Assessing Past Fire Regimes and Their Effects on Modern Vegetation in Amazonian Forests

Assessing Past Fire Regimes and Their Effects on Modern Vegetation in Amazonian Forests PDF Author: Britte M. Heijink
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789493260283
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Amazonian rainforests are incredibly biodiverse and provide global ecosystem services, but are threatened by fires, which completely alter ecosystem function and structure. Fires, especially in western Amazonia, almost always have an anthropogenic origin. However, much is unknown about the long-term recovery and multi-generational successional processes following fire events. Due to the long lifespan of tropical trees, past fires may have left ecological legacies in modern forest composition in Amazonia. The goal of this thesis is to investigate how past fire events impact successional trajectories of past vegetation change and whether these fire events and related human impacts have left ecological legacies in modern Amazonian forests. I specifically focus on western Amazon and changes in palm abundances and composition through time, as palms were an economically important plant family to past peoples. I compared lake charcoal records across the Amazon Basin and found fire was least prevalent in western Amazonia. On a local scale, very limited evidence of past disturbances was present in forest plots in northwestern Amazonia. Palm abundances have been increasing since the mid-Holocene, but this increase is not related to past fire events. Past fire likely have left low to none ecological legacies in these forest plots. Modern trait composition across western Amazonia is associated with past fire events, but more research is necessary to disentangle relationships between past fire, soils, and modern vegetation. Overall, western Amazonia likely contains the least intense ecological legacies in comparison with the rest of Amazonia."--

Assessing Past Fire Regimes and Their Effects on Modern Vegetation in Amazonian Forests

Assessing Past Fire Regimes and Their Effects on Modern Vegetation in Amazonian Forests PDF Author: Britte M. Heijink
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789493260283
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Amazonian rainforests are incredibly biodiverse and provide global ecosystem services, but are threatened by fires, which completely alter ecosystem function and structure. Fires, especially in western Amazonia, almost always have an anthropogenic origin. However, much is unknown about the long-term recovery and multi-generational successional processes following fire events. Due to the long lifespan of tropical trees, past fires may have left ecological legacies in modern forest composition in Amazonia. The goal of this thesis is to investigate how past fire events impact successional trajectories of past vegetation change and whether these fire events and related human impacts have left ecological legacies in modern Amazonian forests. I specifically focus on western Amazon and changes in palm abundances and composition through time, as palms were an economically important plant family to past peoples. I compared lake charcoal records across the Amazon Basin and found fire was least prevalent in western Amazonia. On a local scale, very limited evidence of past disturbances was present in forest plots in northwestern Amazonia. Palm abundances have been increasing since the mid-Holocene, but this increase is not related to past fire events. Past fire likely have left low to none ecological legacies in these forest plots. Modern trait composition across western Amazonia is associated with past fire events, but more research is necessary to disentangle relationships between past fire, soils, and modern vegetation. Overall, western Amazonia likely contains the least intense ecological legacies in comparison with the rest of Amazonia."--

Fire and Climatic Change in Temperate Ecosystems of the Western Americas

Fire and Climatic Change in Temperate Ecosystems of the Western Americas PDF Author: Thomas T. Veblen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 038721710X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
Both fire and climatic variability have monumental impacts on the dynamics of temperate ecosystems. These impacts can sometimes be extreme or devastating as seen in recent El Nino/La Nina cycles and in uncontrolled fire occurrences. This volume brings together research conducted in western North and South America, areas of a great deal of collaborative work on the influence of people and climate change on fire regimes. In order to give perspective to patterns of change over time, it emphasizes the integration of paleoecological studies with studies of modern ecosystems. Data from a range of spatial scales, from individual plants to communities and ecosystems to landscape and regional levels, are included. Contributions come from fire ecology, paleoecology, biogeography, paleoclimatology, landscape and ecosystem ecology, ecological modeling, forest management, plant community ecology and plant morphology. The book gives a synthetic overview of methods, data and simulation models for evaluating fire regime processes in forests, shrublands and woodlands and assembles case studies of fire, climate and land use histories. The unique approach of this book gives researchers the benefits of a north-south comparison as well as the integration of paleoecological histories, current ecosystem dynamics and modeling of future changes.

Assessing the Effects of Fire Disturbance on Ecosystems

Assessing the Effects of Fire Disturbance on Ecosystems PDF Author: Daniel Lee Schmoldt
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
A team of fire scientists & resource managers convened to assess the effects of fire disturbance on ecosystems. Objectives of this workshop were to develop scientific recommendations for future fire research & management activities. These included a series of numerically ranked scientific & managerial questions & responses focusing on (1) links among fire effects, fuels, & climate; (2) fire as a large-scale disturbance; (3) fire-effects modeling structures; & (4) managerial concerns, applications, & decision support. The priority issues & approaches described here provide a template for fire science & fire management programs in the next decade & beyond.

Assessing the Effects of Fire Disturbance on Ecosystems

Assessing the Effects of Fire Disturbance on Ecosystems PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fire ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description


Historic Fire Regimes on Eastern Great Basin (USA) Mountains Reconstructed from Tree Rings

Historic Fire Regimes on Eastern Great Basin (USA) Mountains Reconstructed from Tree Rings PDF Author: Stanley G. Kitchen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic dissertations
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
Management of natural landscapes requires knowledge of key disturbance processes and their effects. Fire and forest histories provide valuable insight into how fire and vegetation varied and interacted in the past. I constructed multi-century fire chronologies for 10 sites on six mountain ranges representative of the eastern Great Basin (USA), a region in which historic fire information was lacking. I also constructed tree recruitment chronologies for two sites. I use these chronologies to address three research foci. First, using fire-scar data from four heterogeneous sites, I assert that mean fire interval (MFI) values calculated from composite chronologies provide suitable estimates of point MFI (PMFI) when sample area size is =1/2 ha. I also suggest that MFI values for single trees can be used to estimate PMFI after applying a correction factor. Next, I infer climate effects on regional fire patterns using 10 site chronologies and tree-ring-based indices of drought and of El Niǫ Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation ([PDO), Pacific Ocean surface temperature variability known to affect North American climate. Regional fire years (> or =33% of recording sites) were synchronized by wet-dry cycles where the probability of occurrence was highest in the first year of drought following a wet phase and lowest when climate conditions transitioned from dry to wet. Regional fire probability was highest when ENSO and PDO were negative (Southwest pattern). Local fire years occurred under a broad range of conditions. Fire seasonality was bimodal with early and late-season fires dominant. I imply that Native American burning practices were responsible for differences in historic and modern fire seasonality. Lastly, I assess fire regime and tree recruitment variability within two fire-sheds. PMFI varied more than 10-fold within each site. A mixed-severity regime was dominant. A majority (>60%) of fires were small (

Fire History of Boreal Forests

Fire History of Boreal Forests PDF Author: Jason Anthony Lynch
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fire ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
"Disturbances are mechanisms that mediate ecosystem changes in response to climate-driven vegetation changes. While many studies have looked at the effect of fire on ecosystem components, few have considered the response of fire to climate and vegetation change. The effects that past climate and vegetation shifts have on fire regimes and the potential consequences to ecosystem change are examined here. Charcoal and pollen analyses were used to determine geographic and temporal patterns of past fire regimes in the North American western boreal forest. Seventeen high-resolution records from north-central Canada (NWT and Manitoba), interior Alaska, and northwestern Ontario were analyzed for large charcoal particles in continuously sampled sediment cores to calculate fire return intervals during the Holocene. Fire, vegetation, and climate data were used to interpret regional and temporal differences in fire importance. In addition, sediment charcoal accumulation was compared to modern experimental fires to interpret fire events from sediment records. Particle-size distributions were equal among all lakes, and deposition occurred directly from fires, not from secondary deposition following fires. Based on the similar patterns of charcoal accumulation from the modern burn and particle-size distributions, the largest 10% of charcoal accumulation rates represent individual fire events. The Holocene records show variations among the regions in timing of the maximum fire period (highest charcoal accumulation rates and shortest fire return intervals). The maximum fire period occurred prior to 5,000 yr BP (calendar years before 1950) for North-central Canada in response to a dry climate regime. In interior Alaska, fire was unimportant until the establishment of Picea mariana at 5,500 yr BP. In northwestern Ontario, the maximum fire period occurred between 2,200 yr BP and present in response to climate-induced forest structure shifts. Despite the different timings, the mean fire return intervals of 70 - 100 years are characteristic of each maximum fire period. Modern fire regimes for these regions developed at approximately 2000 yr BP with fire-return intervals ranging from 70 years in the mixed boreal forest to 600 years in the northern lichened boreal woodlands. Twentieth century charcoal accumulation increases suggest that modern fire regimes may have been influenced by recent climate changes"--Leaves iv-v.

Fire Regimes and Their Ecological Effects in Seasonally Dry Tropical Ecosystems in the Western Ghats, India

Fire Regimes and Their Ecological Effects in Seasonally Dry Tropical Ecosystems in the Western Ghats, India PDF Author: Narendran Kodandapani
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Deforestation
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Ecological Effects of Prescribed Fire Season

Ecological Effects of Prescribed Fire Season PDF Author: Eric Knapp
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437926150
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 85

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Book Description
Historical and prescribed fire regimes for different regions in the continental U.S. were compared and literature on season of prescribed burning synthesized. In regions and vegetation types where considerable differences in fuel consumption exist among burning seasons, the effects of prescribed fire season appears to be driven more by fire-intensity differences among seasons than by phenology or growth stage of organisms at the time of fire. Where fuel consumption differs little among burning seasons, the effect of phenology or growth stage of organisms is often more apparent, because it is not overwhelmed by fire-intensity differences. Species in ecosystems that evolved with fire appear to be resilient to one or few out-of-season prescribed burns. Illus.

Fire in the Environment

Fire in the Environment PDF Author: P. J. Crutzen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description
Fire in the environment: scientific rationale and summary of results of the Dahlen workhop., Emissions from the combustion process in vegetation. Dynamics and modeling of vegetation fires: observations . Emissions measurements from vegetation fires: a comparative evaluation of methodes and results. Satellite remote sensig of fires: potential and limitation. Modeling the influence of fires on atmospheric chemistry. Effect of on global radiation budget through aerosol. Effect of fires on global radiation budget though aerosol and cloud properties. Climate change-fire interactions at the global scale: prediction and limitations of methods. Case study of atmospheric measurements in Brasil: aerosol emissions from Amazon basin fire. Biomass burning in Africa: an overview of its impact on atmospheric chemistry. Paleoecology of fire. Nutrient and organic matter dynamics in tropical ecosystems. Fire regimes and ecosystem dinamics. Keeper of the flame: a survey of anthropogenic fire. Historical biogeography of fire: circumpolar taiga. Historical biogeography of fire in tempetate and mediterranean ecosystems. Historical biogeography of fire: tropical and subtropical. Fire management: principles and option in the forested and Savanna regions of the world. Group report: quantification of fire characteristics from local to global scales. Group report: what is the impact of fires on atmosperic chemistry, climate, and biogeochemical cycles?. Group report: impacts of fires on ecosystems. Group report: the role of humans in shaping fire regimes and ecosystem properties.

Fire in the Tropical Biota

Fire in the Tropical Biota PDF Author: Johann Georg Goldammer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biotic communities
Languages : en
Pages : 522

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Book Description