Featured
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Article
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Increased fire activity under high atmospheric oxygen concentrations is compatible with the presence of forests
This study shows that fire activity under high atmospheric oxygen concentrations does not remove or prevent regeneration of present-day global forests, contradicting a long-term assumption used to define the upper limit of oxygen through time.
- Rayanne Vitali
- , Claire M. Belcher
- & Andrew J. Watson
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Matters Arising
| Open Access
Fire activity as measured by burned area reveals weak effects of ENSO in China
- Víctor Resco de Dios
- , Yinan Yao
- & Matthias M. Boer
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Matters Arising
| Open Access
Reply to: Fire activity as measured by burned area reveals weak effects of ENSO in China
- Qichao Yao
- , Keyan Fang
- & Valerie Trouet
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Article
| Open Access
Statistical considerations of nonrandom treatment applications reveal region-wide benefits of widespread post-fire restoration action
Postfire sagebrush seeding treatments are widely applied across the western USA but evidence for the success of this restoration approach has been variable. Examining >1500 wildfires, this study shows that positive treatment effects were only detected after considering systematic differences between treated and untreated sites due to effects of selection biases in restoration.
- Allison B. Simler-Williamson
- & Matthew J. Germino
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Article
| Open Access
Human-ignited fires result in more extreme fire behavior and ecosystem impacts
‘Human-caused fires and natural fires could have different impacts. Here the authors report a geospatial analysis of lightning-ignited and human-ignited fires in California between 2012 and 2018, finding that the latter were more likely to develop under extreme conditions with larger ecosystem impacts.’
- Stijn Hantson
- , Niels Andela
- & James T. Randerson
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Article
| Open Access
Spatial and temporal expansion of global wildland fire activity in response to climate change
Global climatic fire-prone regions were identified, assessing possible future climate change impacts. A general spatial expansion of these regions and a frequency increase of the fire-prone conditions are expected, especially in Boreal regions.
- Martín Senande-Rivera
- , Damián Insua-Costa
- & Gonzalo Miguez-Macho
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Matters Arising
| Open AccessResponse to: Problems and promises of savanna fire regime change
- Geoffrey J. Lipsett-Moore
- , Nicholas H. Wolff
- & Edward T. Game
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Article
| Open Access
Fire-induced rock spalling as a mechanism of weathering responsible for flared slope and inselberg development
Fire is an important mechanism of physical weathering responsible for the formation of overhanging flared slopes around the margins of steep-sided inselbergs. Fire-spalling erodes landscapes laterally rather than vertically and produces significant volumes of new sediment.
- Solomon Buckman
- , Rowena H. Morris
- & Robert P. Bourman
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Article
| Open Access
ENSO modulates wildfire activity in China
Fire activity in China and its associations with climate are not well quantified at a local scale. Here, the authors present a detailed fire occurrence dataset for China and find a dipole fire pattern between southwestern and southeastern China that is modulated by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
- Keyan Fang
- , Qichao Yao
- & Valerie Trouet
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Article
| Open Access
Implications of the 2019–2020 megafires for the biogeography and conservation of Australian vegetation
Fires triggered by climate change threaten plant diversity in many biomes. Here the authors investigate how the catastrophic fires of 2019–2020 affected the vascular flora of SE Australia. They report that 816 species were highly impacted, including taxa of biogeographic and conservation interest.
- Robert C. Godfree
- , Nunzio Knerr
- & Linda M. Broadhurst
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Article
| Open Access
Excess forest mortality is consistently linked to drought across Europe
Droughts pose an increasingly important threat to forests. Here the authors analyse a high-resolution Landsat-based dataset of forest canopy mortality in Europe over 1987–2016 to show that drought is already a major driver of tree mortality.
- Cornelius Senf
- , Allan Buras
- & Rupert Seidl
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Article
| Open Access
Quantifying the drivers and predictability of seasonal changes in African fire
Fire is an important component of many African ecosystems, but prediction of fire activity is challenging. Here, the authors use a statistical framework to assess the seasonal environmental drivers of African fire, which allow for a better prediction of fire activity.
- Yan Yu
- , Jiafu Mao
- & Yaoping Wang
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Article
| Open Access
Fire deficit increases wildfire risk for many communities in the Canadian boreal forest
A primary element of modern wildfire management is to aggressively suppress small fires before they become large, but benefits can be offset by the fact that these practices promote older forests that are more ‘flammable’. Here the authors show that this downside puts numerous human communities at elevated risk of fires in boreal Canada.
- Marc-André Parisien
- , Quinn E. Barber
- & Sean A. Parks
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Article
| Open Access
Elevational differences in hydrogeomorphic disturbance regime influence sediment residence times within mountain river corridors
Extreme climatic events and wildfires can potentially influence sediment residence times in rivers, although the effect is not clear. Here, the authors present radiocarbon ages to show mountain streams as stable retentive reservoirs poised to change under shifting hydrologic and fire regimes.
- Nicholas A. Sutfin
- & Ellen Wohl
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Article
| Open Access
Four-fold increase in solar forcing on snow in western U.S. burned forests since 1999
The impacts of forest fire activity in the western US on snow melt are poorly quantified. Here the authors use satellite and field-based observations to document a four-fold increase in the solar forcing on snow in western burned forests from 1999 to 2018.
- Kelly E. Gleason
- , Joseph R. McConnell
- & Wendy M. Calvin
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Article
| Open Access
Biophysical feedback of global forest fires on surface temperature
Understanding the role of forest fires in Earth’s climate system is critical to predict future fire-climate interactions. Here the authors show that fire-induced forest loss accounts for ~15% of global forest loss and that its impact on surface temperature depends on evapotranspiration and albedo.
- Zhihua Liu
- , Ashley P. Ballantyne
- & L. Annie Cooper
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| Open Access
Wildfire as a major driver of recent permafrost thaw in boreal peatlands
Future permafrost thaw may be underestimated unless effects of wildfire are considered. Here the authors show that wildfires in boreal permafrost peatlands influence soil temperature and seasonal thaw depth for several decades, and increase the rate of complete permafrost thaw along permafrost edges.
- Carolyn M. Gibson
- , Laura E. Chasmer
- & David Olefeldt
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Article
| Open Access
Emissions mitigation opportunities for savanna countries from early dry season fire management
The management of fire season has been proposed as a climate mitigation tool but the scope and scale of this action is unclear. Here the authors use global emissions datasets to assess emissions mitigation opportunities for savanna fires, highlighting significant reduction potential in 37 countries.
- Geoffrey J. Lipsett-Moore
- , Nicholas H. Wolff
- & Edward T. Game
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Article
| Open Access
Reduction in global area burned and wildfire emissions since 1930s enhances carbon uptake by land
Anthropogenic influences alter natural fire regimes in multiple ways but the resulting effect on the land carbon budget has not been quantified. Here the authors show that the reduction in global area burned and wildfire emissions due to anthropogenic influences is currently enhancing carbon uptake over land.
- Vivek K. Arora
- & Joe R. Melton
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Article
| Open Access
Incorrect interpretation of carbon mass balance biases global vegetation fire emission estimates
Vegetation fires contribute to global carbon emissions, but uncertainty exists due to inconsistencies in the treatment of post-burn combustion. Here, it is shown that the ‘consumed biomass’ approach overestimates emissions by 4%, which can be corrected using an alternative ‘burnt carbon’ method.
- N. C. Surawski
- , A. L. Sullivan
- & P. J. Polglase
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Article
| Open Access
Climate-induced variations in global wildfire danger from 1979 to 2013
Global wildfires can have severe societal implications and economic cost and have been strongly linked to climate. Here, the authors analyse daily global wildfire trends and show that, during the past 35 years, wildfire season length has increased by 18.7% over more than a quarter of the Earth’s surface.
- W. Matt Jolly
- , Mark A. Cochrane
- & David M. J. S. Bowman
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Power laws reveal phase transitions in landscape controls of fire regimes
Understanding the environmental controls of past wildfires is difficult due to the lack of records of weather or vegetation. This study shows, using cross-scale analysis, how power laws associated with fire-event time series can identify critical thresholds in landscape dynamics in a rapidly changing climate.
- Donald McKenzie
- & Maureen C. Kennedy
Fire suppression makes wildfires more severe and accentuates impacts of climate change and fuel accumulation