Time-lapse Electrical Resistivity Tomography Observation of Subsurface Forest Ecosystem Responses to Interacting Bark Beetle and Fire Disturbance

PreviousNext You have accessSymposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems 2021Time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography observation of subsurface forest ecosystem responses to interacting bark beetle and fire disturbanceAuthors: A.D. ParsekianM. BretfeldB.E. EwersJ. FrankA.D. ParsekianUniversity of Wyoming:Search for more papers by this author, M. BretfeldKennesaw State UniversitySearch for more papers by this author, B.E. EwersUniversity of Wyoming:Search for more papers by this author, and J. FrankU.S. Forest ServiceSearch for more papers by this authorhttps://doi.org/10.4133/sageep.33-096 SectionsAboutPDF/ePub ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail Abstract Understanding how disturbance effect forests of the intermountain west is important for ecology, hydrology, and planning human resource usage. In some cases, subsequent disturbances – for example, insect outbreak and fire – may impact the same forest area: the synergistic effects of such a disturbance sequence on carbon and water ecosystem fluxes and interactions with nutrient cycling and vegetation are not fully understood. The location of forest fires is not specifically predictable, and therefore there are relatively few observations of ecohydrological responses during the important first year following fire in areas previously affected by bark beetles. Forest fire is known to effect surface hydrology, such as through the creation of hydrophobic surface layers that influence runoff, however, less is known about the impacts to vadose zone water movement, deep flow, or storage. Furthermore, fire behavior is affected by tree mortality from previous bark beetle outbreaks. This study focuses on a lodgepole pine forest in southern Wyoming where a bark beetle outbreak caused the initial disturbance and was then followed by a 8,500 Ha forest fire disturbance in the summer of 2018, ~10 yr after the peak of the insect outbreak. In order to explore the changes to subsurface hydrology following these subsequent disturbances, we used a time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography transect crossing a gradient from low to high fire severity and spanning four seasons of data acquisition immediately following the fire. Biophysical and soil datasets were also acquired to produce a synoptic view of the surface and subsurface ecohydrological environment. Our results show contrasts across the burned-unburned gradient between vertical velocity of snowmelt water infiltration, heterogeneity of wetting and drying patterns, and total depth of change in storage. These results contribute to improved understanding of water partitioning after and will inform process-based models for prediction ecosystem fluxes in response to interactive disturbances. We anticipate our results to be a starting point for more widespread time-lapse geophysical monitoring of post-disturbance impacts to forest ecohydrology and for exploring controls on the sharpness of disturbance gradients. Keywords: time-lapse, tomography, hydrology, water, hydrologyPermalink: https://doi.org/10.4133/sageep.33-096FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems 2021ISSN (online):1554-8015Copyright: 2021 Pages: 349 publication data© 2021 Published in electronic format with permission by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and Environment and Engineering Geophysical SocietyPublisher:Environmental & Engineering Geophysical Society HistoryPublished: 11 Jun 2021 CITATION INFORMATION A.D. Parsekian, M. Bretfeld, B.E. Ewers, and J. Frank, (2021), "Time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography observation of subsurface forest ecosystem responses to interacting bark beetle and fire disturbance," Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems Proceedings : 186-186. https://doi.org/10.4133/sageep.33-096 Plain-Language Summary Keywordstime-lapsetomographyhydrologywaterhydrologyPDF DownloadLoading ...