LUCAS B. HARRIS
Postdoctoral Scholar in Geography at the Pennsylvania State University
ABOUT
I am a biogeographer who studies vegetation dynamics in primarily fire-prone forests. Dry forests of the western US have experienced a rise in large, severe fires, but to understand patterns of fire severity and their effects on ecosystems requires an understanding of past land use and vegetation change as well as changing climate and water balance. My work combines fieldwork, remote sensing, geospatial datasets and statistical modeling to gain insight into vegetation change and fire severity at landscape to regional scales.
PROJECTS
WILDFIRE IMPACTS ON FORESTS AND FUELS IN THE SOUTHERN CASCADE RANGE
We are resurveying pre-existing vegetation and fuels plots which burned in the 2012 Reading Fire and conducting geospatial analyses to assess the effects of the fire on forest recovery and fire hazard in Lassen Volcanic National Park, California. In collaboration with federal researchers and resource managers, we are asking the following questions:
1) How do the legacy effects of a past fire influence lodgepole pine forest recovery after the next fire?
2) How did fuel treatments and fire management operations during the 2012 wildfire influence wildfire severity?
3) How did the wildfire affect surface fuels, and what are the implications for fire hazard and future vegetation change?
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DRIVERS OF FIRE SEVERITY IN THE KLAMATH MOUNTAINS
I have developed a regional-scale statistical model of fire severity for fires in the Klamath Mountains of California and Oregon, in collaboration with Alan Taylor at Penn State, Stacy Drury with the US Forest Service and others. We are using this model to examine novel weather influences on fire severity and in particular the effects of smoke cover and atmospheric inversions. In addition, we are using this model to develop predictive maps of potential fire severity in the region.
POTENTIAL FOR FIRE-DRIVEN RANGE SHIFTS AT A DRY FOREST ECOTONE
My dissertation research examined past and ongoing forest change on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, California. Within areas burned in 2002-2009, we examined patterns and drivers of post-fire tree regeneration and studied past forest change using historical aerial photography. We then assessed influences on fire severity and area burned across the eastern Sierra Nevada.
INFLUENCES ON FIRE SEVERITY AND CARBON STOCKS IN THE RIM FIRE
My master’s work with Alan Taylor at Penn State focused on characterizing influences on fire severity within California’s 2013 Rim Fire. We later broadened this analysis to demonstrate the importance of past fire severity across the entire fire, and quantified changes in carbon storage since 1899 in an old-growth forest burned by the Rim Fire. See press releases on our previous Rim Fire work here and here.
PUBLICATIONS
2021
Harris LB, Taylor AH. 2021. Spatial patterns of tree cover change at a dry forest margin are driven by initial conditions, water balance and wildfire. Landscape Ecology 36, 353-371. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01178-3.
2020
Harris LB, and Taylor, A.H. 2020. Rain-shadow forest margins resilient to low-severity fire and climate change but not high-severity fire. Ecosphere 11(9): e03258. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3258.
Taylor AH, Airey-Lauvaux C, Estes B, Harris LB, Skinner CN. 2020. Spatial patterns of 19th century fire severity persist after fire exclusion and a 21st century wildfire in a mixed conifer forest landscape, Southern Cascades, USA. Landscape Ecology 35(12): 2777-2790. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01118-1.
Harris LB, Drury, SA, Taylor AH. 2020. Strong legacy effects of prior burn severity on forest resilience to a high-severity fire. Ecosystems. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-020-00548-x.
2019
Harris, LB. AE Scholl, AB Young, BL Estes, and AH Taylor. 2019. Spatial and temporal dynamics of 20th century carbon storage and emissions after wildfire in an old-growth forest landscape. Forest Ecology and Management 449:117461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2019.117461
2017
Harris L, Taylor AH. 2017. Previous burns and topography limit and reinforce fire severity in a large wildfire. Ecosphere 8(11):1-21. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2019
2015
Harris L, Taylor AH. 2015. Topography, fuels, and fire exclusion drive fire severity of the Rim Fire in an old-growth mixed-conifer forest, Yosemite National Park, USA. Ecosystems 18:1192–208.
PRESENTATIONS
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Harris LB, Scholl AE, Young AB, Estes B, Taylor AH. 2019. Changes in 20th century carbon storage and emissions after wildfire in an old-growth forest, Yosemite National Park. Poster at the 2019 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.
Masrur A, Taylor AH, Harris LB, Petrov AN, Peuquet DJ. 2019 Fire history and climate drive wildfires in the Alaskan tundra. Poster at the 2019 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.
Harris LB, Taylor AH. 2019. Past forest change, post-fire tree regeneration and potential for fire-initiated forest loss at a dry forest ecotone. Presentation at the 2019 Fire Ecology and Management Congress.
Harris L, Taylor AH. 2019. Past forest change, patterns of post-fire tree regeneration and
potential for fire-initiated forest loss at a dry forest ecotone. Presentation at the 2019 American Association of Geographers annual meeting.
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Harris L, Taylor AH. 2018. Spatial variability in tree regeneration and fire-driven range shifts at a dry forest ecotone. Presentation at the 2018 US-International Association for Landscape Ecology Annual Meeting.
Harris L, Taylor AH. 2017. Previous burns and topography limit and reinforce fire severity in a large wildfire. Presentation at the 2017 American Association of Geographers annual meeting.
Harris L, Taylor AH. 2017. Spatial variability in tree regeneration and fire-driven range shifts at a dry forest ecotone. Presentation at the 2017 Fire Ecology and Management Congress.
Harris L, Beaty RM, Vandervlugt AM, Taylor AH. 2016. Competition and tree mortality from 1999-2010 in an old-growth forest, Lake Tahoe Basin, California. Presentation at the 2016 American Association of Geographers annual meeting.
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Taylor AH, Belmecheri S, Harris L. 2016. Fuel treatment effects on water use efficiency in western pine forests under fire suppression evaluated using tree ring carbon isotopes. Poster at the 2016 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.
Harris L, Taylor AH. 2015. Topography, fuels, and fire exclusion drive fire severity of the Rim Fire in an old-growth mixed-conifer forest, Yosemite National Park, USA. Presentation at the 2015 Fire Ecology and Management Congress.
le Roux, PC, Harris L, Luoto M. 2013. Identifying biotic interactions to model species distributions. Presentation at the 56th Symposium of the International Association for Vegetation Science.
Bruzzese D, Feinberg D, Harris L, Pfitsch W. 2012. Ecosystem and decomposer food web effects of garlic mustard in Hamilton College forests, Clinton, NY. Presentation at the Northeast Natural History Conference.
MY CV
CONTACT
Thanks for your interest! Please contact me at lucasbenharris@gmail.com.