Wildfire and Streams: What Do We Know after Yellowstone?

What were the impacts of the 1988 wildfires on Yellowstone streams? Disturbance impacts on macroinvertebrates, stream physical parameters, food web energy pathways were all observed from the 1988 Yellowstone wildfires.  Did streams respond to predicted patterns?   Are there generalizations we can draw for post-fire streams and their recovery timelines?   In general stream recovery followed decade long timelines for watersheds impacted by wildfire.  Smaller streams exhibited more severe impacts post-disturbance than larger streams.  Shifts in food base were observed with autochthonous resources contributing more energy to the food web, primarily in the first decade of recovery.  Benthic community composition shifted to more disturbance adapted taxa such as Baetis mayflies.   Recovery patterns suggest one or two decades of recovery at a minimum is required following major wildfire in high gradient Rocky Mountain systems.