LANDFIRE ›› Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q.	What is potential vegetation (PV)?

Potential vegetation is defined as the vegetation capable of existing on a site given the biophysical characteristics of the site. There are two important ways to characterize potential vegetation, and each is mapped by LANDFIRE. Potential vegetation may be defined as the vegetation that would become established at late or climax stages of successional development in the absence of disturbance, which, in LANDFIRE, we call "environmental site potential" (ESP). ESP reflects an integration of the current regional climate and physical site characteristics in addition to the competitive potential of native plant species. Alternatively, potential vegetation may incorporate natural ecological processes, such as fire, and thereby be characterized as the vegetation supported by regional climate, physical site characteristics, and a historical disturbance regime. In LANDFIRE, we call this concept of disturbance-maintained potential vegetation "biophysical settings" (BpS). The ESP layer is used in LANDFIRE as stratification for mapping wildland fuel, and the BpS layer forms the foundation for linking the ecological process of succession to landscapes, which is used to define the simulation landscape used to simulate historical vegetation and disturbance characteristics.

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