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Wildfire Severity, Recovery, and Grazing Management in the Dry-Mixed Grasslands of Southern Alberta and Saskatchewan

dc.contributor.advisorLamb, Eric
dc.contributor.committeeMemberLardner, Bart
dc.contributor.committeeMemberCarlyle, Cam
dc.contributor.committeeMemberPrager, Sean
dc.contributor.committeeMemberGuo, Xulin
dc.creatorGrover, Sera Anne
dc.creator.orcid0000-0001-5200-2129
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-23T18:48:07Z
dc.date.available2024-07-23T18:48:07Z
dc.date.copyright2024
dc.date.created2024-07
dc.date.issued2024-07-23
dc.date.submittedJuly 2024
dc.date.updated2024-07-23T18:48:07Z
dc.description.abstractIn the fall of 2017 two wildfires in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan burned approximately 28 000 hectares under extreme weather conditions. These fires completely burned over many ranches, and raise many questions, including how the fire severity and recovery are affected by topographic and soil gradients, and how biomass production and plant species diversity recover including the role of grazing management decisions in recovery. Fire severity in relation to slope, aspect, and available fuel was assessed utilizing the bare soil index (BSI) by calculating the difference between the amount of soil exposure from pre-fire to immediately after the fires. Recovery of biomass production in relation to fire severity, land capabilities, potential land productivity, and solar heat load was assessed utilizing the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to compare post-fire vegetative greenness to that of baseline pre-fire peak biomass greenness. Recovery of live biomass and species metrics with and without fire and grazing were assessed using a factorial randomized complete block design. I found that fire severity increased with increased slope and decreased vegetative greenness. Fire severity was highest in areas with slopes steeper than 15 and aspects that were within the 45 flanks of the dominate wind direction. Recovery of biomass was best in areas of moderate fire severity and solar heat load. The complete recovery of live biomass was noted by year three of the study and the complete recovery of litter was not noted by year five. Grazing has no significant effect on recovery of either biomass or species metrics.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10388/15863
dc.language.isoen
dc.subjectWildfire
dc.subjectgrazing
dc.subjectremote sensing
dc.subjectgrassland
dc.subjectprairie
dc.subjectfire
dc.subjectfire severity
dc.subjectbiomass
dc.subjectnative grassland
dc.subjectsentinel 2
dc.titleWildfire Severity, Recovery, and Grazing Management in the Dry-Mixed Grasslands of Southern Alberta and Saskatchewan
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialtext
thesis.degree.departmentPlant Sciences
thesis.degree.disciplinePlant Sciences
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Saskatchewan
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science (M.Sc.)

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