Table 1 Papers in this Fire Ecology special issue and the main deficiencies they identify in measurement and process modeling capabilities and in model application to land management.

Kremens et al.

Fire metrology: current and future directions in physics-based measurements

Development of ground-based LiDAR fuel sampling techniques, application of airborne fire radiation mapping to a range of ecosystems, critical examination of satellite-based fire severity measurements.

Massman et al.

Advancing investigation and physical modeling of first-order fire effects on soils

Models for predicting soil-surface boundary conditions from smoldering and flaming combustion and the inclusion of pressure-driven advective flows as well as heating-related dynamic feedbacks in soil heating models.

Butler & Dickinson

Tree injury and mortality in fires — developing process-based models

The ability to predict the boundary conditions that drive soil and tree heating, greater knowledge of tree thermal and physical characteristics, a merging of statistical and process approaches for predicting tree mortality.

Kavanagh et al.

A way forward for fire-caused tree mortality prediction: modeling a physiological consequence of fire

High vapor pressure deficits in the plume may cause unappreciated impairment to trees’ water conducting systems which may cause either outright mortality or loss in productivity. A better understanding is needed of the physiological responses of trees to fire exposures and their role in both causing tree death directly and increasing tree vulnerability to other stressors (e.g., drought, insect attack).

Stephan et al.

First-order fire effects on herbs and shrubs: present knowledge and process modeling needs

The belowground distribution and responses of bud and seed populations to fire are poorly known. Predictions of subsurface mortality are uncertain because of a limited ability to predict soil surface boundary conditions that drive soil heating, a problem arising from both a poor knowledge of the spatial arrangement of fuels and inadequacies in flaming and smoldering combustion models.

Engstrom

First-order fire effects on animals: review and recommendations

Effects of fire on faunal habitats are generally seen to be more important than direct effects on individuals, though data are lacking. Species-Centered Environmental Analysis is presented as a means of defining key effects on habitats that can serve as targets for first-order fire effects modeling.

Reinhardt & Dickinson

First-order fire effects models for land management: overview and issues

Software systems under development for use by land managers are built on a foundation of predictive fire effects models that suffer from the weaknesses discussed in this special issue.