How do invasive plants affect the spatial and temporal patterns of fuel structure and moisture, and influence fire regimes? -- invasive plants change the structure and moisture content of the…

How do invasive plants affect the spatial and temporal patterns of fuel structure and moisture, and influence fire regimes? -- invasive plants change the structure and moisture content of the understory fuel bed (i.e. flammability), and this is not adequately accounted for in wildland fire fuel models used by fire managers. Some invasive plants make previously nonflammable areas flammable, while others lower flammability, potentially inhibiting prescribed fire efforts. We propose to directly measure the fuel bed characteristics used in wildland fire fuel models from a list of species previously identified as species of concern by stakeholders. We will use these data to determine which currently used fuel model best characterizes each species, and create new models when current models are inadequate. These models will allow US to characterize how invasions would change the existing fuelscape, and use fire simulation modeling to characterize how they would change fire regimes.