Sustainable Fire Management Research Articles

The variation in climate conditions and fire-related traits across Pinus (Pinaceae) species

Fire has long been recognized as a significant evolutionary factor for the genus Pinus (family Pinaceae). Many pine species have developed specific fire-adaptations, such as self-pruning, resprouting, and serotiny, to persist under various fire regimes. Fire-related traits, such as needle length, bark thickness, and plant height, also can affect the survival of pines in fire-prone environments. Investigating the climate conditions of pines and analyzing the variation in fire-adaptations and fire-related traits across pines can provide insights into the evolutionary process of the genus Pinus affected by fire. However, such studies are rare, particularly those focusing on the relationship among environmental conditions, fire-adaptations, and fire-related traits with a large number of pine species. In this study, we explored the variation in climate conditions and fire-related traits (including tree height, bark thickness, and leaf length) between fire-adapted and non-fire-adapted pines, as well as among three fire survival strategies (fire-tolerators, fire-embracers, fire avoiders). We also investigated the relationships between climatic conditions and fire-related traits/fire-adaptations (including resprouting, self-pruning, the grass stage, and serotiny) across the genus Pinus. Sixty-one out of 101 pine species were found to possess one or more fire adaptations and were classified as fire-adapted pines. We found that fire-adapted pines occupy warmer and more fire-prone habitats, and exhibit longer leaves, thicker bark, and taller habits than non-fire-adapted species. Our analysis did not indicate a significant difference between fire tolerators and embracers regarding traits and climate conditions, except that fire-tolerators have thicker bark and are more associated with wildfire-prone areas. Climate conditions appeared to significantly affect fire-related traits/fire-adaptations across the genus Pinus. These findings will facilitate our understanding the evolutionary process of fire adaptations/fire-related traits in the genus Pinus and will guide sustainable fire management in different pine forests.

Understanding fire intensity in the Sudanian savannah of Western Africa: Implications for sustainable fire management

AbstractThe savannah ecosystem is influenced by seasonal fires that shape the landscape, with different fire intensities. The objective of this study is to assess the trend in fire intensity and the influence of the vegetation types. A linear regression model was employed to analyse the trend in fire intensity over the years. The results demonstrate a linear positive evolution of mean fire intensity over the years, with the highest fire intensity observed during the months of November to January. Woodland, shrub savannah and grassland areas exhibited high fire intensity, whereas wetland areas and forests displayed low fire intensity. Overall, remote sensing techniques can facilitate the monitoring of fire events, specifically fire intensity, in the savannah regions of West Africa, thereby aiding in the implementation of appropriate fire management plans.

Incentivizing sustainable fire management in Australia's northern arid spinifex grasslands

Fire management across Australia's fire-prone 1.2 M km2 northern savannas region has been transformed over the past decade supported by the inception of Australia's national regulated emissions reduction market in 2012. Today, incentivised fire management is undertaken over a quarter of that entire region, providing a range of socio-cultural, environmental, and economic benefits, including for remote Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) communities and enterprises. Building on those advances, here we explore the emissions abatement potential for expanding incentivised fire management opportunities to include a contiguous fire-prone region, extending to monsoonal but annually lower (<600 mm) and more variable rainfall conditions, supporting predominantly shrubby spinifex (Triodia) hummock grasslands characteristic of much of Australia's deserts and semi-arid rangelands. Adapting a standard methodological approach applied previously for assessing savanna emissions parameters, we first describe fire regime and associated climatic attributes for a proposed ∼850,000 km2 lower rainfall (600–350 mm MAR) focal region. Second, based on regional field assessments of seasonal fuel accumulation, combustion, burnt area patchiness, and accountable methane and nitrous oxide Emission Factor parameters, we find that significant emissions abatement is feasible for regional hummock grasslands. This applies specifically for more frequently burnt sites under higher rainfall conditions if substantial early dry season prescribed fire management is undertaken resulting in marked reduction in late dry season wildfires. The proposed Northern Arid Zone (NAZ) focal envelope is substantially under Indigenous land ownership and management, and in addition to reducing emissions impacts associated with recurrent extensive wildfires, development of commercial landscape-scale fire management opportunities would significantly support social, cultural and biodiversity management aspirations as promoted by Indigenous landowners. Combined with existing regulated savanna fire management regions, inclusion of the NAZ under existing legislated abatement methodologies would effectively provide incentivised fire management covering a quarter of Australia's landmass. This could complement an allied (non-carbon) accredited method valuing combined social, cultural and biodiversity outcomes from enhanced fire management of hummock grasslands. Although the management approach has potential application to other international fire-prone savanna grasslands, caution is required to ensure that such practice does not result in irreversible woody encroachment and undesirable habitat change.

变化环境下火干扰研究进展

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 变化环境下火干扰研究进展 DOI: 10.5846/stxb202210142923 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家自然科学基金项目（41991230） Research progress on fire disturbance in a changing environment Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:火是地球系统的重要过程，也是一种剧烈的环境干扰因素。火是生态系统变化的驱动力和催化剂，调节着生态系统的结构和功能，同时反馈给气候系统。近年来，世界多个国家相继爆发了历史上罕见的极端火事件，使得火干扰、气候变化和人类活动之间的相互作用关系得到了空前的关注。主要从3个方面回顾了变化环境下火干扰研究的进展，包括（1）火干扰的时空格局；（2）火干扰的驱动机制；（3）火干扰的生态效应。概括起来，遥感技术的发展使得火监测精度不断提高，对火时空格局的刻画由过去侧重火燃烧面积单一因素转向具有多重属性的火干扰体系。气候变化和人类活动共同决定着火干扰的分布格局、频率和强度，考虑气候的季节性能够提高火干扰的预测能力。火干扰调节着生态系统的草木平衡，对于生物多样性和生境的维持非常重要。此外，火干扰通过生物质燃烧释放的大量温室气体影响大气组成和空气质量，同时通过改变地表状况和陆-气相互作用来影响气候系统。正确理解气候-植被-火之间的相互作用和反馈机制有助于未来火干扰体系的预测。随着高温、大风、干旱等极端气候事件增多，未来全球大部分区域火发生的风险增加，但是人类活动可能会使火和气候之间的关系发生解耦。可持续的火管理应充分结合生态学知识和土著居民火文化，以保护生物多样性、维持重要生态系统服务和减缓气候变化为目标，减少极端火灾的风险。 Abstract:Fire is an essential component of the Earth system and a severe environmental disturbance factor. Fire is an important driver and catalyst for ecosystem changes, which regulates the structure and function of the ecosystem and provides feedback to regional and global climate systems. In recent years, extreme fire events that are rare in history have erupted in many countries around the world, drawing unprecedented attention to the interaction between fire disturbance, climate change, and human activities. This paper mainly reviews the progress of fire disturbance research in a changing environment from three aspects, including (1) spatiotemporal patterns of fire disturbance; (2) driving mechanisms of fire disturbance; (3) ecological effects of fire disturbance. In summary, state-of-the-art remote sensing technology has greatly improved the accuracy of fire monitoring, and the portrayal of the spatiotemporal pattern of fire has shifted from focusing on a single factor of fire burned area to the fire regime with multiple attributes. Climate change and human activities jointly determine the pattern, frequency, and intensity of fire disturbance. Taking into account the seasonality of climate can improve the prediction ability of the global fire system. Fires play an important role in regulating the competition between herbaceous and woody vegetation and thus are very important for biodiversity and habitat maintenance. In addition, fire disturbance affects the atmospheric composition and air quality through the release of large amounts of greenhouse gases from biomass burning, while impacting the climate system by altering land surface conditions and affecting land-atmosphere interactions. A better understanding of the interactions and feedback of climate-vegetation-fire can facilitate the prediction of fire regimes. In the future climate scenario, increases in extreme climate events, such as high temperatures, strong winds, and droughts, create a fire-prone environment. Although an increased risk of fire disturbances in most parts of the world, human activity may decouple the relationship between fire and climate. Sustainable fire management should fully integrate ecological knowledge and indigenous fire culture to reduce the risk of extreme fires, with the goal of protecting biodiversity, maintaining vital ecosystem services, and mitigating climate change. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Intentions behind common and risky fires in south-eastern Tanzania

Human-set fires are a crucial component of African savannas, affecting ecosystem structure, carbon emissions, local hazards and livelihoods. Yet, most fire research in these ecosystems focuses on the fire ecology of protected areas. Research exploring fire regimes in inhabited landscapes remains limited, undermining opportunities for culturally and environmentally sustainable fire management. To address this gap, we used interviews in Tanzanian farming communities and remote sensing to identify intentions behind fire use and the perceived relative frequency and riskiness of fires set for different purposes. We found that the most common ignitions were intentional and important to livelihoods. Burning was adaptive, responsive to environmental conditions, and optimised for the intended outcome with the perceived riskiest fires intentionally spreading uncontrolled. Remote sensing showed that most of the total burned area was accounted for by fires during the late dry season when people burned for activities, such as field preparation, and when environmental conditions encouraged fire spread. Our findings offer an insight into fire regimes in inhabited landscapes, by exploring how intentions shape the fire regime at the landscape scale. We discuss how understanding these intentions and local priorities, including adaptive uses of fire, is key to sustainable fire management outside protected areas.

Valuing User Preferences for Geospatial Fire Monitoring in Guatemala

Like many landscapes across Central America, forests in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR) are increasingly susceptible to forest fire, with most forest fires resulting from untended agricultural fires. Fire damage poses significant risk to the MBR’s natural resources and cultural heritage, but budget challenges limit the capacity of national, regional, and local institutions to effectively detect, monitor, and control forest fires. The Geospatial Information System for Fire Management (SIGMA-I) is a United States government-subsidized suite of geospatial fire management tools that are widely disseminated, free of charge, to land managers and other users in Guatemala for on-the-ground fire prevention and response. Provision of SIGMA-I geospatial data and tools such as daily thermal “hotspot” maps provide positive benefits for sustainable fire management. However, little research exists supporting the nonmarket monetary value of geospatial fire monitoring tools and their component features. We used a choice experiment to estimate land managers’ willingness to pay for individual attributes of SIGMA-I hotspot mapping in Guatemala. We found quantitative evidence of positive willingness to pay for geospatial data, demonstrating positive nonmarket value of geospatial data for sustainable fire management in developing countries and regions where agricultural fires are common. Our results indicate strong preferences from Guatemala’s forest fire management community for improving the frequency of hotspot reporting and reducing detection of erroneous hotspots. As the availability of geospatial data increases, use of tools like SIGMA-I has the potential to significantly improve fire management, especially in regions where funding and resources for fire management are scarce. Our results support continued multinational funding for tools like SIGMA-I for forest fire management in Guatemala and other developing countries.

Opportunities and challenges for savanna burning emissions abatement in southern Africa

Savanna fires occurring in sub-Saharan Africa account for over 60% of global fire extent, of which more than half occurs in the Southern Hemisphere contributing ~29% of global fire emissions. Building on experience in reducing savanna fire emissions in fire-prone north Australian savannas through implementation of an internationally accredited ‘savanna burning’ emissions abatement methodology, we explore opportunities and challenges associated with the application of a similar approach to incentivise emissions reduction in fire-prone southern African savannas. We first show that for a focal region covering seven contiguous countries, at least 80% of annual savanna large fire (>250 ha) extent and emissions occur under relatively severe late dry season (LDS) fire-weather conditions, predominantly in sparsely inhabited areas. We then assess the feasibility of adapting the Australian emissions abatement methodology through exploratory field studies at the Tsodilo Hills World Heritage site in north-west Botswana, and the Niassa Special Reserve in northern Mozambique. Our assessment demonstrates that application of a savanna burning emissions abatement method focused on the undertaking of strategically located early dry season (EDS) burning to reduce LDS wildfire extent and resultant emissions meets key technical criteria, including: LDS fine fuels tend to be markedly greater than EDS fuels given seasonal leaf litter inputs; LDS fires tend to be significantly more severe and combust more fuels; methane and nitrous oxide emission factors are essentially equivalent in EDS and LDS periods under cured fuel conditions. In discussion we consider associated key implementation challenges and caveats that need to be addressed for progressing development of savanna burning methods that incentivise sustainable fire management, reduce emissions, and support community livelihoods in wildfire-dominated southern African savannas.

The legacy of colonial fire management policies on traditional livelihoods and ecological sustainability in savannas: Impacts, consequences, new directions

Land occupation and management systems have defined fire regimes and landscapes for millennia. The savanna biome is responsible for 86% of all fire events, contributes to 10% of the total carbon emissions annually and is home to 10% of the human population. European colonization has been associated with the implementation of fire suppression policies in many tropical savanna regions, markedly disrupting traditional fire management practices and transforming ecosystems. In this paper we assess savanna burning approaches from pre-colonial to contemporary eras in three regions: northern Australia, southern Africa and Brazil. In these regions, fire suppression policies have led to (i) conflicts between government authorities and local communities; (ii) frequent late dry season wildfires and/or (iii) woody encroachment. Such consequences are facilitating changes to fire management policies, including recognition and incorporation of traditional ecological knowledge in contemporary community-based adaptive savanna fire management. Such programs include implementation of prescribed early dry season fires and, in some regions, generating income opportunities for rural and traditional communities through the reduction of late dry season wildfires and associated greenhouse gas emissions. We present a brief history of fire management policies in these three important savanna regions, and identify ongoing challenges for implementation of culturally and ecologically sustainable fire management policies.

A Global Analysis of Hunter-Gatherers, Broadcast Fire Use, and Lightning-Fire-Prone Landscapes

We examined the relationships between lightning-fire-prone environments, socioeconomic metrics, and documented use of broadcast fire by small-scale hunter-gatherer societies. Our approach seeks to re-assess human-fire dynamics in biomes that are susceptible to lightning-triggered fires. We quantify global lightning-fire-prone environments using mean monthly lightning and climatological flammability, and then compare how well those environments and socioeconomic variables (population density, mobility, and subsistence type) serve as predictors of observed broadcast fire use from the ethnographic data. We use a logistic model for all vegetated, forested, and unforested biomes. Our global analysis of human-fire-landscape interaction in three hundred and thirty-nine hunter-gatherer groups demonstrates that lightning-fire-prone environments strongly predict for hunter-gatherer fire use. While we do not maintain that lightning-fire-prone environments determine the use of fire by small societies, they certainly appear to invite its use. Our results further suggest that discounting or ignoring human agency contradicts empirical evidence that hunter-gatherers used fire even in locations where lightning could explain the presence of fire. Paleoecological research on fire and hypothesis testing using global fire modeling should consider insights from human ecology in the interpretation of data and results. More broadly, our results suggest that small-scale societies can provide insight into sustainable fire management in lightning-fire-prone landscapes.

Historical Drivers and Contemporary Perceptions of Wildfire in a Post-Industrial Rural Landscape

Placed-based fire management planning that considers historical patterns and processes as well as contemporary local knowledge is recognized as an alternative to broad-scale, regional approaches. In this paper, we used dendrochronology and an online survey to assess historical trends and contemporary perceptions of wildfire, respectively, in the fire-prone anthracite coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania. We developed an annual index of fire occurrence and extent from 216 fire-scarred pitch pine (Pinus rigida) distributed across 9 ridgetop study sites for the period 1900–2016. In addition, we collected survey responses from area residents regarding contemporary perceptions of wildfire hazards and management. Our results show that 20th century wildfire activity was not associated with drought, but closely followed fluctuations in the anthracite coal industry, with increased fire occurrence and extent associated with times of severe job losses. Less extensive wildfire continues to occur frequently, with area residents recognizing the need for fuel management (i.e., prescribed fire) and an increase in resources allocated to wildfire prevention and management as well as trash disposal and recycling programs. Our research represents one example of an integrated approach to informing sustainable fire management that considers the link between historical patterns and contemporary perceptions.

Can Air Quality Management Drive Sustainable Fuels Management at the Temperate Wildland-Urban Interface?

Sustainable fire management has eluded all industrial societies. Given the growing number and magnitude of wildfire events, prescribed fire is being increasingly promoted as the key to reducing wildfire risk. However, smoke from prescribed fires can adversely affect public health and breach air quality standards. Here we propose that air quality standards can lead to the development and adoption of sustainable fire management approaches that lower the risk of economically and ecologically damaging wildfires while improving air quality and reducing climate-forcing emissions. For example, green fire breaks at the wildland-urban interface (WUI) can resist the spread of wildfires into urban areas. These could be created through mechanical thinning of trees, and then maintained by targeted prescribed fire to create biodiverse and aesthetically pleasing landscapes. The harvested woody debris could be used for pellets and other forms of bioenergy in residential space heating and electricity generation. Collectively, such an approach would reduce the negative health impacts of smoke pollution from wildfires, prescribed fires, and combustion of wood for domestic heating. We illustrate such possibilities by comparing current and potential fire management approaches in the environmentally similar landscapes of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada and the island state of Tasmania in Australia.

Modeling fire ignition patterns in Mediterranean urban interfaces

The rapid growth of built-up areas and infrastructure in the Mediterranean environment has resulted in the expansion of urban interfaces where fire can ignite and spread. Within this context, there is a need to understand spatial patterns of ignition distribution and the relative importance of influencing drivers. In response to this need we developed an analysis of fire ignition patterns using human and biophysical explanatory variables by firstly developing two different linear models to assess patterns of fire ignition points in terms of occurrence (presence/absence) and frequency (number of ignition points per area and secondly applying statistical tests to both models to evaluate the most important human and/or biophysical drivers influencing these patterns. The probability of ignition point occurrence and frequency were mapped using the predicted values of the two models in the Apulia region (southern Italy). Our findings revealed that dependent variables (fire ignition occurrence points and frequency) are negatively correlated with population density, but positively correlated for presence of urban areas with a significantly higher likelihood of ignition in cultivated (crop)land, forest, shrubland, grassland, and other natural spaces. The probability of ignition increased with elevation and slope. The maps show that the probability of ignition occurrence is relevant along the coast in the northern and southern parts of the region, especially in urban interfaces with a strong presence of shrubland and Mediterranean maquis. Ignition point frequency was predicted along the coast, particularly in the south and in some densely urbanized inland areas. By adopting the models, forest managers and decision makers may avail of the knowledge gained to design and promote sustainable fire management strategies in the Apulia region.

A transdisciplinary approach to understanding the health effects of wildfire and prescribed fire smoke regimes

Prescribed burning is used to reduce the occurrence, extent and severity of uncontrolled fires in many flammable landscapes. However, epidemiologic evidence of the human health impacts of landscape fire smoke emissions is shaping fire management practice through increasingly stringent environmental regulation and public health policy. An unresolved question, critical for sustainable fire management, concerns the comparative human health effects of smoke from wild and prescribed fires. Here we review current knowledge of the health effects of landscape fire emissions and consider the similarities and differences in smoke from wild and prescribed fires with respect to the typical combustion conditions and fuel properties, the quality and magnitude of air pollution emissions, and the potential for dispersion to large populations. We further examine the interactions between these considerations, and how they may shape the longer term smoke regimes to which populations are exposed. We identify numerous knowledge gaps and propose a conceptual framework that describes pathways to better understanding of the health trade-offs of prescribed and wildfire smoke regimes.

Community owned solutions for fire management in tropical ecosystems: case studies from Indigenous communities of South America.

Fire plays an increasingly significant role in tropical forest and savanna ecosystems, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and impacting on biodiversity. Emerging research shows the potential role of Indigenous land-use practices for controlling deforestation and reducing CO2 emissions. Analysis of satellite imagery suggests that Indigenous lands have the lowest incidence of wildfires, significantly contributing to maintaining carbon stocks and enhancing biodiversity. Yet acknowledgement of Indigenous peoples' role in fire management and control is limited, and in many cases dismissed, especially in policy-making circles. In this paper, we review existing data on Indigenous fire management and impact, focusing on examples from tropical forest and savanna ecosystems in Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana. We highlight how the complexities of community owned solutions for fire management are being lost as well as undermined by continued efforts on fire suppression and firefighting, and emerging approaches to incorporate Indigenous fire management into market- and incentive-based mechanisms for climate change mitigation. Our aim is to build a case for supporting Indigenous fire practices within all scales of decision-making by strengthening Indigenous knowledge systems to ensure more effective and sustainable fire management.This article is part of the themed issue 'The interaction of fire and mankind'.

Divergent approaches to resolving pressures on NRM and DRR programs: A case study of sustainable fire management training

In the contexts of natural resource management (NRM) and disaster risk reduction (DRR), landholders are increasingly expected to take responsibility for issues which extend beyond property boundaries. Numerous programs are being developed to train landholders to meet these expectations, however the ontological underpinnings, goals and outcomes of these programs can be radically different. Using sustainable fire management as a case study, we compare a modernist approach to training, which educates landholders in the scientific and legislative aspects of NRM and DRR with the aim of persuading them towards particular decisions, with a relational framework which aims to develop new ways of knowing and being that recognises the mutually entwined trajectories of embodied humans, fire and land. Each of these programs initially appeals to different landholders but we suggest that learning styles are malleable and that training has the potential to guide not only what landholders do with their land, but also their ways of ‘knowing’ human/fire/land relations. We discuss the circumstances in which each program might be most appropriate and conclude by emphasising the importance of explicit consideration of these issues by training organisations, funding bodies and policy makers.

Relationships between time since fire and honeyeater abundance in montane heathland

Montane heath communities in south-eastern Australia provide a valuable nectar resource for honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) but are subject to variable fire regimes that may influence the production of this resource and the abundance of honeyeaters. Little is known about changes in honeyeater communities through time after fire. We examined seasonal relationships between characteristics of the honeyeater community and time since fire in Blue Mountains Heath using regression analysis. Positive trends were expected, with possible eventual declines owing to senescence of the vegetation community. Twelve sites ranging from 2 to 39 years since fire were sampled in late winter-spring (cool season) and in late summer (warm season). In the warm season, abundance of all honeyeaters and abundance of New Holland Honeyeaters showed saturation relationships with time since fire. A steep rate of increase in abundance reached a plateau 10 years after fire for all honeyeaters and New Holland Honeyeaters. In the cool season, New Holland Honeyeater abundance was positively influenced by time since fire. This study showed that honeyeaters used heath across a broad range of post-fire intervals >10 years and there was no evidence of a decline as the heath matured (to 39 years post-fire). Our research has contributed to the understanding of the links between fire ecology and avian habitat use, which in turn provides a scientific basis for ecologically sustainable fire management of natural areas.

Pyrogeography and the Global Quest for Sustainable Fire Management

Fire is an ancient influence on the Earth system, affecting biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems. Humans have had a profound influence on global fire activity through setting and controlling fires, modifying the flammability of landscapes, and, more recently, changing the climate through the combustion of fossil fuels. We review this web of complex direct and indirect effects of fire on Earth using the framework provided by the emerging discipline of pyrogeography that unites biological, atmospheric, and social perspectives on fire. We describe the transition from fire activity before humans evolved, through the hunter-gatherer and agricultural phases, to the current period in Earth history dominated by industrialization (Anthropocene). We illustrate how pyrogeography provides the necessary framework to understand fire in the Anthropocene, including the management of pyrogenic emissions, protection of human life, conservation of biodiversity, and provision of ecosystem services.

Challenges of wildland fire management in Botswana: Towards a community inclusive fire management approach

To counteract the growing risk of wildland fire outbreaks countries around the world continue to invest on fire suppression. But there are no clear trends in the reduction of fire catastrophes. Fire activity will intensify with increasing climate variability and extreme events that are projected under climate change. This makes it pertinent to review current fire management strategies and explore more sustainable approaches to fire risk. Botswana experiences frequent unplanned fires that are driven by a combination of climatic factors, policy, land use and social behavior. The country relies on a fire management system that is skewed towards fire suppression and centralized around Government although faced with vast fire prone areas and lacking in resources, coordination and management capacity. This approach has de-coupled fire management from land use and livelihoods that ironically rely on fire and account for most fire outbreaks, putting the country at high risk of fire disasters. This paper explored mechanisms for establishing a sustainable fire management approach in Botswana that is centered on land use fire needs. A fire management strategy that is based on the use of fire for land use management will be community inclusive. Where an appropriate institutional framework is provided, this approach will facilitate effective use of resources, integration of indigenous and modern knowledge systems and help re-focus fire management away from suppression. A community inclusive fire management approach has a greater potential to be of benefit to both land use and ecological requirements of fire and contribute towards adaptation to climate change.

Prescribed burning in southern Europe: developing fire management in a dynamic landscape

Mediterranean landscapes are in a state of flux due to the impacts of changing land‐use patterns and climate. Fuel–weather interactions determine that large, severe wildfires are increasingly common. Prescribed burning in southern Europe is therefore justified by the need to manage fire‐prone vegetation types and maintain cultural landscapes that provide a range of ecosystem services. Prescribed fire has neutral or positive effects on soils and biodiversity, in contrast to wildfires, which can be extremely damaging. However, the limited extent of current applications are unlikely to reduce wildfire hazard or carbon emissions. Adoption of prescribed burning in the Mediterranean region has been slow, uneven, and inconsistent, and its development is constrained by cultural and socioeconomic factors as well as by specific factors related to demography, land use, and landscape structure. Sustainable fire management requires expansion of managers' ability to use prescribed burning, a varied response to unplanned fires, and modified regulation of burning associated with traditional agricultural land uses.

Ecologically sustainable fire management for the northern rivers region of NSW

Ecologically sustainable fire management for the northern rivers region of NSW