ABSTRACT
This chapter explains research on forest fuels characterization—particularly as influenced by the overstory—and on the role that fuel heterogeneity plays in the feedback mechanisms between fire behavior and fire effects in the longleaf pine ecosystems of the southeastern United States. It discusses model predictions of heterogeneity in fire behavior and fire effects that correspond to variations in wildland fuel cells. The chapter introduces an emerging concept in fire ecology that was developed in longleaf pine ecosystems: the "ecology of fuels". It reviews research on fuel and fuelbed characteristics including fuel accumulation rates, burning characteristics of various fuel types, and the effects of fuel moisture on fire behavior in longleaf pine ecosystems. The chapter describes new multiscaled methods of measuring fire behavior and fuel variation that were developed to overcome the limitations of traditional approaches. It shows how this emerging research can take advantage of next-generation fire-behavior prediction models to link interactions between fuel and fire behavior.
