Impact Of Wildfires Research Articles

Effects of wildfire ashes on aquatic invertebrates: First molecular approach on Chironomus riparius larvae

The wildfire magnification in recent years has raised increasing concern about their adverse impacts on the environment. Wildfires are recognized as an important source of diffuse pollution for the nearby aquatic systems being potentially toxic to aquatic life. Albeit previous studies with wildfire runoff/ashes observed effects in aquatic organisms, to date, different severity origins of ashes and their impact at the sub-organismal level on aquatic biota have not been assessed. In this work, the molecular response of Chironomus riparius exposed to wildfire with low (LS) and high (HS) severity ashes from burnt Pine plantations was evaluated by employing an array of 42 genes related to crucial metabolic pathways by Real time-PCR. IV instar larvae were exposed for 72 h to aqueous extract of ashes (12.5 %, 25 %, 50 %, 75 % and 100 %) prepared from LS and HS ashes. Mn, Zn, and Pb were the metals found at highest concentration in both ash extracts, for HS notable Cd, Mn and Cr presence. From the 42 genes studied only 4 were not altered (22 genes modulated their response by LS and 38 genes in the case of HS) showing the opposite response at 100% with downregulated by LS and upregulated by HS. The 12.5 %, 25 %, 100 % HS and 25 % LS were the main modulators, confirmed by the integrative biomarkers response (IBR). Remarkable genotoxicity was generated by ashes even activating the apoptosis response, and endocrine disruption observed could modify the development. Moreover, detoxification and stress response were strongly activated, limiting the organism's future response to external aggressions. The employment of this novelty approach with molecular tools act as early alarm signal preventing greater damages. Overall, wildfire ashes showed to be a significant environmental disruptor to C. riparius even at lower concentration and the short exposure time employed, emphasizing the strong impact of wildfires on aquatic systems.

Short-term effects of wildfire on soil arthropods in a semi-arid grassland on the Loess Plateau.

Fires lead to dramatic shifts in ecosystems and have a large impact on the biota. Soil organisms, especially soil fauna, are often used as indicators of environmental change. At present, minimal attention has been paid to using soil fauna as an indicator of environmental change after a fire. Here, a field survey of burnt herbaceous vegetation in semi-arid areas was conducted to determine the response of soil arthropods to fire and their short-term recovery after fire. Overall, the abundance and biomass of soil arthropods was more sensitive to fire than the number of groups. The number of soil arthropod groups, especially the dominant groups (mites and springtails), was not significantly affected by wildfires. At the unburned site, soil arthropod abundance showed significant seasonal shifts that may be related to the vegetation properties, temperature, and precipitation caused by seasonal changes. In contrast, soil arthropods at the burnt sites showed a delayed recovery and had only reached 56%-82%, 17%-54%, and 91%-190% of the biomass in the unburnt forest at the 3, 6, and 9 months after the burning event. Our findings of soil arthropod abundance changes in the present study suggest that fire-induced changes in soil and vegetation properties (e.g., AN, LT, and VC) were crucial factors for the changes in soil arthropod abundance in this semi-arid grassland. We conclude that fire disturbance reduces the seasonal sensitivity of soil arthropods by altering their habitat. This study furthers our understanding of wildfire impact recovery by documenting the short-term temporal dynamics of soil arthropods.

Notable impact of wildfires in the western United States on weather hazards in the central United States

Increased wildfire events constitute a significant threat to life and property in the United States. Wildfire impact on severe storms and weather hazards is another pathway that threatens society, and our understanding of which is very limited. Here, we use unique modeling developments to explore the effects of wildfires in the western US (mainly California and Oregon) on precipitation and hail in the central US. We find that the western US wildfires notably increase the occurrences of heavy precipitation rates by 38% and significant severe hail (≥2 in.) by 34% in the central United States. Both heat and aerosols from wildfires play an important role. By enhancing surface high pressure and increasing westerly and southwesterly winds, wildfires in the western United States produce (1) stronger moisture and aerosol transport to the central United States and (2) larger wind shear and storm-relative helicity in the central United States. Both the meteorological environment more conducive to severe convective storms and increased aerosols contribute to the enhancements of heavy precipitation rates and large hail. Moreover, the local wildfires in the central US also enhance the severity of storms, but their impact is notably smaller than the impact of remote wildfires in California and Oregon because of the lessened severity of the local wildfires. As wildfires are projected to be more frequent and severe in a warmer climate, the influence of wildfires on severe weather in downwind regions may become increasingly important.

Physiological impacts of wildfire exposure on four American black bears

A substantive wildfire season in Eastern Washington in July and August 2021 led to the admittance of four American black bears (Ursus americanus) to PAWS Wildlife Center for wildfire-related injuries. The animals each suffered burns of first to fourth degree classifications in addition to trauma related to smoke inhalation. In one case, the patient experienced either permanent or transient physiologic changes to the respiratory, cardiovascular, and nervous systems. The basis for anticipating and managing trauma in wildfire-affected wildlife in these cases was extrapolated from published literature in small animal veterinary medicine. The purpose of this article is to help correct the absence of formal literature regarding the physiological impact of wildfires on wildlife in a rehabilitative setting.

The Use of Magnetic Susceptibility as a Technique to Measure the Impact of Wildfires on Archaeological Heritage

Wildfires are one of the main threats of natural areas and often fires can affect protected or heritage areas and properties, in which the preservation requirements demand the use of non-destructive techniques (NDTs). The magnetic susceptibility is an NDT that provides information on the mineralogical composition of the materials but has never been applied to the evaluation of fires. Here, we combine laboratory with field analysis to test the applicability of the magnetic susceptibility for the assessment of the impacts of wildfires. The laboratory results showed an increase in the magnetic susceptibility with the temperature, more evident in the samples heated to 600 °C and above. The in situ measures revealed a spatial variation in the magnetic susceptibility, which was related to the behaviour of the fire in the area. The samples were later analysed with other magnetic destructive techniques that were used to confirm the mineralogical processes that occurred in the materials. The increase in the susceptibility values were due to the formation of iron oxides. The destructive analysis also showed the presence of minerals such as hematite and magnetite in the samples. Overall, the study allowed a first approach to test the magnetic susceptibility as a simple and fast way to measure the impacts of wildfires.

Assessing the impact of wildfires on property values in wildland-urban intermix and interface in Colorado: A hedonic approach.

In this article, we investigate the impact of wildfire on property values in wildland-urban intermix (WUIM) and wildland-urban interface (WUIF) in Colorado. We construct fire indices accounting for the nonlinear impact of wildfires, and evaluate the effects of different fire attributes-proximity, frequency, and scale-on property values in a hedonic price framework using housing transactions data and wildfire data in Colorado from 2000 to 2016. We find a substantial difference in the impact of wildfires on property values between WUIM and WUIF. Specifically, larger fires depreciate property values in WUIM, but increase property values in WUIF. In addition, we find that small fires lead to a negative impact on property values in both WUIM and WUIF, which is comparable with larger fires. Our findings provide policymakers novel information in making more efficient wildfire management plans.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in terrestrial and aquatic environments following wildfire: a review

Wildfires are a natural landscape disturbance in many climates and forest types, but the cumulative impact of human-caused climate change, historical fire management and suppression, and changing species diversity in forests has led to an increase in the size and (or) severity of wildfires in certain regions across the globe. There are a significant number of research studies on the effects of wildfire on human health, forest ecology, hydrology, and the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils. However, research on the impact of wildfire on watersheds including toxicity in aquatic organisms, water chemistry, and fluvial sediment quality is less extensive, focusing primarily on water quality indicators such as nutrients and sediment flux. Recent research has shown that wildfires contribute to the environment significant amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are compounds produced during the incomplete combustion of organic material, and are known to be toxic and mutagenic compounds. The primary objective of this paper is to review the recent literature that pertains to the contamination of surface waters and sediments and source apportionment of wildfire-derived PAHs to determine where research gaps remain. Additional objectives are to assess the use of molecular ratios to apportion PAH sources and, finally, to create a roadmap for future studies in designing and conducting research that seeks to determine sources of wildfire-derived PAHs in water and sediment.

Nearby wildfire impacts, social vulnerability, and birthweight in a rural population

BACKGROUND AND AIM Wildfires are increasing across the world and are associated with adverse impacts on vulnerable populations including pregnant people and young children. Wildfires may exert their harmful effects by elevating air pollutant exposure and may also fuel stress by disrupting daily activities and, if extreme, threatening or forcing evacuation. We aimed to estimate exposure disparities by social vulnerability and quantify the impact of nearby wildfires during pregnancy on birthweight. METHODS Our study population included 139,671 maternal-infant dyads from birth certificate records between 2008 and 2019 in Montana, USA. We classified pregnant people as "exposed” if they had an active, large (≥ 1000 acres) fire within 5 kilometers of their home detected by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors. We characterized the population by neighborhood social vulnerability index (SVI), rurality, and race and estimated associations between nearby fires and birthweight in linear regression analyses adjusted for gestational and maternal age, education, race, parity, prenatal visits, and SVI. RESULTS Exposure to at least one large wildfire within 5 km of home occurred for 0.5% (n=712) of births in Montana between 2008 and 2019. Mean neighborhood SVI as well as rates of both rural residence and American Indian/Alaska Native maternal race were all significantly greater in "exposed” pregnancies. . Having at least one large nearby fire during pregnancy was associated non-significantly with a 21 gram (95% CI: -52.2, 10.2) lower birthweight in adjusted analyses. CONCLUSIONS Social vulnerability appears greater in those experiencing nearby wildfires during pregnancy. Although wildfire exposure within 5 km of home does not appear to influence birthweight, future work should evaluate whether the effects of nearby fires are felt more strongly in socially vulnerable populations. KEYWORDS wildfire, birthweight, social vulnerability, rurality

Experimental assessment of tundra fire impact on element export and storage in permafrost peatlands

Extensive studies have been performed on wildfire impact on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the taiga biome, however consequences of wildfires in the tundra biome remain poorly understood. In such a biome, permafrost peatlands occupy a sizable territory in the Northern Hemisphere and present an extensive and highly vulnerable storage of organic carbon. Here we used an experimental approach to model the impact of ash produced from burning of main tundra organic constituents (i.e., moss, lichen and peat) on surrounding aquatic ecosystems. We studied the chemical composition of aqueous leachates produced during short-term (1 week) interaction of ash with distilled water and organic-rich lake water at 5 gsolid L−1 and 20 °C. The addition of ash enriched the fluid phase in major cations (i.e., Na, Ca, Mg), macro- (i.e., P, K, Si) and micronutrients (i.e., Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn, Mo). This enrichment occurred over <2 days of experiment. Among 3 studied substrates, moss ash released the largest amount of macro- and micro-components into the aqueous solution. To place the obtained results in the environmental context of a peatbog watershed, we assume a fire return interval of 56 years and that the entire 0–10 cm of upper peat is subjected to fire impact. These mass balance calculations demonstrated that maximal possible delivery of elements from ash after soil burning to the hydrological network is negligibly small (<1–2 %) compared to the annual riverine export flux and element storage in thermokarst lakes. As such, even a 5–10 fold increase in tundra wildfire frequency may not sizably modify nutrient and metal fluxes and pools in the surrounding aquatic ecosystems. This result requires revisiting the current paradigm on the importance of wildfire impact on permafrost peatlands and calls a need for experimental work on other ecosystem compartments (litter, shrubs, frozen peat) which are subjected to fire events.

A Literature Review on the Impact of Wildfires on Emergency Departments: Enhancing Disaster Preparedness - CORRIGENDUM.

A Literature Review on the Impact of Wildfires on Emergency Departments: Enhancing Disaster Preparedness - CORRIGENDUM.

As California burns: the psychology of wildfire- and wildfire smoke-related migration intentions.

Climate change impacts and rapid development in the wildland-urban interface are increasing population exposure and vulnerability to the harmful effects of wildfire and wildfire smoke. The direct and indirect effects of these hazards may impact future mobility decisions among populations at risk. To better understand how perceptions and personal experience inform wildfire- and smoke-associated migration intentions, we surveyed a representative sample of 1108 California residents following the 2020 wildfire season. We assessed the associations between threat appraisal, coping appraisal, personal experience, migration intentions, the impact of wildfire and smoke on migration intentions and place satisfaction, and the potential likelihood of future migration. Results indicate that roughly a third of our sample intended to move in the next 5 years, nearly a quarter of whom reported that wildfire and smoke impacted their migration decision at least a moderate amount. Prior negative outcomes (e.g., evacuating, losing property) were associated with intentions to migrate. Perceived susceptibility and prior negative outcomes were associated with a greater impact of wildfire and smoke on migration intentions. For those intending to remain in place, prior negative outcomes were associated with a greater impact of wildfire and smoke on place satisfaction, which was in turn associated with a greater reported likelihood of future migration. Our findings suggest that perceptions of and experiences with wildfire and smoke may impact individual mobility decisions. These insights may be leveraged to inform risk communications and outreach campaigns to encourage wildfire and smoke risk mitigation behaviors and to improve climate migration modeling.

Evolution of wildfires, burned areas, and affected species in Middle Atlas forests (Morocco) from 2000 to 2020

This study evaluated of the impact of wildfires, burned areas and affected species, for the first time, in Fez, Sefrou and Boulemane provinces located in the Middle Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Data collected from field surveys from 2000 to 2020 and GIS-based aggregation functions were used to produce spatial distribution maps and to show the evolution of wildfires and burned areas. Results show that wildfires were intense during summer periods, mainly in Sefrou and Boulemane where the rate of wildfires and burned areas were higher. Nine plant species were affected mostly, Pinus halepensis (43 wildfires) and Quercus rotundifolia (21 events). In Fez province, only two pre-urban forests were affected (51 wildfires), while in Boulemane (91 wildfires) and Sefrou (193 wildfires), the wildfires were severe and affected mountainous areas far from urban perimeters. Although this study demonstrated the impact of wildfires in the Middle Atlas, the biotic and abiotic factors might have a crucial role in this phenomenon and their impacts must be addressed carefully. This investigation offers new insight into the impact of wildfires in the forests of the Middle Atlas Mountains and provides valuable reference data to study other regions in the High Atlas and other plant species taking into account the threatened species.

Estimation of fire-induced CO plume age from NAST–I during the FIREX-AQ field campaign

Ultra-spectrally resolved infrared measurements from aircraft and space-based observations contain information about tropospheric carbon monoxide (CO) and ozone (O3), as well as other trace species. A methodology for retrieving these tropospheric trace species from such remotely sensed spectral data has been developed and validated for the National Airborne Sounder Testbed-Interferometer (NAST–I). The Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) field campaign was conducted during August 2019 to investigate the impact of wildfire and biomass smoke on air quality and weather in the continental United States. NAST–I CO and O3 measurements from the recent FIREX-AQ field campaign are presented and used to estimate wildfire plume age. Results show enhanced levels of CO in the evolving plume as it is transported away from the fire ground site, and its plume age is associated with the plume distance in both the vertical and horizontal directions from the wildfire location. These results are enabled by the moderate-vertical and high-horizontal resolution obtained from the NAST–I IR spectrometer onboard the NASA ER-2 aircraft. This study advances our knowledge of fire-induced plumes with their evolution and age characterized in three-dimensional space using information from NAST–I retrieved CO and O3 and relative changes in their concentrations.

Wildfire Impacts on Snowpack Phenology in a Changing Climate Within the Western U.S.

AbstractSnowpack in the western U.S. is critical for water supply and is threatened by wildfires, which are becoming larger and more common. Numerous studies have examined impacts of wildfire on snow water equivalent (SWE), but many of these studies are limited in the number of observation locations, and they have sometimes produced conflicting results. The objective of this study is to distinguish the net effects of wildfires on snowpack from those of climate. We consider 45 burned sites from the Snow Telemetry network. For each burned site, unburned control sites are identified from the same level III ecoregion. Impacts of climate changes on snowpack are analyzed by comparing pre‐fire and post‐fire snow water equivalent at the unburned sites. Combined climate and wildfire effects are considered by comparing pre‐fire and post‐fire SWE at the burned sites. Wildfire impacts are then isolated by taking the difference between the burned and unburned sites. The wildfire‐induced changes in SWE are also compared to several possible controlling variables including burn severity, leaf‐area index change, dominant pre‐fire tree genus, years since the fire, and site elevation. On average, wildfires have advanced melt‐out dates 9 days and maximum SWE dates 6 days and reduced annual maximum SWE by 10% across the sites considered. On average, the combined effects of climate and wildfire have advanced melt‐out and maximum SWE dates approximately 14 and 10 days, respectively, while decreasing annual maximum SWE by approximately 10%.

Early wildfire detection using machine learning model deployed in the fog/edge layers of IoT

&lt;span lang="EN-US"&gt;The impact of wildfires, even following the fire's extinguishment, continues to affect harmfully public health and prosperity. Wildfires are becoming increasingly frequent and severe, and make the world's biodiversity in a growing serious danger. The fires are responsible for negative economic consequences for individuals, corporations, and authorities. Researchers are developing new approaches for detecting and monitoring wildfires, that make use of advances in computer vision, machine learning, and remote sensing technologies. IoT sensors help to improve the efficiency of detecting active forest fires. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for predicting wildfires, based on machine learning. It uses a regression model that we train over NASA's fire information for resource management system (FIRMS) dataset to predict fire radiant power in megawatts. The analysis of the obtained simulation results (more than 99% in the R2 metric) shows that the ensemble learning model is an effective method for predicting wildfires using an IoT device equipped with several sensors that could potentially collect the same data as the FIRMS dataset, such as smart cameras or drones.&lt;/span&gt;

A Literature Review on the Impact of Wildfires on Emergency Departments: Enhancing Disaster Preparedness.

Global climate change (global warming) has been identified as the primary factor responsible for the observed increase in frequency and severity of wildfires (also known as bushfires in some countries) throughout the majority of the world's vegetated environments. This trend is predicted to continue, causing significant adverse health effects to nearby residential populations and placing a potential strain on local emergency departments (EDs). The aim of this literature review was to identify papers relating to wildfires and their impact on EDs, specifically patient presentation characteristics, resource utilization, and patient outcomes. This integrative literature review was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines for data collection, and Whittemore and Knafl's framework for data analysis. Data were collected from OvidSP, MEDLINE, DARE, CINAHL, PubMed, and Scopus databases. Various Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and keywords identified papers relevant to wildfires/bushfires and EDs. Literature regarding the relationship between ED presentations and wildfire events, however, is primarily limited to studies from the United States and Australia and indicates particulate matter (PM) is principally linked to adverse respiratory and cardiovascular outcomes. Observable trends in the literature principally included a significant increase in respiratory presentations, primarily with a lag of one to two days from the initial event. Respiratory and cardiovascular studies that stratified results by age indicated individuals under five, over 65, or those with pre-existing conditions formed the majority of ED presentations. Key learnings from this review included the need for effective and targeted community advisory programs/procedures, prior to and during wildfire events, as well as pre-event planning, development, and robust resilience strategies for EDs.

Linking fire-induced evapotranspiration shifts to streamflow magnitude and timing in the western United States

The impact of wildfire on water availability is a critical issue in the western United States. Because actual evapotranspiration (ETa) constitutes the largest loss in the terrestrial water budget, it has been suggested that fire-induced ETa reduction is a primary driver of elevated post-fire discharge. Ten gaged watersheds with burns exceeding 5% of their total contributing drainage area were selected from California, Oregon, Montana, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado. Continuous daily stream gage data were compiled, and 30-meter ETa estimates were calculated with the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model. Fire-induced ETa shifts were quantified with statistical tests that compared pre and post-fire monthly ETa in burned and unburned pixels; the dampening effect of scale was also evaluated by repeating tests on all pixels from the entire basin. As streamflow data are point measurements that aggregate a large spatial area, additional statistical methods were required to isolate the effect of fire from climate on baseflow and runoff. Key findings include a) significant fire-induced ETa reductions were only distinguishable in basin-scale monthly datasets when at least 73% of the basin burned, b) the effect of wildfire disturbance on streamflow magnitude was seasonably variable, c) streamflow was modified in basins with as little as 6% burned drainage area; however, shifts only persisted beyond the fifth post-fire year where more than three-quarters of the basin was fire-impacted, and d) surplus water from ETa reduction was sufficient to account for boosted fire-induced streamflow. Where fire-induced streamflow increases were not significantly correlated with ETa anomaly, other fire-impacted landscape processes may have contributed to modified runoff generation and routing. Where fire reduced ETa but streamflow shifts were not detected, compensatory ETa pathways may have consumed the excess water before it reached the gage. Findings suggest that water providers with small source-water collection areas have higher relative risk for fire-induced hydromodification than providers with larger or more diversified supply portfolios. Results also illustrate the tendency of overarching climate signals to mask or artificially boost the apparent effect of landscape disturbance on streamflow at the basin outlet.

Wildfire Impact on Indoor and Outdoor PAH Air Quality.

Air quality impacts from wildfires are poorly understood, particularly indoors. As frequencies increase, it is important to optimize methodologies to understand and reduce chemical exposures from wildfires. Public health recommendations use air quality estimates from outdoor stationary air monitors, discounting indoor air conditions, and do not consider chemicals in the vapor phase, known to elicit adverse effects. We investigated vapor-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in indoor and outdoor air before, during, and after wildfires using a community-engaged research approach. Paired passive air samplers were deployed at 15 locations across four states. Twelve unique PAHs were detected only in outdoor air during wildfires, highlighting a PAH exposure mixture for future study. Heavy-molecular-weight (HMW) outdoor PAH concentrations and average Air Quality Index (AQI) values were positively correlated (p < 0.001). Indoor PAH concentrations were higher in 77% of samples across all sampling events. Even during wildfires, 58% of sampled locations still had higher indoor PAH air concentrations. When AQI values exceeded 140 (unhealthy for sensitive groups), outdoor PAH concentrations became similar to or higher than indoors. Cancer and noncancer inhalation risk estimates from vapor-phase PAHs were higher indoors than outdoors, regardless of the wildfire impact. Consideration of indoor air quality and vapor-phase PAHs could inform public health recommendations regarding wildfires.

A global horizon scan of issues impacting marine and coastal biodiversity conservation.

The biodiversity of marine and coastal habitats is experiencing unprecedented change. While there are well-known drivers of these changes, such as overexploitation, climate change and pollution, there are also relatively unknown emerging issues that are poorly understood or recognized that have potentially positive or negative impacts on marine and coastal ecosystems. In this inaugural Marine and Coastal Horizon Scan, we brought together 30 scientists, policymakers and practitioners with transdisciplinary expertise in marine and coastal systems to identify new issues that are likely to have a significant impact on the functioning and conservation of marine and coastal biodiversity over the next 5-10 years. Based on a modified Delphi voting process, the final 15 issues presented were distilled from a list of 75 submitted by participants at the start of the process. These issues are grouped into three categories: ecosystem impacts, for example the impact of wildfires and the effect of poleward migration on equatorial biodiversity; resource exploitation, including an increase in the trade of fish swim bladders and increased exploitation of marine collagens; and new technologies, such as soft robotics and new biodegradable products. Our early identification of these issues and their potential impacts on marine and coastal biodiversity will support scientists, conservationists, resource managers and policymakers to address the challenges facing marine ecosystems.

Impact of simulated wildfire on disinfection byproduct formation potential

Impact of simulated wildfire on disinfection byproduct formation potential