It has been known as the archenemy of the Sonoran Desert: Buffelgrass, which is native to Africa, Asia and the Middle East, was introduced to arid areas of the United States within the Thirties to be planted for cattle forage and erosion management.
Today, the invasive grass species is the almost certainly to trigger vital wildfire harm. But it is not the one one.
“One of the problems we have in science is that we don’t know a lot about how many species we have in the environment,” stated Fabio Albuquerque, an affiliate professor in Arizona State University’s College of Integrative Sciences and Arts.
“And even species that we know, we don’t know exactly their geographical location. So we have a lot of gaps in knowledge. And this is not only in Arizona. This is kind of globally.”
Albuquerque stated that lack of know-how makes it troublesome to undertaking the place wildfires might erupt.
“If you want to address a solution for a problem, the first thing that you need to know is where they (the invasive species) are,” he stated.
Albuquerque is a part of a statewide staff that features the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management and researchers from Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona that was awarded a Regents’ Grant from the Arizona Board of Regents to establish remedies that may assist defend Arizona’s desert programs from wildfires.
His position within the three-year undertaking consists of figuring out areas the place non-native grasses and different invasive species are rising fireplace potential. The analysis is constructing on his work on local weather change, invasive species and Sonoran Desert ecology, together with how buffelgrass and different invasive grasses create situations that make wildfires extra frequent and extreme.
Albuquerque will use local weather projections, geographical info system modelingGIS modeling integrates spatial areas with information to assist remedy geographical issues and predict outcomes and ecological modeling to strive to establish the place invasive grasses are almost certainly to set up.
“What happens is every time we have wet seasons, the more water we have, the more likely it is we have vegetation,” he stated. “Eventually, after the rain, these species dry out, and in the event of a fire spark, the likelihood of a wildfire is pretty high. So we are compiling right now a list of at least the most invasive species, like buffelgrass, that are related with the frequency of wildfires to map their distribution and therefore provide kind of a risk analysis.”
The undertaking is an extension of ABOR’s Future of Arizona wildfire convening held in 2025 on the University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2 in Oracle. That assembly introduced collectively the board, representatives from Arizona’s three state public universities, and state, federal, tribal, fireplace and business leaders.
“This investment reflects the board’s commitment to using our public universities’ expertise to protect Arizona’s land and strengthen our ability to fight wildfires,” ABOR Chair Doug Goodyear stated. “We’ve seen how costly and devastating these fires can be. This research will support the people on the front lines and help safeguard communities that are exposed to fires all across Arizona.”
That’s something CISA interim Dean Manuel Aviles-Santiago is enthused about.
“The community wants to see what the role of the university is in their community and in their practical lives,” Aviles-Santiago stated. “A lot of research is done behind closed doors. This is a community-facing, forward kind of research. The public impact will be much more visible.”
Albuquerque said the goal of his work — which he stressed is a “probability model,” as opposed to being able to specifically predict where invasive grasses will grow — is to inform fire officials, state agencies and land managers and to help them prioritize monitoring and fuel treatments.
“Wildfires are becoming way more frequent. They are causing a lot of damage,” Albuquerque stated. “It’s catastrophic. What we hope with this is to provide some sort of hope.”