New publication looks at how tree mortality caused by Bark Beetle outbreaks can increase or decrease wildfire hazards by altering surface fuel loading and decreasing leaf moisture. The RHESSys-WMfire model was coupled with a beetle effects model (RHESSys-WMFire-Beetle) to simulate interactions among hydrology, vegetation, beetle effects, and fire.
Ren, J., Hanan, E.J., Hicke, J.A., Kolden, C.A., Abatzoglou, J.T., Tague, C.L., Bart, R.R., Kennedy, M.C., Liu, M., Adam, J.C. (2023). Bark beetle effects on fire regimes depend on underlying fuel modifications in semiarid systems, Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems 15(1), e2022MS003073. doi: 10.1029/2022MS003073
The Tague Team Lab 