ABSTRACT Fire has been well studied in the Appalachians but has not been well characterized within Piedmont xeric forests. Herein we describe a dendrochronological study at Pilot Mountain State Park, NC addressing the following: How frequently did this forest experience fire? Is fire occurrence correlated with drought conditions? How did fire activity change with the onset of suppression? How does the fire regime compare with xeric Appalachian forests and prior models of Piedmont fire frequency? Seventy samples documented 34 fires between 1849–2014. The first fire occurred in 1891 and the first two-scar fire occurred in 1904. The composite Mean Fire Interval and Weinbull Median Interval pre-suppression (pre-1930; 2.36 and 2.25 years, respectively) were almost half that of the suppression period (post-1930; 4.56 and 4.09 years, respectively). With suppression, the Decadal Fire Index and mean number of scars per fire declined significantly (p ≤ 0.05 and ≤ 0.001). The Pre-suppression Filtered Composite MFI (4.2 years) was lower than any reported for the Appalachians and agrees with previous model predictions. Fire activity was strongly correlated with drought 2 years prior, before suppression but not afterward. As documented here, fire scars on xeric forest pines may contain important records of the Piedmont’s fire history.

中文翻译：

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北卡罗来纳州飞行员山州立公园的火灾疤痕记录了皮埃蒙特中部的火灾

摘要 火在阿巴拉契亚山脉得到了很好的研究，但在山麓干旱森林中还没有得到很好的表征。在此，我们描述了在北卡罗来纳州皮尔特山州立公园进行的树木年代学研究，研究内容如下：这片森林发生火灾的频率如何？火灾发生与干旱条件有关吗？随着抑制的开始，火灾活动如何变化？与干旱的阿巴拉契亚森林和皮埃蒙特火灾频率的先前模型相比，火灾状况如何？70 个样本记录了 1849 年至 2014 年间发生的 34 次火灾。第一次火灾发生在 1891 年，第一次两道伤痕火灾发生在 1904 年。 复合平均火灾间隔和温布尔中值间隔预抑制（1930 年之前；分别为 2.36 和 2.25 年）几乎是抑制期的一半（ 1930 年后；分别为 4.56 和 4.09 年）。随着抑制，十年火灾指数和每次火灾的平均疤痕数量显着下降（p ≤ 0.05 和 ≤ 0.001）。预抑制过滤复合 MFI（4.2 年）低于阿巴拉契亚山脉的任何报告，并与之前的模型预测一致。火灾活动与 2 年前的干旱密切相关，在抑制之前，但在抑制之后则不然。正如这里所记录的，干旱森林松树上的火痕可能包含皮埃蒙特火灾历史的重要记录。