Ecological properties governed by threshold relationships can exhibit heightened sensitivity to climate change. This talk focuses on understanding the consequences of climate change for fire activity in select western North American ecosystems, and how changing fire activity can catalyze vegetation changes across broad regions. Specifically, the talk will present results from recent publications from the Lab and collaborators that help characterize threshold relationships between (a) climate and fire activity, and (b) climate and post-fire tree regeneration. This one-hour seminar is part of the Firelab 2018-2019 Seminar Series.