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Invasive grasses increase fire occurrence and frequency across US ecoregions.

Emily J Fusco¹, John T Finn², Jennifer K Balch^3,4

¹Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003; efusco@cns.umass.edu.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|November 6, 2019

Summary

Invasive grasses significantly increase fire occurrence and frequency across the United States, altering regional fire regimes. Managing these fire-promoting invasive species is crucial for ecosystem and wildfire management.

Keywords:

fire regime grass-fire cycle invasive grass nonnative plant

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Environmental Science
Conservation Biology

Background:

Invasive grasses increase fuel loads, altering fire regimes and creating ecosystem threats.
Existing evidence of altered fire regimes due to invasive grasses is often based on local studies.

Purpose of the Study:

To quantify the impact of 12 invasive grass species on fire occurrence, size, and frequency across 29 US ecoregions.
To determine if invasive grass presence predicts altered fire regimes at a regional scale.

Main Methods:

Combined agency and satellite fire data with records of invasive grass infestations.
Modeled fire occurrence, size, and frequency using grass invasion data alongside other relevant covariates.
Compared fire regimes in invaded habitats versus nearby uninvaded habitats.

Main Results:

Eight invasive grass species showed significantly higher fire occurrence rates; *Schismus barbatus* and *Pennisetum ciliare* more than tripled occurrence.
Six species exhibited significantly higher mean fire frequency; *Neyraudia reynaudiana* and *Pennisetum ciliare* more than doubled frequency.
Invasive grass presence was a significant predictor of fire occurrence and frequency, but not fire size.

Conclusions:

Invasive grasses demonstrably alter US fire regimes at regional scales.
Accounting for fire-promoting invasive grasses is essential for effective ecosystem and wildfire management.