Ecologist Mauro Ramos works with NAU to cut samples from fallen trees to determine how wildfires are affecting forests in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Adding Fulé to the fire

Unlike most people who spend their work day putting out fires, Northern Arizona University's Pete Fulé seeks them out.

Fulé, an associate professor in forestry and an associate director of the Ecological Restoration Institute, recently was awarded a $703,000 grant from National Science Foundation to support studies of "Interaction of Fire, Climate, and Forest Structure in Northern Mexico."

"By understanding the relationship between fire and climate, we may be better able to predict changes in Mexico and the U.S. and better prepare to deal with severe wildfires," he said.

Fulé will lead a team of students and scientists researching the long-term effects of fire occurrence and how fire affects climate events such as El Nino/La Nina weather cycles.

"Forest fires are powerful agents of ecological change," Fulé said. "We will measure the forest structure, such as the numbers and species of trees, to determine the hazards of severe wildfires and how forests grow and regenerate."

The funding covers a four-year period and will support two graduate students and several undergraduate students conducting research using fire-scarred trees from the past 300 plus years. Fire occurrence will be compared with climate patterns assessed with tree-ring and instrumental data.

"The findings will increase our understanding of the fuel and climate factors regulating fire and how fire patterns might change in the future," he said. "They will have immediate relevance for conservation strategies in the biologically diverse forests of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States."

Fulé added that the collected data will be interpreted and transferred to decision makers such as landowners, managers and conservation organizations.

Other collaborators include Peter Brown from the Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research facility in Fort Collins, Colo., Don Falk from the University of Arizona and two scientists in Mexico, Eladio Cornejo-Oviedo and José Villanueva-Díaz.

In 2005, Fulé received NAU's Teaching Scholar Award and was awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct field studies of fire ecology in Spain.

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