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pyroecophys

@profalistairsmith.bsky.social
1K followers 194 following 15 posts

Researches pyroecophysiology, fire ecology, remote sensing, social science, OneHealth, lidar, and anything else that interests me. Distinguished Professor and Chair - Earth and Spatial Sciences - College of Science - University of Idaho.

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pyroecophys @profalistairsmith.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Want to learn more about 🔥 🌲 ? Check out The Nature of Idaho podcast on: 🔥What is #pyroecophysiology? 🌲 Fire ecology of forests. ⚡ Fuel flammability. @uidaho.bsky.social @npr.org #WildfireScience #Extension #NASAFireSense #NSFEPSCoR 🎧 Listen to the full episode: www.kisu.org/podcast/the-...
kisu.org
The Nature Of Idaho: Fire Ecology
This episode of "The Nature of Idaho" features hosts Dr. Leif Tapanila from the Idaho Museum of Natural History and Peter Pruett from Zoo Idaho. Their guest is Dr. Alistair Smith, Chair of the Earth a...
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pyroecophys @profalistairsmith.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Delighted to share new research led by former undergraduate Gabriella Eldridge! @uidaho.bsky.social sky.social ⚡ Key Finding: Moderately high fire intensity led to 126% more resprouts in aspen than lower fire intensity. To Learn More: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
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pyroecophys @profalistairsmith.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Delighted to share new research arising from our #NSFEPSCoR Where We Live project (#2316126) @uidaho.bsky.social @uidaho-ess.bsky.social ⚡ Key Finding: Temporal mismatches between human perception recall periods and hard climate data are common. To Learn More: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
A systematic review of studies comparing environmental change perceptions and instrument-derived meteorological data - Regional Environmental Change
Numerous studies have compared public perceptions of climate and environmental change with instrument-derived meteorological records, yet methodological inconsistencies have limited clarity on the deg...
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pyroecophys @profalistairsmith.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Use fires to assess how fires affect trees. Perhaps obvious, but lots of studies assessing why fires kill trees, use heated water baths instead of fires on living plants - so we compared the two approaches. Unsurprisingly, they produce different results. connectsci.au/wf/article/d...
connectsci.au
Methods to assess fire-induced tree mortality: comparing heated water baths to experimental laboratory fires
We compare experimental laboratory fires and heated water baths to assess fire-impacts on plants. Our results highlight concerns with the heated water bath
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pyroecophys @profalistairsmith.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Proud father moment 😀 I am very excited to share my research group's newest paper - this study was jointly designed and carried out by my son, David Wilson (who was in high school at the time) and my doctoral student Alex. #fire #severity #pyro-ecophysiology doi.org/10.1071/WF25...
doi.org
Predicting immediate and delayed fire-induced mortality of Pinus monticola and Pseudotsuga menziesii saplings using a pyro-ecophysiology fire severity approach
This study assessed whether the inclusion of both active fire metrics and plant traits led to improved predictive models of immediate and delayed fire-indu
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pyroecophys @profalistairsmith.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Delighted to be a part of this groundbreaking new paper in BioScience led by Sam Gilvarg at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry with many others including Shirley Luckhart Martin Dovciak doi.org/10.1093/bios...
doi.org
Pyrohealth synchrony: integrating wildland fire into One Health to benefit plants, animals, ecosystems, and people
Abstract. One Health's interdisciplinary approach has been effective at the nexus of human and animal health but often overlooks environmental health, incl
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pyroecophys @profalistairsmith.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
Excited to share our newest synthesis paper where we review studies that have used real fires and 'fire-proxies' to better understand fire-induced tree mortality. We also highlight recent advances in pyroecophysiology. www.publish.csiro.au/WF/WF24136
publish.csiro.au
Methods to assess fire-induced tree mortality: review of fire behaviour proxy and real fire experiments
Background The increased interest in why and how trees die from fire has led to several syntheses of the potential mechanisms of fire-induced tree mortality. However, these generally neglect to consid...
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pyroecophys @profalistairsmith.bsky.social · 13/01/2024
Delighted to see yet another paper from my former doctoral student - Dr. Stephen Fillmore - we looked at decision factors relevant to the wildfire decision making in the USA since 2009: www.publish.csiro.au/WF/WF23129
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pyroecophys @profalistairsmith.bsky.social · 17/11/2023
Welcome Stefan Doerr @sdoerr.bsky.social 🌲🔥🌳🔥🔥🔥🌳🔥🌴
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Reposted by pyroecophys
Department of Earth and Spatial Sciences @uidaho-ess.bsky.social · 16/11/2023
A nice highlight of recent work by Professor Grant Harley and his team with colleagues from Indiana University. www.earthisland.org/journal/inde...
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pyroecophys @profalistairsmith.bsky.social · 05/09/2023
Welcome @dylanschwilk.bsky.social - I hope to continue helping you advance understanding of tree physiology one stressed tree at a time :) 🔥🌲🌳🌴🔥
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pyroecophys @profalistairsmith.bsky.social · 05/09/2023
Welcome treephysdj.bsky.social - I hope to continue helping you advance understanding of tree physiology one stressed tree at a time :) 🔥🌲🌳🌴🔥
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pyroecophys @profalistairsmith.bsky.social · 16/08/2023
In our newest Quantitative Fire Severity paper we also show how saplings in 5 different tree species respond to fires of varying intensities - in terms of % mortality and impacts on net photosynthesis at 4 weeks after the experimental fires doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpad051
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pyroecophys @profalistairsmith.bsky.social · 16/08/2023
In our newest Quantitative Fire Severity paper we show that the dNBR and dCSI spectral indices can be used to predict species mortality in saplings of two contrasting tree species - in fires over a range of intensities doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpad051
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pyroecophys @profalistairsmith.bsky.social · 09/08/2023
Delighted to be a CoPI on a new EPSCoR Track 2 NSF project to investigate how people in rural communities perceive the extent of climate change and how this perception affects their ability to adapt. www.uidaho.edu/news/news-articles/n…
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pyroecophys @profalistairsmith.bsky.social · 03/08/2023
Hey Everyone, my lab focuses on Quantitative Fire Severity. We do lab and #RxFire experiments focusing on how heat from fires impact trees and #PlantScience, #ecophysiology, fire-induced mortality, and when they live: long-term growth. We assess interactions of fire with stressors such as #drought.
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