Vegetation fires in the Anthropocene

Bowman, David M. J. S.; Kolden, Crystal A.; Abatzoglou, John T.; Johnston, Fay H.; Werf, Guido R. van der; Flannigan, Mike D.

doi:10.1038/s43017-020-0085-3

Cited by 619 publications

(445 citation statements)

References 225 publications

(278 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

431

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Fire is a historical and frequent event that plays a key role in the processes and functions of global ecosystems, influencing the dynamics of vegetation, biogeochemical cycles, and climate (Beerling and Osborne, 2006;Pausas and Bond, 2020). In recent history, fire has increased in its frequency mainly due to climate change, such as rising temperatures and intensified droughts, and due to human activities (Enright et al, 2015;Bowman et al, 2020). Notably, the Brazilian savanna (locally known as the Cerrado and occupying almost 25% of the area of the country) contains 70% of the concentrated burned area (Araújo et al, 2012;Araújo and Ferreira, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of Plant Biomass in the Brazilian Savanna to Frequent Fires

Gomes

Miranda

Soares‐Filho

et al. 2020

Front. For. Glob. Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fire has been a natural feature of the ecosystem for million years. Still, currently fire regimes have been increasingly altered by human activities and climate change, causing economic losses, air pollution, and environmental damage. In Brazil, savannas (locally known as the Cerrado) occupy almost 25% of the area of the country and contain 70% of the concentrated burned area. Fire frequency is related to the use of biannual fire in agricultural practices, aiming at cleaning cattle pastures, which act as ignition sources for the surrounding natural vegetation. Here, we present an ecological model to demonstrate how biennial fire affects plant biomass and carbon release from fine fuel in the Cerrado. The BEFIRE model (Behavior and Effect of Fire) is the first quantitative model to simulate the relationships between fire frequency, plant biomass, and fire-associated emissions based on the synthesis of knowledge about fire behavior and the effects on ecosystems compiled from experimental burnings in the Cerrado. Our model uses microclimate variables and vegetation structure (the amount of the aboveground biomass of trees, shrubs, herbs, and grasses) as inputs, and generates outputs related to the fire behavior (fire spread rate, fire intensity, and heat released) and the fire effects on the dynamic of plant biomass and post-fire carbon emissions. The BEFIRE model predicts that biennial fires allow for the recovery of the biomass of herbs and grasses, due to its fast growth. However, this fire interval does not allow for the recovery of the biomass of shrubs and trees. These growth limitations alter the co-existence of trees/shrubs and herbs/grasses and prevent the uptake of the total amount of emitted carbon from the combustion of fine fuel. Based on the model results, we proposed some recommendations for fire management in this threatened biome.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of Plant Biomass in the Brazilian Savanna to Frequent Fires

Gomes

Miranda

Soares‐Filho

et al. 2020

Front. For. Glob. Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…LUC impacts explain much of the regional differences with deforestation in tropical regions (Brando et al, 2020) and increased wood harvesting in Europe (Ceccherini et al, 2020). Moreover, unprecedented carbon losses also occurred due to fires in Australia, California, the Amazon and the Arctic, with fire impacts predicted to worsen as a result of anthropogenic climate change (Bowman et al, 2020; Witze 2020). Although results for the world's drylands are currently inconclusive, recent reports suggest that previous long-term aridity-change projections overestimated dryland aridification (Yang et al, 2019).…”

Section: New Insightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ten new insights in climate science 2020 – a horizon scan

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Non-technical summary We summarize some of the past year's most important findings within climate change-related research. New research has improved our understanding of Earth's sensitivity to carbon dioxide, finds that permafrost thaw could release more carbon emissions than expected and that the uptake of carbon in tropical ecosystems is weakening. Adverse impacts on human society include increasing water shortages and impacts on mental health. Options for solutions emerge from rethinking economic models, rights-based litigation, strengthened governance systems and a new social contract. The disruption caused by COVID-19 could be seized as an opportunity for positive change, directing economic stimulus towards sustainable investments. Technical summary A synthesis is made of ten fields within climate science where there have been significant advances since mid-2019, through an expert elicitation process with broad disciplinary scope. Findings include: (1) a better understanding of equilibrium climate sensitivity; (2) abrupt thaw as an accelerator of carbon release from permafrost; (3) changes to global and regional land carbon sinks; (4) impacts of climate change on water crises, including equity perspectives; (5) adverse effects on mental health from climate change; (6) immediate effects on climate of the COVID-19 pandemic and requirements for recovery packages to deliver on the Paris Agreement; (7) suggested long-term changes to governance and a social contract to address climate change, learning from the current pandemic, (8) updated positive cost–benefit ratio and new perspectives on the potential for green growth in the short- and long-term perspective; (9) urban electrification as a strategy to move towards low-carbon energy systems and (10) rights-based litigation as an increasingly important method to address climate change, with recent clarifications on the legal standing and representation of future generations. Social media summary Stronger permafrost thaw, COVID-19 effects and growing mental health impacts among highlights of latest climate science.

show abstract

“…Those places that have a history of landscape fire (think Australia) are experiencing bad fires more frequently, more widely, and with greater savagery. Those places that have had fires only because people put them there (think central Europe) are seeing wildfires move from historical anomalies into an almanac of annual threats (Bowman et al, 2020).…”

Section: 1029/2020ef001722mentioning

confidence: 99%

From Pleistocene to Pyrocene: Fire Replaces Ice

Pyne

2020

Earth's Future

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fire offers a special perspective by which to understand the Earth being remade by humans. Fire is integrative, so intrinsically interdisciplinary. Fire use is unique to humans, so a tracer of humanity's ecological impacts. Anthropogenic fire history shows the long influence of humans on Earth and even climate; in particular, it tracks the continuities between the burning of living landscapes and the transition to burning lithic (fossil) ones, an inflection so immense that climate history is now a subnarrative of fire history. Through our varied burnings, humans are driving out all the relics of the Pleistocene and replacing them with fire equivalents, or in short, creating a Pyrocene. Plain Language Summary The history of anthropogenic fire offers a useful way of understanding the Anthropocene. It provides a continuous narrative, particularly for the transition into the burning of fossil biomass, and it proposes an analogue-the fire equivalent of an ice age-by which to imagine the future.

show abstract

Vegetation fires in the Anthropocene

Cited by 619 publications

References 225 publications

Responses of Plant Biomass in the Brazilian Savanna to Frequent Fires

Responses of Plant Biomass in the Brazilian Savanna to Frequent Fires

Ten new insights in climate science 2020 – a horizon scan

From Pleistocene to Pyrocene: Fire Replaces Ice

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About