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Estimating the vulnerability of Everglades peat to combustion

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Date Issued:
2012
Summary:
Fire occurrences in the Everglades have increased since hydrologic alterations began, yet the vulnerability of Everglades peat to combustion during wildfires has yet to be determined. Natural fire regimes help maintain ecosystem functions and services and disruptions of natural disturbance regimes can have detrimental impacts, jeopardizing ecosystem health. Severe peat combustion can destroy native vegetation, alter microtopography, and release large amounts of stored carbon into the atmosphere. To create a better understanding of the mechanistic controls on Everglades ground fires, the soil's physical properties within several sites of Water Conservation Area 3 and how changes in water table affect these physical characteristics were determined. Areas disturbed by hydrologic alterations contain higher mineral content and therefore require lower water content to combust when compared to preserved regions. Changes in water tables have a significant effect on soil moisture and lower water tables drastically increase the vulnerability of a region.
Title: Estimating the vulnerability of Everglades peat to combustion.
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Name(s): Johnson, James.
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Center for Environmental Studies
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Issued: 2012
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
Extent: x, 84 p. : ill. (some col.)
Language(s): English
Summary: Fire occurrences in the Everglades have increased since hydrologic alterations began, yet the vulnerability of Everglades peat to combustion during wildfires has yet to be determined. Natural fire regimes help maintain ecosystem functions and services and disruptions of natural disturbance regimes can have detrimental impacts, jeopardizing ecosystem health. Severe peat combustion can destroy native vegetation, alter microtopography, and release large amounts of stored carbon into the atmosphere. To create a better understanding of the mechanistic controls on Everglades ground fires, the soil's physical properties within several sites of Water Conservation Area 3 and how changes in water table affect these physical characteristics were determined. Areas disturbed by hydrologic alterations contain higher mineral content and therefore require lower water content to combust when compared to preserved regions. Changes in water tables have a significant effect on soil moisture and lower water tables drastically increase the vulnerability of a region.
Identifier: 830002863 (oclc), 3358594 (digitool), FADT3358594 (IID), fau:4027 (fedora)
Note(s): by James Johnson.
Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012.
Includes bibliography.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
System requirements: Adobe Reader.
Subject(s): Ecological engineering
Conservation of natural resources
Fire ecology -- Florida -- Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park (Fla.) -- Ecology
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358594
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU