Journal ArticleDOI
The global distribution of ecosystems in a world without fire
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TLDR
Comparison of global 'fire off' simulations with landcover and treecover maps show that vast areas of humid C(4) grasslands and savannas, especially in South America and Africa, have the climate potential to form forests.Abstract:
This paper is the first global study of the extent to which fire determines global vegetation patterns by preventing ecosystems from achieving the potential height, biomass and dominant functional types expected under the ambient climate (climate potential). To determine climate potential, we simulated vegetation without fire using a dynamic global-vegetation model. Model results were tested against fire exclusion studies from different parts of the world. Simulated dominant growth forms and tree cover were compared with satellite-derived land- and tree-cover maps. Simulations were generally consistent with results of fire exclusion studies in southern Africa and elsewhere. Comparison of global 'fire off' simulations with landcover and treecover maps show that vast areas of humid C(4) grasslands and savannas, especially in South America and Africa, have the climate potential to form forests. These are the most frequently burnt ecosystems in the world. Without fire, closed forests would double from 27% to 56% of vegetated grid cells, mostly at the expense of C(4) plants but also of C(3) shrubs and grasses in cooler climates. C(4) grasses began spreading 6-8 Ma, long before human influence on fire regimes. Our results suggest that fire was a major factor in their spread into forested regions, splitting biotas into fire tolerant and intolerant taxa.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Fire in the Earth System
David M. J. S. Bowman,Jennifer K. Balch,Jennifer K. Balch,Jennifer K. Balch,Paulo Artaxo,William J. Bond,Jean M. Carlson,Mark A. Cochrane,Carla M. D'Antonio,Ruth DeFries,John Doyle,Sandy P. Harrison,Fay H. Johnston,Jon E. Keeley,Jon E. Keeley,Meg A. Krawchuk,Christian A. Kull,J. Brad Marston,Max A. Moritz,I. Colin Prentice,Christopher I. Roos,Andrew C. Scott,Thomas W. Swetnam,Guido R. van der Werf,Stephen J. Pyne +24 more
TL;DR: What is known and what is needed to develop a holistic understanding of the role of fire in the Earth system are reviewed, particularly in view of the pervasive impact of fires and the likelihood that they will become increasingly difficult to control as climate changes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Fire as a global 'herbivore': the ecology and evolution of flammable ecosystems.
TL;DR: The recent literature is reviewed, drawing parallels between fire and herbivores as alternative consumers of vegetation, and pointing to the common questions and some surprisingly different answers that emerge from viewing fire as a globally significant consumer that is analogous to herbivory.
Journal ArticleDOI
Flammable biomes dominated by eucalypts originated at the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary
Michael D. Crisp,Geoffrey E. Burrows,Lynette Gai Cook,Andrew H. Thornhill,David M. J. S. Bowman +4 more
TL;DR: It is predicted that epicormic resprouting could make eucalypt forests and woodlands an excellent long-term carbon bank for reducing atmospheric CO(2) compared with biomes with similar fire regimes in other continents.
Journal ArticleDOI
Implications of changing climate for global wildland fire
TL;DR: A review of the current understanding of what the future may bring with respect to wildland fire and future options for research and management is presented in this paper. But, as stated in the review, "wildland fire is a global phenomenon, and a result of interactions between climate, fuels, and people".
Journal ArticleDOI
Plant functional traits and soil carbon sequestration in contrasting biomes
TL;DR: It is proposed that a trait-based approach will help to develop strategies to preserve and promote carbon sequestration under global changes, and how the composition of key plant traits and soil biota related to carbon input, release and storage prevail in different biomes across the globe.
References
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World Reference Base for Soil Resources
TL;DR: The World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) as mentioned in this paper is a reference base for soil resources developed by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) for soil correlation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Community Structure, Population Control, and Competition
TL;DR: Populations of producers, carnivores, and decomposers are limited by their respective resources in the classical density-dependent fashion and interspecific competition must necessarily exist among the members of each of these three trophic levels.
Journal ArticleDOI
Biological invasions by exotic grasses, the grass/fire cycle, and global change
TL;DR: Biological invasions into wholly new regions are a consequence of a far reaching but underappreciated component of global environmental change, the human-caused breakdown of biogeographic barriers to species dispersal.
Book
Principles of Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology
TL;DR: In this paper, the Ecosystem Concept is used to describe the Earth's Climate System and Geology and Soils, and the ecosystem concept is used for managing and sustaining ecosystems.
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