Utility of an instantaneous moisture meter for duff moisture prediction in long-unburned longleaf pine forests

被引：0

作者：

Humboldt State University, Forestry and Wildland Resources, Arcata, CA, United States ^{[1
]}

不详 ^{[2
]}

不详 ^{[3
]}

机构：

[1] Engber, Eamon A.

[2] Varner, J. Morgan

[3] Dugaw, Christopher J.

[4] Quinn-Davidson, Lenya N.

[5] Hiers, J. Kevin

来源：

Engber, E.A. (eamon.engber@gmail.com) | 1600年 / Society of American Foresters卷 / 37期

关键词：

Duff fires have been implicated in overstory mortality and soil heating in long-unburned pine forests. In the South's punctuated climate; duff moisture can change rapidly; falling below moisture thresholds that protect trees or increasing after brief downpours. To date; managers lack an instantaneous measure of duff moisture; a hurdle to the implementation of prescribed burns. Here; we evaluate a low-cost tool; the Campbell Scientific Duff Moisture Meter (DMM) 600 (Campbell Scientific; Logan; UT); to estimate duff moisture content in the field. Comparisons of the DMM 600 outputs with paired oven-dried duff fuel samples revealed statistically significant differences; with DMM 600 moisture output explaining 54% of the variation in oven-dried moisture content. Comparisons with previously published data indicate that large variations in duff moisture calculations may predict a broad range of observed duff consumption and overstory tree mortality levels; limiting its applicability for some management objectives. DMM 600 outputs were only weakly correlated with Keetch-Byram drought index (R2 = 0.30). In addition; we encountered some operational difficulties in prolonged field use. In spite of a few shortcomings; the DMM 600 provides a low-cost tool to assist in prescribed fires where deep forest floor fuels exist. Copyright © 2013 by the Society of American Foresters;

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摘要：

Journal article (JA)

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