Thomas W Swetnam
Biographic Data
| ID | 299141 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Thomas W Swetnam |
| GIVEN NAMES | Thomas W |
| FAMILY NAME | Swetnam |
| SIGNATURE | SWETNAM T W |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Arizona |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7268-2184 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1983 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The influence of land-use activities and regional drought on historical fire regimes of Buryatia, Siberia
Every year, millions of hectares burn across Siberia, driven by a combination of warming temperatures, regional drought and human-caused ignitions. Dendrochronology provides a long-term context to evaluate recent trends in fire activity and interpret the relative influence of humans and climate drivers on fire regimes. We developed a 400 year record of fire-scarred trees from 17 sites in pine-dominated forests located southeast of Lake Baikal. Si…
Convergence of Evidence Supports a Chuska Mountains Origin for the Plaza Tree of Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon
The iconic Plaza Tree of Pueblo Bonito is widely believed to have been a majestic pine standing in the west courtyard of the monumental great house during the peak of the Chaco Phenomenon (AD 850-1140). The ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) log was discovered in 1924, and since then, it has been included in 'birth' and 'life' narratives of Pueblo Bonito, although these ideas have not been rigorously tested. We evaluate three potential growth origi…
Dendroecological Methods For Reconstructing High-Severity Fire In Pine-Oak Forests
Recent high-severity fires in pine-oak forests of the southwestern United States are creating shrubfields that may persist for decades to centuries. Shrubfields embedded in conifer forests that pre-date documentary records are potential evidence of older high-severity fire patches, and may therefore provide insights into the occurrence and extent of past high-severity fires and vegetation type conversion dynamics. In this paper we test whether de…
The human dimension of fire regimes on Earth
Humans and their ancestors are unique in being a fire-making species, but 'natural' (i.e. independent of humans) fires have an ancient, geological history on Earth. Natural fires have influenced biological evolution and global biogeochemical cycles, making fire integral to the functioning of some biomes. Globally, debate rages about the impact on ecosystems of prehistoric human-set fires, with views ranging from catastrophic to negligible. Unders…
A 1416-year reconstruction of annual, multidecadal, and centennial variability in area burned for ponderosa pine forests of the southern Colorado Plateau region, Southwest USA
Fire history reconstructions from fire scars in tree rings have been valuable for assessing fire regime changes and their climatic controls. It has been asserted, however, that these two- to four-century long records from the western USA are unrepresentative of longer periods of the Holocene and are of limited use for understanding current or future fire regimes. The Medieval Climate Anomaly (800–1300 ce) is often suggested as a better analog for…
Human Pyrogeography
Climate and fire have shaped global ecosystems for millennia. Today human influence on both of these components is causing changes to ecosystems at a scale and pace not previously seen. This article reviews trends in pyrogeography research, through the lens of interactions between fire, climate and society. We synthesize research on the occurrence and extent of wildland fire, the historic role of climate as a driver of fire regimes, the increasin…
A comparison and integration of tree-ring and alluvial records of fire history at the Missionary Ridge Fire, Durango, Colorado, USA
We used tree-ring and alluvial sediment methods to reconstruct past fire regimes for a mixed conifer forest within a 1 km 2 drainage basin which was severely burned by a wildfire near Durango, Colorado. Post-fire debris flow events incised the valley-filling alluvial sediments in the lower basin, and created exposures of fire-related of deposits of late-Holocene age. Tree-ring and alluvial sediment fire history records were created separately, an…
Fire in the Earth System
Burn, Baby, Burn Wildfires can have dramatic and devastating effects on landscapes and human structures and are important agents in environmental transformation. Their impacts on nonanthropocentric aspects of the environment, such as ecosystems, biodiversity, carbon reserves, and climate, are often overlooked. Bowman et al. (p. 481 ) review what is known and what is needed to develop a holistic understanding of the role of fire in the Earth syste…
Defining Old Growth for Fire-adapted Forests of the Western United States
Kaufmann, M. R., D. Binkley, P. Z. Fulé, M. Johnson, S. L. Stephens, and T. W. Swetnam. 2007. Defining old growth for fire-adapted forests of the western United States. Ecology and Society 12(2): 15. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-02169-120215
Warming and Earlier Spring Increase Western U.S. Forest Wildfire Activity
Western United States forest wildfire activity is widely thought to have increased in recent decades, yet neither the extent of recent changes nor the degree to which climate may be driving regional changes in wildfire has been systematically documented. Much of the public and scientific discussion of changes in western United States wildfire has focused instead on the effects of 19th- and 20th-century land-use history. We compiled a comprehensiv…
A Test of “Annual Resolution” in Stalagmites Using Tree Rings
So-called annual banding has been identified in a number of speleothems in which the number of bands approximates the time interval between successive U-series dates. The apparent annual resolution of speleothem records, however, remains largely untested. Here we statistically compare variations in band thickness from a late Holocene stalagmite in Carlsbad Cavern, Southern New Mexico, USA, with three independent tree-ring chronologies form the sa…
Century scale climate forcing of fire regimes in the American Southwest
Interannual time-scale associations between fire occurrence anddrought indices, the Southern Oscillation, and other synopticpatterns demonstrate that large-scale, long term atmospheric featuresare precursors to regional fire activity. However, our knowledge offire-climate relations over longer (century) timescales is fragmentary because of the rarity of comparable climate and fire time-series with sufficient resolution, length and regional extent…
Applied Historical Ecology
Applied historical ecology is the use of historical knowledge in the management of ecosystems. Historical perspectives increase our understanding of the dynamic nature of landscapes and provide a frame of reference for assessing modern patterns and processes. Historical records, however, are often too brief or fragmentary to be useful, or they are not obtainable for the process or structure of interest. Even where long historical time series can …
Comment on Dating Forest Disturbances
Century scale climate forcing of fire regimes in the American Southwest
Interannual time-scale associations between fire occurrence anddrought indices, the Southern Oscillation, and other synopticpatterns demonstrate that large-scale, long term atmospheric featuresare precursors to regional fire activity. However, our knowledge offire-climate relations over longer (century) timescales is fragmentary because of the rarity of comparable climate and fire time-series with sufficient resolution, length and regional extent…
A 1416-year reconstruction of annual, multidecadal, and centennial variability in area burned for ponderosa pine forests of the southern Colorado Plateau region, Southwest USA
Fire history reconstructions from fire scars in tree rings have been valuable for assessing fire regime changes and their climatic controls. It has been asserted, however, that these two- to four-century long records from the western USA are unrepresentative of longer periods of the Holocene and are of limited use for understanding current or future fire regimes. The Medieval Climate Anomaly (800–1300 ce) is often suggested as a better analog for…
Convergence of Evidence Supports a Chuska Mountains Origin for the Plaza Tree of Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon
The iconic Plaza Tree of Pueblo Bonito is widely believed to have been a majestic pine standing in the west courtyard of the monumental great house during the peak of the Chaco Phenomenon (AD 850-1140). The ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) log was discovered in 1924, and since then, it has been included in 'birth' and 'life' narratives of Pueblo Bonito, although these ideas have not been rigorously tested. We evaluate three potential growth origi…
Human Pyrogeography
Climate and fire have shaped global ecosystems for millennia. Today human influence on both of these components is causing changes to ecosystems at a scale and pace not previously seen. This article reviews trends in pyrogeography research, through the lens of interactions between fire, climate and society. We synthesize research on the occurrence and extent of wildland fire, the historic role of climate as a driver of fire regimes, the increasin…
Comment on Dating Forest Disturbances
Applied Historical Ecology
Applied historical ecology is the use of historical knowledge in the management of ecosystems. Historical perspectives increase our understanding of the dynamic nature of landscapes and provide a frame of reference for assessing modern patterns and processes. Historical records, however, are often too brief or fragmentary to be useful, or they are not obtainable for the process or structure of interest. Even where long historical time series can …
Century scale climate forcing of fire regimes in the American Southwest
Interannual time-scale associations between fire occurrence anddrought indices, the Southern Oscillation, and other synopticpatterns demonstrate that large-scale, long term atmospheric featuresare precursors to regional fire activity. However, our knowledge offire-climate relations over longer (century) timescales is fragmentary because of the rarity of comparable climate and fire time-series with sufficient resolution, length and regional extent…
A Test of “Annual Resolution” in Stalagmites Using Tree Rings
So-called annual banding has been identified in a number of speleothems in which the number of bands approximates the time interval between successive U-series dates. The apparent annual resolution of speleothem records, however, remains largely untested. Here we statistically compare variations in band thickness from a late Holocene stalagmite in Carlsbad Cavern, Southern New Mexico, USA, with three independent tree-ring chronologies form the sa…
Warming and Earlier Spring Increase Western U.S. Forest Wildfire Activity
Western United States forest wildfire activity is widely thought to have increased in recent decades, yet neither the extent of recent changes nor the degree to which climate may be driving regional changes in wildfire has been systematically documented. Much of the public and scientific discussion of changes in western United States wildfire has focused instead on the effects of 19th- and 20th-century land-use history. We compiled a comprehensiv…
Defining Old Growth for Fire-adapted Forests of the Western United States
Kaufmann, M. R., D. Binkley, P. Z. Fulé, M. Johnson, S. L. Stephens, and T. W. Swetnam. 2007. Defining old growth for fire-adapted forests of the western United States. Ecology and Society 12(2): 15. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-02169-120215
Fire in the Earth System
Burn, Baby, Burn Wildfires can have dramatic and devastating effects on landscapes and human structures and are important agents in environmental transformation. Their impacts on nonanthropocentric aspects of the environment, such as ecosystems, biodiversity, carbon reserves, and climate, are often overlooked. Bowman et al. (p. 481 ) review what is known and what is needed to develop a holistic understanding of the role of fire in the Earth syste…
A comparison and integration of tree-ring and alluvial records of fire history at the Missionary Ridge Fire, Durango, Colorado, USA
We used tree-ring and alluvial sediment methods to reconstruct past fire regimes for a mixed conifer forest within a 1 km 2 drainage basin which was severely burned by a wildfire near Durango, Colorado. Post-fire debris flow events incised the valley-filling alluvial sediments in the lower basin, and created exposures of fire-related of deposits of late-Holocene age. Tree-ring and alluvial sediment fire history records were created separately, an…
The human dimension of fire regimes on Earth
Humans and their ancestors are unique in being a fire-making species, but 'natural' (i.e. independent of humans) fires have an ancient, geological history on Earth. Natural fires have influenced biological evolution and global biogeochemical cycles, making fire integral to the functioning of some biomes. Globally, debate rages about the impact on ecosystems of prehistoric human-set fires, with views ranging from catastrophic to negligible. Unders…
A 1416-year reconstruction of annual, multidecadal, and centennial variability in area burned for ponderosa pine forests of the southern Colorado Plateau region, Southwest USA
Fire history reconstructions from fire scars in tree rings have been valuable for assessing fire regime changes and their climatic controls. It has been asserted, however, that these two- to four-century long records from the western USA are unrepresentative of longer periods of the Holocene and are of limited use for understanding current or future fire regimes. The Medieval Climate Anomaly (800–1300 ce) is often suggested as a better analog for…
Human Pyrogeography
Climate and fire have shaped global ecosystems for millennia. Today human influence on both of these components is causing changes to ecosystems at a scale and pace not previously seen. This article reviews trends in pyrogeography research, through the lens of interactions between fire, climate and society. We synthesize research on the occurrence and extent of wildland fire, the historic role of climate as a driver of fire regimes, the increasin…
Dendroecological Methods For Reconstructing High-Severity Fire In Pine-Oak Forests
Recent high-severity fires in pine-oak forests of the southwestern United States are creating shrubfields that may persist for decades to centuries. Shrubfields embedded in conifer forests that pre-date documentary records are potential evidence of older high-severity fire patches, and may therefore provide insights into the occurrence and extent of past high-severity fires and vegetation type conversion dynamics. In this paper we test whether de…
Convergence of Evidence Supports a Chuska Mountains Origin for the Plaza Tree of Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon
The iconic Plaza Tree of Pueblo Bonito is widely believed to have been a majestic pine standing in the west courtyard of the monumental great house during the peak of the Chaco Phenomenon (AD 850-1140). The ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) log was discovered in 1924, and since then, it has been included in 'birth' and 'life' narratives of Pueblo Bonito, although these ideas have not been rigorously tested. We evaluate three potential growth origi…
The influence of land-use activities and regional drought on historical fire regimes of Buryatia, Siberia
Every year, millions of hectares burn across Siberia, driven by a combination of warming temperatures, regional drought and human-caused ignitions. Dendrochronology provides a long-term context to evaluate recent trends in fire activity and interpret the relative influence of humans and climate drivers on fire regimes. We developed a 400 year record of fire-scarred trees from 17 sites in pine-dominated forests located southeast of Lake Baikal. Si…
Geography (13 works) · Fire effects on ecosystems (11 works) · Environmental Science (10 works) · Climate change (9 works) · Archaeology (7 works) · Ecosystem (7 works) · Tree-ring climate responses (7 works) · Dendrochronology (6 works) · Physical geography (6 works) · Biology (5 works)