Much of our research is focused on understanding the dynamics of fire regimes at relatively broad scales and using this information in ecosystem management. We employ quantitative analyses of fire occurrence patterns, examining the relative importance of different mechanisms that drive fire activity on the landscape. Not surprisingly, different factors exert their influence at different scales of space and time. The challenge is to analyze these mechanisms, and, to the degree possible, quantify trade-offs in their importance.
A fire regime is a complex phenomenon, driven by a variety of biotic and abiotic factors. Fire is also one of the clearest examples of the linkage between “pattern and process” on the landscape. Over short timescales, fires generate spatial patterns of age classes and affect vegetation stand structures, all of which can feed back to alter the likelihood and behavior of future fires. Over very long timescales, fires affect patterns of species composition in ecosystems, which also feed back to influence the fire regime in question.
Although a comprehensive list of publications can be found below, the following sections describe a few of the key areas of research in the lab.
Spatial Analysis of Fire Patterns
A contested issue in fire research and management is often how modern human activities, especially recent fire suppression, have affected fire-prone ecosystems. In many forests that prehistorically experienced frequent surface fires, fire suppression has altered stand structure, resulting in the accumulation of fuels that can act as a “ladder” for fire to propagate into tree canopies. Large and intense crown fires in these ecosystems are therefore seen as relatively recent phenomena caused by human alterations to the natural fire regime. There is increasing interest, however, in what types of forested ecosystems would have consistently experienced frequent low-severity fires, as opposed to being mixed severity ecosystems (i.e., primarily surface fires, but with occasional higher severity patches or years) (e.g. Odion et al., 2004).
In many of California’s chaparral-dominated shrubland ecosystems, there are several reasons why one might argue that large crown fires were prehistorically natural (if infrequent) events. For one thing, shrubland fires are typically stand-replacing and of relatively high intensity. There are no “ladder fuels” to accumulate, as in many forested ecosystems. In addition, periods of extreme fire weather, such as the Santa Ana winds that impact parts of California, can drive fire through many age classes and vegetation types that might not otherwise readily burn. This trade-off between the influence of “fuels” (i.e., age and spatial patterns of vegetation) versus “weather” (i.e., episodes of extreme hot and dry winds) has been one of our most prominent areas of research (e.g., Moritz, 1997; Moritz, 2003; Moritz et al., 2004). Integrating these scientific findings into management and policy is an ongoing challenge (e.g., Keeley et al., 2004; Moritz, 2005). Mapping of Santa Ana wind patterns, as well as other forms of fire weather, is a new area of interest.
Fire and Plant Ecology
Plants display a variety of adaptations and responses to fire-related stimuli, such as heat, smoke, and chemicals/nutrients in char. In addition, long-term fire patterns appear to relate to disease patterns, such as those of the pathogen Phytophthora ramorum responsible for Sudden Oak Death (Moritz and Odion, 2005). We are therefore pursuing several research questions about fire-related byproducts and plant ecology/ecophysiology.
Fire Probability Mapping & Global Climate Change
A relatively new area of research for us has been in building statistical models to characterize controls on fire patterns – spatial fire probability models – for various applications. Uses include: 1) more accurately representing spatial fire risk (i.e., in contrast to hazard); 2) estimating “baseline” burning rates in different vegetation types and locations, which are needed for carbon accounting that includes fire as a stochastic process; and 3) projecting future fire probabilities under climate change scenarios. Several papers are making there way through the review process, and we will post them here they become available for distribution…
Global climate change is a key issue in fire research, although most seem to assume that a warmer planet means more fire. We know that cannot be the case, since there are different limiting factors in different places. For example, foliar moisture content in some evergreen shrubland ecosystems is an important control on fire probabilities, and this is strongly driven by spatial and temporal precipitation patterns (Dennison et al., 2008). Regardless, there are several “no regrets” steps that can and should be taken to reach a more sustainable coexistence with fire (Moritz and Stephens, 2008). As environments fluctuate, fire regimes appear to display some inherent natural ranges of variation, within which they operate as a functioning, complex system (Moritz et al., 2005). Although the mechanisms structuring fire-prone ecosystems are still actively being examined, common sense would dictate that there are limits to how much perturbation an ecosystem can accommodate, before it enters a new and fundamentally different state.
Publications
Adobe PDF files can be downloaded by clicking the *PDF* link. These documents are provided for use by individuals only and are not intended for widespread dispersal.
2018
Anderson, S.E., R.R. Bart, M.C. Kennedy, A.J. MacDonald, M.A. Moritz, A.J. Plantinga, C.L. Tague, and M. Wibbenmeyer. 2018. The dangers of disaster-driven responses to climate change. Nature Climate Change, p.1. PDF
Gibbons, P., A.M. Gill, N. Shore, M.A. Moritz, S. Dovers, and G.J. Cary. 2018. Options for reducing house-losses during wildfires without clearing trees and shrubs. Landscape and Urban Planning, 174, pp.10-17. PDF
2017
Batllori, E., M. De Cáceres, L. Brotons, D.D. Ackerly, M.A. Moritz, and F. Lloret. 2017. Cumulative effects of fire and drought in Mediterranean ecosystems. Ecosphere, 8(8). PDF
Batllori, E., M.A. Parisien, S.A. Parks, M.A. Moritz, and C. Miller. 2017. Potential relocation of climatic environments suggests high rates of climate displacement within the North American protection network. Global change biology, 23(8), pp.3219-3230. PDF
Crausbay, S.D., A.R. Ramirez, S.L. Carter, M.S. Cross, K.R. Hall, D.J. Bathke, J.L. Betancourt, S. Colt, A.E. Cravens, M.S. Dalton, and J.B. Dunham. 2017. Defining ecological drought for the twenty-first century. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 98(12), pp.2543-2550. PDF
Enquist, C.A., S.T. Jackson, G.M. Garfin, F.W. Davis, L.R. Gerber, J.A. Littell, J.L. Tank, A.J. Terando, T.U. Wall, B. Halpern, and J.K. Hiers. 2017. Foundations of translational ecology. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 15(10), pp.541-550. PDF
Hallett, L.M., T.L. Morelli, L.R. Gerber, M.A. Moritz, M.W. Schwartz, N.L. Stephenson, J.L. Tank, M.A. Williamson, and C.A. Woodhouse. 2017. Navigating translational ecology: creating opportunities for scientist participation. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 15(10), pp.578-586. PDF
Schoennagel, T., J.K. Balch, H. Brenkert-Smith, P.E. Dennison, B.J. Harvey, M.A. Krawchuk, N. Mietkiewicz, P. Morgan, M.A. Moritz, R. Rasker, and M.G. Turner. 2017. Adapt to more wildfire in western North American forests as climate changes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(18), pp.4582-4590. PDF
2016
Balch, J.K., R.C. Nagy, S. Archibald, D.M. Bowman, M.A. Moritz, C.I. Roos, A.C. Scott, and G.J. Williamson. 2016. Global combustion: the connection between fossil fuel and biomass burning emissions (1997–2010). Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 371(1696), p.20150177. PDF
Bart, R.R., C.L. Tague, and M.A. Moritz. 2016. Effect of tree-to-shrub type conversion in lower montane forests of the Sierra Nevada (USA) on streamflow. PloS one, 11(8), p.e0161805. PDF
Davis, F.W., L.C. Sweet, J.M. Serra‐Diaz, J. Franklin, I. McCullough, A. Flint, L. Flint, J.R. Dingman, H.M. Regan, A.D. Syphard, and L. Hannah. 2016. Shrinking windows of opportunity for oak seedling establishment in southern California mountains. Ecosphere, 7(11). PDF
Mann, M.L., E. Batllori, M.A. Moritz, E.K. Waller, P. Berck, A.L. Flint, L.E. Flint, and E. Dolfi. 2016. Incorporating anthropogenic influences into fire probability models: effects of human activity and climate change on fire activity in California. PLoS One, 11(4), p.e0153589. PDF
Smith, A.M., C.A. Kolden, T.B. Paveglio, M.A. Cochrane, D.M. Bowman, M.A. Moritz, A.D. Kliskey, L. Alessa, A.T. Hudak, C.M. Hoffman, and J.A. Lutz. 2016. The science of firescapes: achieving fire-resilient communities. Bioscience, 66(2), pp.130-146. PDF
2015
Batllori, E., D.D. Ackerly, and M.A. Moritz. 2015. A minimal model of fire-vegetation feedbacks and disturbance stochasticity generates alternative stable states in grassland-shrubland-woodland systemsEnvironmental Research Letters 10(3): 034018. PDF
Butsic, E., M. Kelly, and M.A. Moritz. 2015. Land use and wildfire: a review of local interactions and teleconnections Land 4: 140-156. PDF
Chornesky, E.A., D.D. Ackerly, P. Beier, F.W. Davis, L.E. Flint, J.J. Lawler, P.B. Moyle, M.A. Moritz, M. Scoonover, K. Byrd, P. Alvarez, N.E. Heller, E.R. Micheli, and S.B. Weiss. 2015. Adapting California’s ecosystems to a changing climate BioScience 65(3): 247-262. PDF
Forrestel, A.B., B.S. Ramage, T. Moody, M.A. Moritz, M. and S.L. Stephens. 2015. Disease, fuels, and potential fire behavior: impacts of sudden oak death in two coastal California forest types Forest Ecology and Management 348: 23-30. PDF
Hannah, L., L. Flint, A.D. Syphard, M.A. Moritz, L.B. Buckley, and I.M. McCullough. 2015. Place and process in conservation planning for climate change: a reply to Keppel and Wardell-Johnson. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 30(5): 234-235. PDF
Meng, R., P.E. Dennison, C. Huang, M.A. Moritz, and C.M. D’Antonio. 2015. Effects of fire severity and post-fire climate on short-term vegetation recovery of mixed-conifer and red fir forests in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California Remote Sensing of Environment 171: 311-325. PDF
Schwartz, M.W., N. Butt, C.R. Dolanc, A. Holguin, M.A. Moritz, M.P. North, H.D. Safford, N.L. Stephenson, J.H. Thorne, and P.J. van Mantgem. 2015. Increasing elevation of fire in the Sierra Nevada and implications for forest change Ecosphere 6(7): 121. PDF
Serra-Diaz, J.M., J. Franklin, L.C. Sweet, I.M. McCullough, A.D. Syphard, H.M. Regan, L.E. Flint, A.L. Flint, J.R. Dingman, M.A. Moritz, K. Redmond, L. Hannah, and F.W. Davis. 2015. Averaged 30 year climate change projections mask opportunities for species establishment Ecography 38: 001-002. PDF
2014
Batllori, E., C. Miller, M.-A. Parisien, S.A. Parks, and M.A. Moritz. 2014. Is US climatic diversity well represented within the existing federal protection network? Ecological Applications 24(8): 1898-1907. PDF
Dennison, P.E., S.C. Brewer, J.D. Arnold, and M.A. Moritz. 2014. Large wildfire trends in the western United States, 1984–2011. Geophysical Research Letters 41(8): 2928-2933. PDF
Hannah, L., L. Flint, A.D. Syphard, M.A. Moritz, L.B. Buckley, and I.M. McCullough. 2014. Fine-grain modeling of species’ response to climate change: holdouts, stepping-stones, and microrefugia. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 9(7): 390-397. PDF
Krawchuk, M.A.and M.A. Moritz. 2014. Burning issues: statistical analyses of global fire data to inform assessments of environmental change. Environmetrics 25(6): 472-481. PDF
Mann, M.L., P. Berck, M.A. Moritz, E. Batllori, J.G. Baldwin, C.K. Gately, and D.R. Cameron. 2014. Modeling residential development in California from 2000 to 2050: Integrating wildfire risk, wildland and agricultural encroachment. Land Use Policy 41: 438-452. PDF
Meng, R., P.E. Dennison, C.M. D’Antonio, and M.A. Moritz. 2014. Remote sensing analysis of vegetation recovery following short-interval fires in southern California shrublands PLoS ONE 9(2): e110637. PDF
Moritz, M.A., E. Batllori, R.A. Bradstock, A.M. Gill, J. Handmer, P.F. Hessburg, J. Leonard, S. McCaffrey, D.C. Odion, T. Schoennagel, and A.D. Syphard. 2014. Learning to coexist with wildfire. Nature 515(7525): 58-66. PDF
Odion, D.C., C.T. Hanson, A. Arsenault, W.L. Baker, D.A. DellaSala, R.L. Hutto, W. Klenner, M.A. Moritz and M.A. Williams. 2014. Examining historical and current mixed-severity fire regimes in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests of western North America. PLoS ONE 9(2): e87852. PDF
Parisien, M.-A., S.A. Parks, M.A. Krawchuk, J.M. Little, M.D. Flannigan, L.M. Gowman, and M.A. Moritz. 2014. An analysis of controls on fire activity in boreal Canada: comparing models built with different temporal resolutions. Ecological Applications 24: 1341-1356. PDF
Roos, C.I., D.M.J.S. Bowman, J.K. Balch, P. Artaxo, W.J. Bond, M. Cochrane, C.M. D’Antonio, R. DeFries, R., M. Mack, F.H. Johnston, M.A. Krawchuk, C.A. Kull, M.A. Moritz, S. Pyne, A.C. Scott, and T.W. Swetnam. 2014. Pyrogeography, historical ecology, and the human dimensions of fire regimes. Journal of Biogeography 41: 833–836. PDF
2013
Barros, A.M., J. Pereira, M.A. Moritz, and S.L. Stephens. 2013. Spatial characterization of wildfire orientation patterns in California. Forests 4: 197-217 PDF
Batllori, E., M.-A. Parisien, M.A. Krawchuk, and M.A. Moritz. 2013. Climate change-induced shifts in fire for Mediterranean ecosystems.Global Ecology and Biogeography 22: 1118-1129 PDF
Bell, T.L., S.L. Stephens, and M.A. Moritz. 2013. Short-term physiological effects of smoke on grapevine leaves. International Journal of Wildland Fire WF12140 PDF
Moritz, M.A., M.D. Hurteau, K.N. Suding, and C.M. D’Antonio. 2013. Bounded ranges of variation as a framework for future conservation and fire management. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1286: 92-107 PDF
2012
Gibbons P., L. van Bommel, A.M. Gill, G.J. Cary, D.A. Driscoll, R.A. Bradstock, E. Knight, M.A. Moritz, S.L. Stephens, and D. Lindenmayer. 2012.Land management practices associated with house loss in Wildfires. PLoS ONE 7: e29212. PDF
Krawchuk, M.A. and M.A. Moritz. 2012. Fire and Climate Change in California. California Energy Commission CEC-500-2012-026 PDF
Moritz, M.A., M.-A. Parisien, E. Batllori, M.A. Krawchuk, J. Van Dorn, D.J. Ganz, and K. Hayhoe. 2012. Climate change and disruptions to global fire activity. Ecosphere 3(6): 49 PDF
Parisien, M.-A., S. Snetsinger, J.A. Greenberg, C.R. Nelson, T. Schoennagel, S.Z. Dobrowski, and M.A. Moritz. 2012. Spatial variability in wildfire probability across the western United States. International Journal of Wildland Fire 21:313-327 PDF
Ramage, B.S., A.B. Forrestel, M.A. Moritz, and K.L. O’Hara. 2012. Sudden oak death disease progression across two forest types and spatial scales. Journal of Vegetation Science 23: 151-163 PDF
2011
Bowman, D.M.J.S., J. Balch, P. Artaxo, W.J. Bond, M.A. Cochrane, C.M. D’Antonio, R. DeFries, F.H. Johnston, J.E. Keeley, M.A. Krawchuk, C.A. Kull, M. Mack, M.A. Moritz, S. Pyne, C.I. Roos, A.C. Scott, N.S. Sodhi, and T.W. Swetnam. 2011. The human dimension of fire regimes on Earth. Journal of Biogeography 38: 2223-2236. PDF
Forrestel, A.B., M.A. Moritz, and S.L. Stephens. 2011. Landscape-scale vegetation change following fire in Point Reyes, California, USA. Fire Ecology 7: 114-128. PDF
Krawchuk, M.A. and M.A. Moritz. 2011. Constraints on global fire activity vary across a resource gradient. Ecology 92: 121-132. PDF
Moritz, M.A., P.F. Hessburg, and N.A. Povak. 2011. Native fire regimes and landscape resilience. In McKenzie, D., C. Miller, and D.A. Falk (Eds.) The Landscape Ecology of Fire. Springer Netherlands, pp 51-86. PDF
Parisien, M.-A., S.A. Parks, M.A. Krawchuk, M.D. Flannigan, L.M. Bowman, and M.A. Moritz. 2011. Scale-dependent controls on the area burned in the boreal forest of Canada, 1980-2005. Ecological Applications 21: 789-805. PDF
Parisien, M.-A., S.A. Parks, C. Miller, M.A. Krawchuk, M. Heathcott, and M.A. Moritz. 2011. Contributions of ignitions, fuels, and weather to the spatial patterns of burn probability of a boreal landscape. Ecosystems 14: 1141-1155. PDF
Peterson, S.H., M.A. Moritz, M.E. Morais, P.E. Dennison, and J.M. Carlson. 2011. Modelling long-term fire regimes of southern California shrublands. International Journal of Wildland Fire 20: 1-16. PDF
2010
Calder, W.J., G. Lifferth, M.A. Moritz, and S.B. St. Clair. 2010. Physiological effects of smoke exposure on deciduous and conifer tree species. International Journal of Forestry Research 2010:438930. PDF
Moritz, M.A., T.J. Moody, M.A. Krawchuk, M. Hughes, and A. Hall. 2010. Spatial variation in extreme winds predicts large wildfire locations in chaparral ecosystems.Geophysical Research Letters 37, L04801, doi:10.1029/2009GL041735. PDF
Odion, D.C., M.A. Moritz, and D.A. DellaSala. 2010. Alternative community states maintained by fire in the Klamath Mountains, USA. Journal of Ecology 98: 96-105. PDF
Ramage, B., A. Forrestel, M. Moritz, and K. O’Hara, K. 2010. Long Term Monitoring of the Ecological Impacts of Sudden Oak Death in Point Reyes National Seashore: 2007-2009. National Park Service Project Report. Point Reyes National Seashore: Point Reyes Station, CA. PDF
2009
Bowman, D.M.J.S., J.K. Balch, P. Artaxo, W.J. Bond, J.M. Carlson, M.A. Cochrane, C.M. D’Antonio, R.S. DeFries, J.C. Doyle, S.P. Harrison, F.H. Johnston, J.E. Keeley, M.A. Krawchuk, C.A. Kull, J.B.Marston, M.A. Moritz, I.C. Prentice, C.I. Roos, A.C. Scott, T.W. Swetnam, G.R. van der Werf, and S.J. Pyne. 2009. Fire in the Earth system. Science 324: 481-484. PDF
Dennison, P.E. and M.A. Moritz. 2009. Critical live fuel moisture in chaparral ecosystems: a threshold for fire activity and its relationship to antecedent precipitation. International Journal of Wildland Fire 18: 1021-1027. PDF
Krawchuk, M.A. and M.A. Moritz. 2009. Fire regimes of China: inference from statistical comparison with the United States.Global Ecology and Biogeography 18: 626-639. PDF
Keeley, J.E., H. Safford, C.J. Fotheringham, Franklin, J., and M.A. Moritz. 2009. The 2007 southern California Wildfires: lessons in complexity. Journal of Forestry 107: 287-296. PDF
Krawchuk, M.A., M.A. Moritz, M.-A. Parisien, J. Van Dorn, and K. Hayhoe. 2009. Global pyrogeography: the current and future distribution of wildfire. PLoS ONE 4(4): e5102. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005102. PDF
Moody, T.J., S.L. Stephens, and M.A. Moritz. 2009. Effects of fuels management on future wildfires in the Lake Tahoe Basin. In: Effects of Fuel Management in the Tahoe Basin: A Scientific Literature Review. Final Report, pp. 83-114. PDF
Moritz, M.A., T.J. Moody, L.J. Miles, M.M. Smith, and P. de Valpine. 2009. The fire frequency analysis branch of the pyrostatistics tree: sampling decisions and censoring in fire interval data. Environmental and Ecological Statistics 16: 271-289. PDF
Parisien, M.-A. and M.A. Moritz. 2009. Environmental controls on the distribution of wildfire at multiple spatial scales. Ecological Monographs 79: 127-154. PDF
Stephens, S.L., M.A. Adams, J. Handmer, F.R. Kearns, B. Leicester, J. Leonard, and M.A. Moritz. 2009. Urban-wildland fires: how California and other regions of the US can learn from Australia. Environmental Research Letters 4: 014010. PDF
2008
Clark, R.E., A.S. Hope, S. Tarantola, D. Gatelli, P.E. Dennison, and M.A. Moritz. 2008. Sensitivity analysis of a fire spread model in a chaparral landscape. Fire Ecology 4: 1-13. PDF
Cleve, C., M. Kelly, F. Kearns, and M. Moritz. 2008. Classification of the wildland–urban interface: A comparison of pixel- and object-based classifications using high-resolution aerial photography. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems 32: 317-326. PDF
Dennison, P.E., M.A. Moritz, and R.S. Taylor. 2008. Evaluating predictive models of critical live fuel moisture in the Santa Monica Mountains, California. International Journal of Wildland Fire 17: 18–27. PDF
Fried, J.S., J.K. Gilless, W.J. Riley, T.J. Moody, C. Simon de Blas, K. Hayhoe, M. Moritz, S. Stephens, and M. Torn. 2008. Predicting the effect of climate change on wildfire behavior and initial attack success. Climatic Change 87 (Suppl 1): S251-S264. PDF
Hessburg, P.F. and M.A. Moritz. 2008. Native fire regimes and landscape resilience. EGU General Assembly Geophysical Research Abstracts10: EGU2008-A-00190. PDF
Moritz, M. and M. Krawchuk. 2008. Global pyrogeography: Macro-scaled models of fire-climate relationships for understanding current and future conditions. EGU General Assembly Geophysical Research Abstracts 10: EGU2008-A-11511. PDF
Moritz, M.A. and S.L. Stephens. 2008. Fire and sustainability: considerations for California’s altered future climate. Climatic Change 87 (Suppl 1): S265-S271. PDF
Moritz, M., T. Moody, B. Ramage, and A. Forestel. 2008. Spatial Distribution and Impacts of Phytophthora ramourm and sudden oak death in Point Reyes National Seashore. National Park Service Project Report. Point Reyes National Seashore: Point Reyes Station, CA. PDF
Peterson, S.H., M.E. Morais, J.M. Carlson, P.E. Dennison, D.A. Roberts, M.A. Moritz, and D.R. Weise. 2008. Spatial Modeling of Fire in Shrublands Using HFire. Res. Pap. PSW-RP-259. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station: Albany, CA. PDF
2007
Dennison, P.E., T.J. Cova, and M.A. Moritz. 2007. WUIVAC: a wildland-urban interface evacuation trigger model applied in strategic wildfire scenarios. Natural Hazards 41: 181-199. PDF
Kearns, F.R., N.C. Goldstein, B. Pedersen, and M.A. Moritz. 2007. The fire information engine: a web-based toolkit for wildfire-related needs. Journal of Map & Geography Libraries 4: 1. PDF
2006
Moritz, M.A. and S.L. Stephens. 2006. Fire and sustainability: Considerations for California’s altered future climate. California Energy Commission, Public Interest Energy Research Program, California Climate Change Center. PDF
Fried, J.S., K. Gilless, W.J. Riley, T.J. Moody, C.S. de Blas, K. Hayhoe, M.A. Moritz, S.L. Stephens, and M. Torn. 2006. Predicting the effect of climate change on wildfire severity and outcomes in California: A preliminary analysis. California Energy Commission, Public Interest Energy Research Program, California Climate Change Center. PDF
2005
Moritz, M.A. 2005. Rethinking how we live with fire. In: R. Halsey, Fire, Chaparral, and Survival in Southern California, Sunbelt Publications. PDF
Moritz, M.A., M.E. Morais, L.A. Summerell, J.M. Carlson, and J. Doyle. 2005. Wildfires, complexity, and highly optimized tolerance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 102: 17912-17917. PDF
Cova, T.J., P.E. Dennison, T.H. Kim, and M.A. Moritz. 2005. Setting wildfire evacuation trigger points using fire spread modeling and GIS. Transactions in GIS 9: 603-617. PDF
Moritz, M.A. and D.C. Odion. 2005. Examining the relationship between fire history and sudden oak death patterns: A case study in Sonoma County. In Proceedings of 2nd Sudden Oak Death Science Symposium, Shea PJ, Haverty M, eds. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. PDF
Moritz, M.A. and D.C. Odion. 2005. Examining the strength and possible causes of the relationship between fire history and Sudden Oak Death. Oecologia 144: 106-114. PDF
2004
Keeley, J.E., C.J. Fotheringham, and M.A. Moritz. 2004. Lessons from the October 2003 wildfires in southern California. Journal of Forestry 102: 26-31. PDF
Odion, D.C., E.J. Frost, J.R. Strittholt, H. Jiang, D.A. Dellasala, and M.A. Moritz. 2004. Patterns of fire severity and forest conditions in the Western Klamath Mountains, California. Conservation Biology 18: 927-936. PDF
Moritz, M.A., J.E. Keeley, E.A. Johnson, and A.A. Schaffner. 2004. Testing a basic assumption of shrubland fire management: How important is fuel age? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2:67-72. PDF
1992 – 2003
Moritz, M.A. 2003. Spatio-temporal analysis of controls of shrubland fire regimes: Age dependency and fire hazard. Ecology 84:351-361. PDF
Swanson Hydrology & Geomorphology et al. 2002. Watershed Resources Management Plan: Planning Analysis and Recommendations Report. Prepared for City of Santa Cruz Water Department and The Watershed Resources Technical Advisory Task Force.
Davis, F.W. and M.A. Moritz. 2001. Mechanisms of disturbance. Pp. 153-160 in Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, S. Levin editor, Academic Press. PDF
Tyler, C., D. Odion, D. Meade, and M.A. Moritz. 2000. Factors affecting regeneration of Morro Manzanita (Arctostaphylos morroensis): Reproductive biology and response to prescribed burning. Report for the California Department of Fish and Game, Species Conservation and Recovery Program. PDF
Goldstein, N.C., J.T. Candau and M.A. Moritz. 2000. Burning Santa Barbara at both ends: A study of fire history and urban growth predictions. Proceedings of 4th International Conference on Integrating GIS and Environmental Modeling (GIS/EM4). Banff, Alberta, Canada, September 2-8, 2000.
Moritz, M.A. 1999. Controls on disturbance regime dynamics: Fire in Los Padres National Forest.Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California at Santa Barbara.
Romme, W.H., E.G. Everham, L.E. Frelich, M.A. Moritz, and R.E. Sparks. 1998. Are large, infrequent disturbances qualitatively different from small, frequent disturbances? Ecosystems 1:524-534. PDF
Stoms, D.M., M.I. Borchert, M.A. Moritz, and F.W. Davis. 1998. A systematic process for selecting representative research natural areas. Natural Areas Journal 18:338-349. PDF
Moritz, M.A. 1997. Analyzing extreme disturbance events: Fire in Los Padres National Forest. Ecological Applications 7:1252-1262. PDF
Moritz, M.A. and F.W. Davis. 1997. A method for examining patterns in mapped fire histories: Identification of homogeneous fire landscapes, in (refereed) Proceedings of Fire in California Ecosystems: Integrating Ecology, Prevention, and Management, San Diego, California; November 17-20, 1997.
Moritz, M.A., D.M. Stoms, M.I. Borchert, and F.W. Davis. 1997. A proposed protocol for identifying potential Research Natural Areas with Gap Analysis data, in Proceedings of the 17th Annual ESRI User Conference, San Diego, California; July 8-11, 1997.
Davis, F.W., J. Walsh, M.A. Moritz, and D.M. Stoms. 1996. A Digital Soils Layer for Los Padres National Forest. Final Report to National Forest Service. U.C. Santa Barbara.
Friedl, M.A., F.W. Davis, J. Michaelsen, and M.A. Moritz. 1995. Scaling and uncertainty in the relationship between the NDVI and land surface biophysical variables: an analysis using a scene simulation model and data from FIFE. Remote Sensing of Environment 54:233-246. PDF
Sham, C.H., J.W. Brawley, and M.A. Moritz. 1995. Quantifying septic nitrogen loadings to receiving waters: Waquoit Bay, Massachusetts.International Journal of Geographic Information Systems 9:463-473. PDF
Marcus, M.D., M. Allen-Godin, J.W. Brawley, V.P. Meiers, M.A. Moritz, E.F. Ettlinger, C.H. Sham, C.S. Creager, and J.P. Butcher. 1992. Technical Support for Wetlands Advanced Identification in California Coastal Watersheds: Santa Margarita River Project. Final Report to USEPA Region 9.
Moritz Fire Lab 