can be expected in order to...
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Spring 2016
After decades of recent fire exclusion in southern Alberta, Canada, forests are progressively aging and landscape mosaics are departing from their historical conditions. A large-scale fire history study spanning three natural subregions: Subalpine, Montane and Upper Foothills, was undertaken to...
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Spring 2017
This thesis studied the efficacy of sprinklers for fuel hazard reduction to prevent wildfires. Fire management’s response capacity to suppress wildfires is increasingly becoming overwhelmed because of climate change and its effects on fire regimes. Sprinkler-watering can change fuel moisture...
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Increasing wildfire growth modelling decision support using ensemble weather forecasts over the province of Alberta, Canada
DownloadFall 2015
Across Alberta, wildfires ignite each fire season and a small number achieve a size greater than 100 hectares, which account for the vast majority of the area burned. These fires often require large suppression efforts that include wildfire growth simulation modelling in order to understand their...
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Spring 2014
Lightning is widely acknowledged as a major cause of wildland fires in Canada. On average, 250,000 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes occur in Alberta every year. Lightning-caused wildland fires in remote areas have considerably larger suppression costs and a much greater chance of escaping...
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Long Term Effects of Wildfire on Permafrost Stability and Carbon Cycling in Northern Peatlands
DownloadFall 2017
Changing fire dynamics and increasing global temperatures are causing changes to the fire regime and permafrost stability in the Arctic. Models have separately predicted the widespread thawing of permafrost and increasing magnitude and intensity of wildfires over the next century. However, while...
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Fall 2016
Although wildland fires are a beneficial ecosystem process, they can also cause destruction to human-built structures and infrastructure, as evidenced by disasters such as the Fort McMurray fire in 2016 and the Slave Lake fires in 2011. This type of destruction occurs in the “wildland-urban...
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Post-fire regeneration of endangered limber pine (Pinus flexilis) at the northern extent of its range
DownloadSpring 2019
Limber pine (Pinus flexilis), an ecologically important species of the montane and subalpine regions of western Canada and the United States, is endangered in Alberta. Limber pine is thought to regenerate following fire, due to its relationship with a bird, the Clark’s nutcracker (Nucifraga...
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Fall 2013
Boreal peatlands are widely considered as an important carbon sink. Peat moisture is important for controlling carbon sequestration and smouldering combustion. Retrieving surface moisture is of great interest for carbon budget modelling and fire management in peatlands. To monitor at a large...