scholarly journals Reduced rainfall drives biomass limitation of long‐term fire activity in Australia’s subtropical sclerophyll forests

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 1974-1987 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michela Mariani ◽  
John Tibby ◽  
Cameron Barr ◽  
Patrick Moss ◽  
Jonathan C. Marshall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fire Activity ◽  
Sclerophyll Forests

Determinants of fire activity during the last 3500 yr at a wildland—urban interface, Alberta, Canada

2016 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma L. Davis ◽  
Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi ◽  
Amber Gall ◽  
Michael F.J. Pisaric ◽  
Jesse C. Vermaire ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tree Ring ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Vegetation History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
Historical Range

AbstractLong-term records of wildfires and their controlling factors are important sources of information for informing land management practices. Here, dendrochronology and lake sediment analyses are used to develop a 3500-yr fire and vegetation history for a montane forest in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. The tree-ring record (AD 1771-2012) indicates that this region historically experienced a mixed-severity fire regime, and that effective fire suppression excluded widespread fire events from the study area during the 20th century. A sediment core collected from Little Trefoil Lake, located near the Jasper townsite, is analyzed for subfossil pollen and macroscopic charcoal (>150 μm). When comparing the tree-ring record to the 3500-yr record of sediment-derived fire events, only high-severity fires are represented in the charcoal record. Comparisons between the charcoal record and historical climate and pollen data indicate that climate and vegetation composition have been important controls on the fire regime for most of the last 3500 yr. Although fire frequency is presently within the historical range of variability, the fire return interval of the last 150 yr is longer than expected given modern climate and vegetation conditions, indicating that humans have become the main control on fire activity around Little Trefoil Lake.

Fire history and the relationship with late Holocene anthropogenic activity in Tăul Mare peat bog in the Lăpuș Mts (Eastern Carpathians). Romania

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ancuta Petras ◽  
Gabriela Florescu ◽  
Simon M. Hutchinson ◽  
Marcel Mindrescu
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Anthropogenic Disturbances ◽  
Mining Sites ◽  
Eastern Carpathians ◽  
Bedrock Erosion ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
Ombrotrophic Peat ◽  
Vegetation Burning

<p>Predicted climate warming and increasing anthropogenic pressure on environmental resources are expected to increase wildfire risk in Central and Eastern Europe (including Romania) and thus may affect areas currently outside fire risk areas. Therefore, knowledge of the natural and anthropogenic variability of wildfire, as well as its long-term impacts on the environment can provide an important perspective and be used to enhance the environmental management of this region.</p><p>Our study aims to reconstruct fire history in relation to anthropogenic disturbances and climate variability, over the last 2000 years in a now forested but former mining area from Lăpuș Mts (Eastern Carpathians, Romania) based on an ombrotrophic peat sequence. To reconstruct past fire activity, we employed sedimentary macroscopic charcoal (counts and morphological characteristics), a widely used proxy for gaining insight into long-term fire history and vegetation burning. Ombrotrophic peat bogs are sensitive to local environmental changes and, given that the deposition of allochthonous material is exclusively atmospheric, they are ideal archives for recording charcoal fluxes resulted from vegetation burning. Past local soil/bedrock erosion and regional atmospheric pollution from (pre)historical mining were reconstructed on the basis of abiotic sediment properties such as elemental geochemistry, mineral magnetic characteristics, organic matter content and particle size. Published sources were used to extract information regarding regional climate variability and extra-local to regional vegetation history.</p><p>Results show that increases in macro-charcoal concentration, particularly the woody charcoal morphotype, were shortly followed by marked increases in heavy metal concentration and by enhanced soil and bedrock erosion, as inferred from geochemical, magnetic and grain-size proxies. This suggests increased local disturbance during intervals with mining activities and indicates the likelihood that humans used fire to clear the forests and open the access to the mining sites. Alternatively, humans could have deforested the landscape to obtain charcoal in kilns, for ore smelting. Such actions likely resulted in topsoil removal and exposed bedrock surfaces, which is supported by the increase in the concentration of detrital elements and small, topsoil-derived magnetic particles in our record. Over recent centuries, the recovery of the local environment is evident in the proxies, with low fire activity and decreased soil/bedrock erosion, which coincides with the abandonment of the mining sites. This multi-proxy study shows the impact of anthropogenic disturbances and the recovery of the local environment and can be used to predict future possible responses of the local environment to stressors.</p>

Long-term impact of fire on high-altitude balsam fir (Abies balsamea) forests in south-central Quebec deduced from soil charcoal

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-Luc Couillard ◽  
Serge Payette ◽  
Pierre Grondin
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
High Altitude ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Abies Balsamea ◽  
Balsam Fir ◽  
Forest Landscape ◽  
White Birch ◽  
Soil Charcoal ◽  
Fire Activity

Extensive balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) stands across the southern boreal forest are ecosystems likely more influenced by insect outbreaks and windthrows than by fire. To what degree the dominance of balsam fir stands reflects past and present disturbance dynamics associated with fire is not well documented. To answer this question, we focused on the reconstruction of the long-term fire history of high-altitude balsam fir forests of southern Quebec. The reconstruction was based on botanically identified and radiocarbon-dated soil charcoal particles in 19 sites covering successional stages from white birch (Betula payrifera Marsh.) to mixed white birch – balsam fir stands. Fire activity commenced early after deglaciation, about 9600 calibrated years before present when the first boreal tree species were established. Fire occurred recurrently during the following 5000 years with a forest landscape composed of the principal tree species common to the boreal forest, including jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.). Fire activity ceased more or less abruptly about 4500 years ago due to less fire-conducive, more humid conditions. Then, the forest landscape progressively changed towards a larger representation of white birch – balsam fir forests and the disappearance of jack pine. Whereas several balsam fir stands have not burned over the last 4500 years, scattered fires occurred in particular over the last 250 years when 1815 and 1878 fires, probably man-made, burned 50% of the forest, thus causing a major change in the composition of the forest landscape. It is concluded that the high-altitude forest landscape of southern Quebec changed profoundly over the Holocene in close association with a time-transgressive dry-to-wet climatic gradient.

scholarly journals The Iberian Peninsula’s Burning Heart—Long-Term Fire History in the Toledo Mountains (Central Spain)

Fire ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Luelmo-Lautenschlaeger ◽  
Blarquez ◽  
Pérez-Díaz ◽  
Morales-Molino ◽  
López-Sáez
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Nature Management ◽  
Central Spain ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
In Fire ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

Long-term fire ecology can help to better understand the major role played by fire in driving vegetation composition and structure over decadal to millennial timescales, along with climate change and human agency, especially in fire-prone areas such as the Mediterranean basin. Investigating past ecosystem dynamics in response to changing fire activity, climate, and land use, and how these landscape drivers interact in the long-term is needed for efficient nature management, protection, and restoration. The Toledo Mountains of central Spain are a mid-elevation mountain complex with scarce current anthropic intervention located on the westernmost edge of the Mediterranean basin. These features provide a perfect setting to study patterns of late Holocene fire activity and landscape transformation. Here, we have combined macroscopic charcoal analysis with palynological data in three peat sequences (El Perro, Brezoso, and Viñuelas mires) to reconstruct fire regimes during recent millennia and their linkages to changes in vegetation, land use, and climatic conditions. During a first phase (5000–3000 cal. BP) characterized by mixed oak woodlands and low anthropogenic impact, climate exerted an evident influence over fire regimes. Later, the data show two phases of increasing human influence dated at 3000–500 cal. BP and 500 cal. BP–present, which translated into significant changes in fire regimes increasingly driven by human activity. These results contribute to prove how fire regimes have changed along with human societies, being more related to land use and less dependent on climatic cycles.

Long-term changes in understorey vegetation in the absence of wildfire in south-east dry sclerophyll forests

2009 ◽  
Vol 57 (7) ◽  
pp. 533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trent D. Penman ◽  
D. L. Binns ◽  
T. E. Brassil ◽  
R. J. Shiels ◽  
Ruth M. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Stem Density ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Shrub Species ◽  
Understorey Vegetation ◽  
Long Term Changes ◽  
Sclerophyll Forest ◽  
Sclerophyll Forests

Wildfire has shaped historic and contemporary vegetation assemblages in Australia. Ecological research has generally focussed on the effects of frequent fire on plant assemblages, with less attention given to the changes that occur in the absence of wildfire. Here we examine changes in understorey assemblages in dry sclerophyll forest catchments where wildfires have not occurred since 1973 and 1979 to determine if the initial floristics model applies. Understorey species (<2 m height) richness peaked approximately 5 years after fire with an average of 22.7 ± 0.4 (s.e.) species per 10 m2. These values declined throughout the study period resulting in an average of 13.4 ± 0.5 (s.e.) species per 10 m2 33 years after fire. Similarly, significant shifts in the understorey community composition were seen with increasing time since wildfire. These changes were attributed to a decrease in 40 species (24 resprouters, 16 obligate seeders) and an increase in 11 species (10 resprouters, 1 obligate seeder). Large shrub species richness (>2 m height) and stem density increased steadily until 10–15 years post-wildfire at which point they remained stable at ~3.2 species per 100 m2. In the absence of wildfire, these forests undergo significant changes in understorey/large shrub communities consistent with the initial floristics model.

scholarly journals Trends and patterns in annually burned forest areas and fire weather across the European boreal zone in the 20th and early 21st centuries

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Drobyshev ◽  
Mara Kitenberga ◽  
Nina Ryzhkova ◽  
Jonathan Eden ◽  
Folmer Krikken ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Boreal Zone ◽  
High Pressure Cell ◽  
Climatic Forcing ◽  
Large Variability ◽  
Disturbance Factor ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
Administrative Units

&lt;p&gt;Fire remains the main natural disturbance factor in the European boreal zone (EBZ), which exhibits strong gradients in climate conditions, modern and historical patterns of forest use, and the modern human infrastructure density. Understanding climatic forcing on fire activity is important for projecting effects of climate change on multiple ecosystem services in this region. Here we analyzed available records of annually burned areas (ABA) in 16 administrative regions of EBZ (countries or sub-country units) and fire weather variability to test for their spatio-temporal patterns over 1901-2017. To define sub-regions of EBZ with similar fire activity we compiled 30-60 year long ABA chronologies and clustered them in Euclidian space to identify regions of EBZ with temporally synchronous fire activity. We then reconstructed 100-year long ABA chronologies for each cluster, capitalizing on its member with the highest correlation between observational fire record and climatological fire weather proxy (MDC, monthly drought code). The 100-year chronologies helped identified large fire years (LFY), i.e. years with the ABA being above 10% of its long-term distribution. The climatic forcing of these events was tested in superposed epoch analysis operated with gridded 500 hPa pressure fields. Finally, we tested trends in (a) synchrony of LFY's across clusters, (b) MDC values over the EBZ, and (c) spatial variability in July MDC over the EBZ geographic domain during 1901-2017.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;EBZ exhibits large variability in forest fire activity with the fire cycles varying from ~10&lt;sup&gt;4&lt;/sup&gt; (Scandinavia) to 3*10&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; years (Russian Republic of Komi). Clustering of administrative units in respect to their ABA suggested the presence of sub-regions with synchronous dynamics of ABA, located&amp;#160; along W-E and S-N gradients. LFYs in each of the cluster was associated with the development of the high pressure cell over the regions in question in July, indicating climatic forcing of LFYs. Contingency analysis indicated no long-term trend in the synchrony of LFYs observed simultaneously in several administrative units. We observed a trend towards higher values of MDC for the months of April and May in the western section of EBZ (April) and southern-eastern sections of the Baltic sea region and North sections of EBZ in Russia (May). Trends in MDC during the summer months were largely absent. We discuss teleconnections of fire activity in the EBZ with Atlantic SST.&lt;/p&gt;

Response of Soil Denitrifying Communities to Long-Term Prescribed Burning in Two Australian Sclerophyll Forests

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 577-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xian Liu ◽  
Chengrong Chen ◽  
Weijin Wang ◽  
Jane M Hughes ◽  
Tom Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Sclerophyll Forests

scholarly journals Wildfire extreme events: Large-scale developments in fire activity of New South Wales, Australia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Nolde ◽  
Norman Mueller ◽  
Günter Strunz ◽  
Florian Fichtner ◽  
Simon Plank ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Events ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
The United States ◽  
Burnt Area ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
In Fire

&lt;p&gt;Disastrous wildfires have occurred in many parts of the world during the last two years (2019 and 2020), most notably in South America, Australia, the United States, and regions north of the polar circle. Such extreme wildfire events pose a pervasive threat to human lives and property and have thus been widely recognized in the global media. This study focusses on large-scale developments in fire activity. It investigates the occurrence of burnt areas regarding several relevant parameters, namely fire extent, fire severity and fire seasonality. The entirety of those parameters allows an extensive insight regarding large-scale, long-term fire activity trends.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The burnt area derivation process, which is fully automated, is described in the literature (see reference below). The analysis is based on an extensive set of satellite data, specifically 9,612 granules of the MODIS MOD09/MYD09 product in conjunction with 3,503 tiles of the OLCI (Ocean and Land Colour Instrument) instrument onboard Sentinel-3.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The study design consists of two parts:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Firstly, the long-term temporal variability in fire activity, covering the time span from 2000 until 2020, is analyzed for the study region of New South Wales, Australia.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Secondly, the large-scale spatial variability is investigated by comparing the New South Wales extreme events in 2019/2020 with events of comparable magnitude in California, US and the Siberian taiga.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The study shows that New South Wales features an upward trend regarding the extent of yearly affected area, as well as a shift towards a prolongated end of the fire season towards the Autumn months. It also shows the exceptionality of the Australian wildfire activity in comparison with other geographical regions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reference:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nolde, Michael; Plank, Simon; Riedlinger, Torsten. &quot;An Adaptive and Extensible System for Satellite-Based, Large Scale Burnt Area Monitoring in Near-Real Time.&quot; Remote Sensing 12.13 (2020): 2162.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Quantifying Long‐Term Seasonal and Regional Impacts of North American Fire Activity on Continental Boundary Layer Aerosols and Cloud Condensation Nuclei

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Logan ◽  
Xiquan Dong ◽  
Baike Xi ◽  
Xiaojian Zheng ◽  
Yuan Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
North American ◽  
Cloud Condensation Nuclei ◽  
Condensation Nuclei ◽  
Regional Impacts ◽  
Fire Activity
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