Journal ArticleDOI
The global fire–productivity relationship
Juli G. Pausas,E. Ribeiro +1 more
TLDR
In this paper, the intermediate fire-productivity model has been validated across all world ecosystems, including Antarctica, and it has been suggested that on a global scale, fire activity changes along the productivity/aridity gradient following a humped relationship.Abstract:
Aim
It has been suggested that on a global scale, fire activity changes along the productivity/aridity gradient following a humped relationship, i.e. the intermediate fire–productivity hypothesis. This relation should be driven by differing relative roles of the main fire drivers (weather and fuel) along the productivity gradient. However, the full intermediate fire–productivity model across all world ecosystems remains to be validated.
Location
The entire globe, excluding Antarctica.
Methods
To test the intermediate fire–productivity hypothesis, we use the world ecoregions as a spatial unit and, for each ecoregion, we compiled remotely sensed fire activity, climate, biomass and productivity information. The regression coefficient between monthly MODIS fire activity and monthly maximum temperature in each ecoregion was considered an indicator of the sensitivity of fire to high temperatures in the ecoregion. We used linear and generalized additive models to test for the linear and humped relationships.
Results
Fire occurs in most ecoregions. Fire activity peaked in tropical grasslands and savannas, and significantly decreased towards the extremes of the productivity gradient. Both the sensitivity of fire to high temperatures and above-ground biomass increased monotonically with productivity. In other words, fire activity in low-productivity ecosystems is not driven by warm periods and is limited by low biomass; in contrast, in high-productivity ecosystems fire is more sensitive to high temperatures, and in these ecosystems, the available biomass for fires is high.
Main conclusion
The results support the intermediate fire–productivity model on a global scale and suggest that climatic warming may affect fire activity differently depending on the productivity of the region. Fire regimes in productive regions are vulnerable to warming (drought-driven fire regime changes), while in low-productivity regions fire activity is more vulnerable to fuel changes (fuel-driven fire regime changes).read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Global and Regional Trends and Drivers of Fire Under Climate Change
Matthew W. Jones,John T. Abatzoglou,Sander Veraverbeke,Niels Andela,Gitta Lasslop,Matthias Forkel,Adam J. P. Smith,Chantelle Burton,Richard Betts,Guido R. van der Werf,Stephen Sitch,Josep G. Canadell,Cristina Santín,Crystal A. Kolden,Stefan H. Doerr,Corinne Le Quéré +15 more
TL;DR: In this article , the authors present a stocktake of regional trends in fire weather and burned area during recent decades, and examine how fire activity relates to its bioclimatic and human drivers.
Journal ArticleDOI
Fire-induced deforestation in drought-prone Mediterranean forests: drivers and unknowns from leaves to communities
Asaf Karavani,Matthias M. Boer,Mara Baudena,Carlos Colinas,Rubén Díaz-Sierra,Jesús Pemán,Martin de Luis,Álvaro Enríquez-de-Salamanca,Víctor Resco de Dios +8 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a conceptual framework for the process of fire-induced deforestation based on the interactive effects of fire and drought across three hierarchical scales: resistance in individuals, resilience in populations, and transitions to a new state.
Journal ArticleDOI
Climate–vegetation–fire interactions and feedbacks: trivial detail or major barrier to projecting the future of the Earth system?
Rebecca M. B. Harris,Tomas A. Remenyi,Grant J. Williamson,Nathaniel L. Bindoff,David M. J. S. Bowman +4 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) that more accurately represent biological drivers of fire, such as fire frequency, intensity, and timing, to predict the location, severity or timing of fires.
Journal ArticleDOI
Alternative Biome States in Terrestrial Ecosystems
Juli G. Pausas,William J. Bond +1 more
TL;DR: The theory as applied to the puzzle of nonforested (open) biomes growing in climates that are warm and wet enough to support forests (alternative biome states, ABSs) is introduced.
Journal ArticleDOI
Fire activity as a function of fire-weather seasonal severity and antecedent climate across spatial scales in southern Europe and Pacific western USA
Itziar R. Urbieta,Gonzalo Zavala,Joaquín Bedia,José María Gutiérrez,Jesús San Miguel-Ayanz,Andrea Camia,Jon E. Keeley,Jon E. Keeley,José M. Moreno +8 more
TL;DR: This paper analyzed the relationship between fire-weather conditions during the main fire season and antecedent water-balance conditions and fires in two Mediterranean-type regions with contrasted management histories: five southern countries of the European Union (EUMED), the Pacific western coast of the USA (California and Oregon, PWUSA), national forest fires.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth
Journal ArticleDOI
A global overview of drought and heat-induced tree mortality reveals emerging climate change risks for forests
Craig D. Allen,Alison K. Macalady,Haroun Chenchouni,Dominique Bachelet,Nate G. McDowell,Michel Vennetier,Thomas Kitzberger,Andreas Rigling,David D. Breshears,Edward H. Hogg,Patrick Gonzalez,Rod Fensham,Zhen Zhang,Jorge Castro,N.A. Demidova,Jong Hwan Lim,Gillian Allard,Steven W. Running,Akkin Semerci,Neil S. Cobb +19 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the first global assessment of recent tree mortality attributed to drought and heat stress and identify key information gaps and scientific uncertainties that currently hinder our ability to predict tree mortality in response to climate change and emphasizes the need for a globally coordinated observation system.
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Warming and Earlier Spring Increase Western U.S. Forest Wildfire Activity
Anthony L. Westerling,Anthony L. Westerling,Hugo G. Hidalgo,Daniel R. Cayan,Daniel R. Cayan,Thomas W. Swetnam +5 more
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Suranjana Saha,Shrinivas Moorthi,Hua-Lu Pan,Xingren Wu,Jiande Wang,Sudhir Nadiga,Patrick Tripp,Robert Kistler,John S. Woollen,David Behringer,Haixia Liu,Diane Stokes,Robert Grumbine,George Gayno,Jun Wang,Yu-Tai Hou,Hui-ya Chuang,Hann-Ming Henry Juang,Joe Sela,Mark Iredell,Russ Treadon,Daryl T. Kleist,Paul van Delst,Dennis Keyser,John Derber,Michael Ek,Jesse Meng,Helin Wei,Rongqian Yang,Stephen J. Lord,Huug van den Dool,Arun Kumar,Wanqiu Wang,Craig S. Long,Muthuvel Chelliah,Yan Xue,Boyin Huang,Jae-Kyung E. Schemm,Wesley Ebisuzaki,Roger Lin,Pingping Xie,Mingyue Chen,Shuntai Zhou,Wayne Higgins,Cheng-Zhi Zou,Quanhua Liu,Yong Chen,Yong Han,Lidia Cucurull,Richard W. Reynolds,Glenn Rutledge,Mitch Goldberg +51 more
TL;DR: The NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) was completed for the 31-yr period from 1979 to 2009, in January 2010 as mentioned in this paper, which was designed and executed as a global, high-resolution coupled atmosphere-ocean-land surface-sea ice system to provide the best estimate of the state of these coupled domains over this period.
Journal ArticleDOI
Generalized Additive Models: An Introduction With R
TL;DR: Robinson, R. (2007). Generalized Additive Models: An Introduction With R.(2007).
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