5.1. Areas for further development
There are many facets of ®re behavior and its
relation to stand structure that require further research.
Exploration of the following questions would most
directly bene®t future iterations of the ®re-risk module
that we have described in this paper.
1. How do ®res behave in multi-layered stands? Are
shorter ¯ame lengths required to initiate a crown
®re due to the laddering effect of the vegetation?
2. How do flame lengths alter when they reach the
stand edge and how does this relate to the movement
of fire between stands?
3. How much of a stand must be adjacent to a focus
stand to pose a significant fire risk to the adjacent
stand (1, 10, 100 m)? And at what scale should this
be measured (i.e. edge to total area ratio, edge
alone)?
4. How do mixtures of species affect measures of
crown bulk density?
5. At what height do understory trees begin to play an
important role in calculating crown bulk density for
the model?
6. How should the base of the live crown be calculated
in multi-layered stands?