California lost as many as 1.3 million Joshua trees in the 2020 Dome Fire

Digital tools deployed to rebuild desert ecosystems after destructive fires California lost as many as 1.3 million Joshua trees when the 43,000-acre (17,400-hectare) Dome Fire burned through the Mojave National Preserve in 2020.According to the University of California, Berkeley, scientists at the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center for Data Science & Environment (DSE) have partnered with the US National Park Service to develop digital fire recovery tools. The new software helps park managers quickly map fire damage and focus restoration work on areas where fragile desert plants are most likely to survive.Dystopian landscapes demand swift interventionWhen UC Berkeley postdoctoral researchers Maya Zomer and Lucia Layritz travelled through burned parts of the Mojave National Preserve after the 2020 fire, they saw miles of charred vegetation that looked like a moonscape. Over time, the charcoal peeled away from burned Joshua trees, leaving behind white, skeleton-like trunks."It looks like a pretty dystopian landscape," Layritz said.Although researchers found green shoots and wildflowers growing through the sun-bleached soil, the plants face difficult chances of survival. Joshua trees (Y...