E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database

A New Partnership: Tall Timbers
E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database
and the Southern Fire Portal (SFP)

In an effort to reach an expanded audience for the Tall Timbers E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database, the Library has created a new web-based gateway for fire information called the Southern Fire Portal (SFP). The SFP provides portal users with single point access to fire data, documents, projects, tools, and websites related to fire and natural resource management in the southern United States. A diverse group of federal, national, regional, and state organizations partnered to create and publicize the SFP. The Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Database and the Southern Research Station's online Encyclopedia of Southern Fire Science are key components of the SFP. The Joint Fire Sciences Program (JFSP) was a major source of funding for the SFP project. To learn more about the SFP and its Partners and Supporters, please visit the web site at http://frames.nbii.gov/southernfire.

Tall Timbers supports increased visibility for the Tall Timbers E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database which has been accessible on the Tall Timbers web site since 1998. The database provides access to bibliographic records for a unique, extensive collection of fire ecology literature. Citations for all papers (with abstracts) from 23 Proceedings of the Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conferences are in the database. The donation of personal research collections from E.V. Komarek and H.L. Stoddard, founders of Tall Timbers, was the original impetus for the Tall Timbers Board of Trustees to mandate creation of a computerized bibliographic database. Since its inception in 1987, the database has been continually expanded under direction of the Tall Timbers librarian. Although international in scope, the database emphasizes the southeastern United States, the USA, and North America. Historical and current works are included. As of July 2009, there are nearly 23,700 citations in the database. The Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Thesaurus is the tool created by the library for indexing database records.

Document delivery of materials cited in the database is not provided. Users are encouraged to access local library resources or a commercial document delivery service to obtain materials listed in the database. Most URLs in database records lead to publisher's Web sites. In some recent records, links to PDFs are available.

Database topics include:

• fire ecology
• prescribed fires
• wildfires
• fire histories and case studies
• ecology of the southeastern United States

Bibliographic sources include:

• journal articles
• books and government documents (federal & state)
• conference proceedings (including all Proceedings of the TTRS Fire Ecology Conferences, with abstracts)
• magazine and newspaper articles

Database indexing for each item includes:

• fire terms ecological and forestry terms
• geographic designations (by state, region, country, continent, etc.)
• habitat types
• management types
• scientific names of plants and animals

Using Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Thesaurus and Other Search Aids

In the Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Thesaurus you will find a list of words or phrases (i.e., keywords) that are used to describe topics covered by citations listed in the Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Database. Keywords are shown in bold format (if your browser supports it). You may print out a copy of the entire Thesaurus which is approximately 70 pages in length. Look to the last Thesaurus section for geographic terms. Some geographic terms used in the database but not part of the Thesaurus, e.g. Everglades, Yellowstone National Park, Ozarks, Piedmont, Rocky Mountains, etc., are included in List of All Terms. The Thesaurus contains scope notes and cross references that explain the indexing system with its use of broad, narrow, and related subject terms.

Terms in brackets. Please note that in the Thesaurus words and terms in brackets are not used as keywords in the database. When you find a bracketed term, do not use it for searching in the database Keywords field. Instead, use the associated keywords that appear in bold in the column on right.

The table below shows you how the Thesaurus works. The bracketed terms in the left hand column are not used in the database Keywords field; instead, look at the terms in bold in the right hand column; these are used in the database Keywords field. Examples:

Other Database Search Aids

The Keywords List shows a list of subject keywords only without scope notes and cross references. The List of All Terms shows every searchable term from the keywords field with a record count of times used; list includes scientific names of plants and animals and all geographic descriptors.

Use Comments to submit questions, ideas, corrections, additions, or omissions regarding the Database or Thesaurus.