Heterogeneity in post-fire thermal responses across Pacific Northwest streams: A multi-site study
Over the past century, water temperatures in many streams across the Pacific Northwest (PNW) have steadily risen, shrinking endangered salmonid habitats. The warming of PNW stream reaches can be further accelerated by wildfires burning forest stands that provide shade to streams. However, previous r...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-05-01
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| Series: | Journal of Hydrology X |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589915524000038 |
| _version_ | 1797301373770924032 |
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| author | Mussie T. Beyene Scott G. Leibowitz |
| author_facet | Mussie T. Beyene Scott G. Leibowitz |
| author_sort | Mussie T. Beyene |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Over the past century, water temperatures in many streams across the Pacific Northwest (PNW) have steadily risen, shrinking endangered salmonid habitats. The warming of PNW stream reaches can be further accelerated by wildfires burning forest stands that provide shade to streams. However, previous research on the effect of wildfires on stream water temperatures has focused on individual streams or burn events, limiting our understanding of the diversity in post-fire thermal responses across PNW streams. To bridge this knowledge gap, we assessed the impact of wildfires on daily summer water temperatures across 31 PNW stream sites, where 10–100% of their riparian area burned. To ensure robustness of our results, we employed multiple approaches to characterize and quantify fire effects on post-fire stream water temperature changes.Averaged across the 31 burned sites, wildfires corresponded to a 0.3 – 1°C increase in daily summer water temperatures over the subsequent three years. Nonetheless, post-fire summer thermal responses displayed extensive heterogeneity across burned sites where the likelihood and rate of a post-fire summer water temperature warming was higher for stream sites with greater proportion of their riparian area burned under high severity. Also, watershed features such as basin area, post-fire weather, bedrock permeability, pre-fire riparian forest cover, and winter snowpack depth were identified as strong predictors of the post-fire summer water temperature responses across burned sites. Our study offers a multi-site perspective on the effect of wildfires on summer stream temperatures in the PNW, providing insights that can inform freshwater management efforts beyond individual streams and basins. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T23:21:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2c832635eb0c429e92dbc1b9ebbf7362 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2589-9155 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T23:21:37Z |
| publishDate | 2024-05-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Hydrology X |
| spelling | doaj.art-2c832635eb0c429e92dbc1b9ebbf73622024-02-21T05:29:34ZengElsevierJournal of Hydrology X2589-91552024-05-0123100173Heterogeneity in post-fire thermal responses across Pacific Northwest streams: A multi-site studyMussie T. Beyene0Scott G. Leibowitz1Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Post-doc, c/o US Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, OR, USA; Corresponding author.US Environmental Protection Agency, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Corvallis, OR, USAOver the past century, water temperatures in many streams across the Pacific Northwest (PNW) have steadily risen, shrinking endangered salmonid habitats. The warming of PNW stream reaches can be further accelerated by wildfires burning forest stands that provide shade to streams. However, previous research on the effect of wildfires on stream water temperatures has focused on individual streams or burn events, limiting our understanding of the diversity in post-fire thermal responses across PNW streams. To bridge this knowledge gap, we assessed the impact of wildfires on daily summer water temperatures across 31 PNW stream sites, where 10–100% of their riparian area burned. To ensure robustness of our results, we employed multiple approaches to characterize and quantify fire effects on post-fire stream water temperature changes.Averaged across the 31 burned sites, wildfires corresponded to a 0.3 – 1°C increase in daily summer water temperatures over the subsequent three years. Nonetheless, post-fire summer thermal responses displayed extensive heterogeneity across burned sites where the likelihood and rate of a post-fire summer water temperature warming was higher for stream sites with greater proportion of their riparian area burned under high severity. Also, watershed features such as basin area, post-fire weather, bedrock permeability, pre-fire riparian forest cover, and winter snowpack depth were identified as strong predictors of the post-fire summer water temperature responses across burned sites. Our study offers a multi-site perspective on the effect of wildfires on summer stream temperatures in the PNW, providing insights that can inform freshwater management efforts beyond individual streams and basins.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589915524000038WildfiresStream water temperaturesSpatial variabilityPacific NorthwestEnvironmental drivers |
| spellingShingle | Mussie T. Beyene Scott G. Leibowitz Heterogeneity in post-fire thermal responses across Pacific Northwest streams: A multi-site study Journal of Hydrology X Wildfires Stream water temperatures Spatial variability Pacific Northwest Environmental drivers |
| title | Heterogeneity in post-fire thermal responses across Pacific Northwest streams: A multi-site study |
| title_full | Heterogeneity in post-fire thermal responses across Pacific Northwest streams: A multi-site study |
| title_fullStr | Heterogeneity in post-fire thermal responses across Pacific Northwest streams: A multi-site study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Heterogeneity in post-fire thermal responses across Pacific Northwest streams: A multi-site study |
| title_short | Heterogeneity in post-fire thermal responses across Pacific Northwest streams: A multi-site study |
| title_sort | heterogeneity in post fire thermal responses across pacific northwest streams a multi site study |
| topic | Wildfires Stream water temperatures Spatial variability Pacific Northwest Environmental drivers |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589915524000038 |
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