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Societal Impact Statement Summary Highland forests of Mozambique have been strongly modified by human activities for millennia. Some highlands have sheer rock cliffs and are highly inaccessible to people and appear relatively undisturbed. Evidence from the forest and soils of inaccessible Mount Lico show that the fire regime has changed over the recent millennia. As climate and fire regimes continue to change, management of highland ecosystems will be crucial to sustain the high biodiversity and mountain‐water resources that provide key ecosystem services to people living close to these forests. The sheer rock cliffs of the Mount Lico inselberg, northern Mozambique, is relatively inaccessible to people. A 0.57 km2 forest covers the top of the isolated mountain, and the tree demographics and soil offer an opportunity to investigate the long‐term fire ecology of the forests of the western, leeside of the mountain and potential for changing regional hydroclimate of the Late Holocene. On the western side of the mountaintop, a 20 × 20 m plot was surveyed for tree taxa, heights and bole diameters. A 220 cm deep pit was dug into the forest soil and analysed to describe the soil texture and carbon content. Charcoal was quantified on sieved subsamples and classified into charcoal morphologies that were then grouped by how readily entrainable on an index score. Three radiocarbon dates were collected from pieces charcoal. The forest is a combination of montane and woodland tree taxa that differed from the older, more mesic eastern side and reflected differential disturbance patterns. The reddish loam soils dated to the Middle Holocene. Charcoal was present in all soil subsamples and varied little until increasing consistently during the past millennium. The charcoal morphologies suggested a combination of locally derived charcoal and charcoal derived from the surrounding lowlands with the latter increasing in the past centuries. Few Holocene paleoenvironmental records have been developed from tropical soils in Africa and are useful in locations that do not host lakes and wetlands. Both tree demographics and soil charcoal suggest that changing forest disturbance regimes began during the past millennium. An understanding of history informs future conservation and appropriate management of these special places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The Pinus halepensis (Aleppo pine) forests prevailing in the western part of the Mediterranean Basin are amongst the most severely affected by fire due to their inherent flammability. Our understanding of the environmental factors driving post-fire community dynamics is currently limited by the lack of time-series data at temporal scales. In this present study, we analyzed a chronosequence of Greek Aleppo pine forests spanning a post-fire period of 65 years. Our goal is to explore the role of post-fire age, altitude, exposure, slope level, parent-rock material, rock cover, and cover of evergreen sclerophyllous shrubs (maquis) on plant assemblage diversity (species richness and Menhinick's diversity index) and composition. Post-fire age had a significant effect on taxonomic distinctness and community turnover but not on species richness. Taxonomic distinctness increased with post-fire age due to a higher prevalence of the families Fabaceae, Asteraceae, and Poaceae during the early post-fire period. Maquis cover was significantly associated with Menhinick's diversity index, taxonomic distinctness, and community turnover. Exposure and slope influenced only Menhinick's diversity index. The turnover in species composition was primarily driven by the geographical proximity of the forests and secondarily by post-fire age and the maquis cover. This highlights the importance of the initial floristic composition in the process of autosuccession after a fire in Mediterranean-climate ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfires present a major global environmental issue, exacerbated by climate change. The Iranian Northern Zagros Forests, characterized by a Mediterranean climate, are particularly vulnerable to fires during hot, dry summers. This study investigates the impact of climate change on forest fires in these forests from 2006 to 2023. The analysis revealed significant year-to-year fluctuations, with notable fire occurrence in years 2007, 2010, 2021, and 2023. The largest burned area occurred in 2021, covering 2655.66 ha, while 2006 had the smallest burned area of 175.27 ha. Climate variables such as temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind speed, heat waves, and solar radiation were assessed for their effects on fire behavior. Strong correlations were found between higher average temperatures and larger burned areas, as well as between heat waves and increased fire frequency. Additionally, higher wind speeds were linked to larger burned areas, suggesting that increased wind speeds may enhance fire spread. Multiple linear regression models demonstrated high predictive accuracy, explaining 84% of the variance in burned areas and 69.6% in the variance in fire frequency. These findings document the growing wildfire risk in the Northern Zagros region due to climate change, highlighting the urgent need to integrate scientific research with policies to develop effective wildfire management strategies for sustainable forest management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characteristics of the vegetation fire (VF) regime are strongly influenced by geographical variables such as regional physiographic settings, location, and climate. Understanding the VF regime is extremely important for managing and mitigating the impacts of fires on ecosystems, communities, and human activities in forest fire-prone regions. The present study thereby aimed to explore the potential effects of the confounding factors on VF in India to offer actionable and achievable solutions for mitigating this concurring environmental issue sustainably. A global burn area (250 m) data (Fire-CCIv5.1) and fire radiative power (FRP) were used to investigate the dynamics of VF across seven different divisions in India. The study also used the maximum and minimum temperatures, precipitation, population density, and intensity of human modification to model forest burn areas (including grassland). The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project-6 (CMIP6) was used to predict the burn area for 2030 and 2050 future climate scenarios. The present study accounted for a sizable increasing trend of VF during 2001–2019 period. The highest increasing trend was found in central India (513 and 343 km2 year−1 in the forest and crop fire, respectively), followed by southern India (364 km2 year−1 in forest fire), and upper Indo-Gangetic plain (128 km2 year−1 in crop fire). The FRP has varied significantly across the divisions, with the north-eastern Himalayas exhibiting the highest FRP hotspot. The maximum and minimum temperatures have the greatest influence on forest fires, according to Random Forest (RF) modeling. The estimated pre-monsoonal burn area for 2050 and 2050 future scenarios suggested a more frequent forest fire occurrence across India, particularly in southern and central India. A comprehensive forest fire control policy is therefore essential to safeguard and conserve forest cover in the regions, affected by forest fire periodically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Altered fire regimes, combined with a warmer and drier climate, have been eroding the resilience of temperate rainforests and peatlands worldwide and leading to alternative post-fire vegetation communities. Chronic anthropogenic burning of temperate rainforests at the forest-peatland ecotone in western Patagonia appears to have shifted vegetation communities in poorly-drained sites from forests dominated by the threatened conifer, Pilgerodendron uviferum, to peat-accumulating wetlands covered by Sphagnum mosses. We collected and modeled post-reburn field data using ordinations and hierarchical Bayesian regressions to examine mechanisms through which P. uviferum forests may recover following fire or become locked into alternative development pathways by comparing biophysical factors of a reburned ecotone to those of an unburned (control) ecotone. We found that, (1) the significantly higher densities of P. uviferum trees and seedlings in the forested patches at both the reburned and control sites were associated with significantly lower seasonal water tables, lower cover of Sphagnum mosses and higher cover of other mosses (i.e., not in the Sphagnum or Dicranaloma genera); (2) despite abrupt boundaries in vegetation at both sites, successive fires homogenized the environment at the reburned site; and (3) the distinct life forms and individual species that characterized the understory plant communities across the ecotones affected seedling abundance by shaping microtopography and the substrates available for establishment. Together, our results suggest that fire can push edaphically wet P. uviferum-dominated sites towards a non-forested state by reducing the diversity of microsite structure and composition, thereby placing P. uviferum seedlings in direct competition with Sphagnum mosses and potentially limiting the availability of microsites that are protected from both seasonal inundation and seasonal drought. If wildfires continue under increasingly warmer and drier conditions, the forestpeatland ecotone of western Patagonia may be susceptible to large-scale transformation towards a non-forested state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The forests of the boreal biome, which perform an important climate-regulating function, are the most susceptible to forest fires. An important task is to obtain quantitative estimates of carbon (C) losses of forest ecosystems under different fire damage scenarios, as well as the possibility of such estimates based on remote sensing data. Our study provides comprehensive field data on C stocks in pools of plant phytomass and necromass, forest litter, and ground cover for a vast area of boreal forests in the Russian Far East. We studied forests of the larch formation that have been affected by fires of varying intensity. The severity of the fires was assessed based on differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR). The variation in C pools depending on the strength of the fire is shown. We did not find a relationship of C stocks with the dNBR in the forests in the south of the study area that might have caused the rapid change of species during post-fire recovery. In the northern part of the area, there is a trend of a decrease in plant phytomass with an increase in dNBR (R2 = 0.78). The proportion of dead standing wood share in the total C stock increases with increasing fire severity (R2 = 0.63). The maximum and average C stocks in the litter were 10.6 and 3.9 t C ha−1, respectively; coarse woody debris contained 8.7 and 2.0 t C ha−1; carbon stocks in living ground cover were 1.2 on average and reached 4.7 t C ha−1. Our study shows that dNBR can serve as a good predictor of the C stock of phytomass after a fire in the northern part of the Far East region, which opens up opportunities for approximate quantitative remote estimates of C losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire‐herbivory feedbacks strongly influence the formation of grazing lawns in savanna ecosystems. Preliminary findings suggest that small‐scale (<25 ha) fires can engineer grazing lawns by concentrating herbivores on the post‐burn green flush; however, the persistence of such grazing lawns over the longer term and without repeated fire is unknown.We used high‐resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) to investigate the long‐term effects of fire manipulation on short grass structure (height, cover, volume and spatial continuity) and grazing lawn establishment in Kruger National Park, South Africa. We analysed the effects of fire exclusion and experimental burns applied over a 7‐year period (2013–2019) followed by a 1‐year cessation of burning at varying spatial scales during the early and late dry seasons.Fires contributed a fourfold increase in short grass cover, regardless of fire season or size. The distribution of grass height differed significantly between fire‐induced grazing lawns and recently unburnt parts of the landscape where controlled fires were excluded over the experimental period. The volume (corresponding to bulk density) of short grass on the landscape responded strongly to fires, with grass volume <20 cm in height increasing with both early and late dry season fires.Early dry season fires caused larger and more homogeneous short grass patches. Furthermore, early dry season fires were more influential in increasing the cover of the shortest grass height class (1–5 cm).Synthesis and applications. Our results demonstrate that fire‐induced grazing lawns can persist over the longer term, even when fires are no longer applied, leading to the creation of vertical and horizontal heterogeneity in the grass layer. Small‐scale fires, therefore, represent a feasible management approach to expanding grazing lawn extent, potentially benefiting grazer coexistence and diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The forest structure of Canada's northern unmanaged boreal forests are not well characterized despite their critical importance for ecosystem services such as carbon storage and caribou habitat, as well as their vulnerability to climate change and increasing disturbance rates, especially wildfire. Spaceborne lidar observations acquired from the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) instrument onboard the Ice, Cloud and Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2), enables monitoring of forest structure in these remote northern ecosystems and characterization of long-term post-fire recovery; however, ICESat-2 is a sampling instrument, acquiring data transects rather than wall-to-wall data coverage. By imputing ICESat-2 estimates of canopy height using annual time-series (1984–2021) of spectral indices, change metrics, and land cover metrics from Landsat surface reflectance composites, we derived annual, spatially explicit, wall-to-wall estimates of canopy height for the period 1984–2021 across a 19.6 Mha area of boreal forests in northwestern Ontario and a 630,000 ha area of managed boreal forest further south that had coincident airborne laser scanning (ALS) data for validation. The accuracy of the imputation of derived canopy height estimates in the northwestern site was assessed using a reserved set of ICESat-2 observations (r = 0.76; RMSD = 3.04 m, pRMSD = 33.9%, MD = −0.10 m, and pMD = −1.0%). Using coincident ALS data, the accuracy of the imputed canopy heights in the southern study site were also assessed (r = 0.81; RMSD = 3.65 m, pRMSD = 25.87%), MD = −0.70 m, pMD = 4.96%). Examination of height dynamics post fire indicated that canopy height decreased 8–10 years post fire and recovered between 60% and 85% of pre-fire canopy height within 30 years post fire. The approach presented could readily be extended to similar northern boreal forest areas to provide broad-scale characterizations of fire impacts on forest structure and subsequent recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Indonesian Journal of Forestry Research is the property of Indonesian Journal of Forestry Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Birds contribute to the trophic interactions within mixed conifer ecosystems and provide a suite of services, such as nutrient transport, seed dispersal, habitat creation, and insect regulation. Avian communities vary in response to the structure and composition of their habitat, which may be drastically altered by fire, the predominant disturbance of western mixed conifer forests. We conducted avian point count surveys during the peak breeding season, five years post-fire, across four burn severities (unburned, low, moderate, and high) within the 416 Fire perimeter, a 55,000-acre mixed-severity fire that burned near Durango, Colorado in 2018. Avian communities in each burn severity were evaluated for richness, diversity, differentiation, indicator species, and functional guild composition. Species assemblages were significantly different across all burn severities, excluding the low to moderate areas comparison, with differentiation driven by live tree and snag density. Avian species' richness and diversity were not significantly different across burn severities, highlighting the importance of utilizing multivariate community analysis. Unburned and high-burn areas had significant variation in functional guilds and numerous indicator species. This study provides evidence of avian community differentiation by burn severity, suggesting that management practices promoting heterogenous stand structure in warm–dry mixed conifer will positively influence avian biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions: Anthropogenic climate change is causing increases in the severity of wildland fire in many parts of the world. At the same time, post‐fire succession is occurring under new, warmer temperatures that are projected to continue increasing. Despite this, the combined effects of uncharacteristically high burn severity and increased ambient temperature on post‐fire community composition remain poorly understood. We ask how post‐fire forest understorey community composition and species richness are influenced by (1) burn severity, (2) experimental warming, and (3) years since fire. Location: Museum Fire Scar, Pinus ponderosa forest, Arizona, United States. Methods: We established 120 1‐m2 quadrats in unburned, low‐ and high‐severity locations nine months after a mixed‐severity fire. Half of the plots were subject to experimental warming via open‐top warming chambers that elevated daytime temperatures by 1.079°C, simulating near‐term anthropogenic warming. Plant composition data were collected annually for three years. Relationships between community composition, burn severity, and experimental warming were analyzed using repeated‐measures PERMANOVA and linear mixed‐effects models. Results: Composition differed significantly according to burn severity, time since fire, and their interaction, while experimental warming did not significantly influence composition. Species richness significantly increased in burned areas compared to unburned control within two years of fire. Conclusions: Our results suggest that near‐term temperature increases, driven by anthropogenic climate change, will have little effect on community composition relative to fire severity. High‐severity fire drove large, rapid changes in plant composition compared to unburned controls, favoring exotic annuals in a historically perennial‐dominated plant community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire-derived charcoal (charcoal) is a stable byproduct of forest fires, which accumulates in the litter layer and soils of boreal forests. Therefore, the decomposition of litter and roots as one of the key processes in the carbon cycle in the soils of northern forests proceeds almost everywhere in the presence of charcoal. To date, the data on the influence of charcoal on the organic material decomposition in boreal forests are extremely scarce and most of them do not consider the cold period, which lasts on the average half a year in this zone. The goal of this work is to determine the seasonal influence of charcoal on the decomposition of plant litter of different qualities (larch needles, birch leaves, grasses, and mixtures of these litter types) on the soil surface and the roots of the same types in the soil. A field litterbag experiment demonstrates that charcoal accelerates the decomposition of litter in a species-specific manner. Charcoal accelerates the mass loss of recalcitrant aboveground litter (needles) and all types of roots during the cold season. As for the warm season, charcoal accelerates the decomposition of only needles and has no effect on the roots. Thus, our study shows a greater influence of charcoal on the subsoil decomposition especially in the cold season. The seasonal influence of charcoal is demonstrated for the first time and should be taken into account as an important factor of humus formation and carbon dynamics in the soils of boreal forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fuel and restoration treatments seeking to mitigate the likelihood of uncharacteristic high-severity wildfires in forests with historically frequent, low-severity fire regimes are increasingly common, but long-term treatment effects on fuels, aboveground carbon, plant community structure, ecosystem resilience, and other ecosystem attributes are understudied. We present 20-year responses to thinning and prescribed burning treatments commonly used in dry, lowelevation forests of the western United States from a long-term study site in the Northern Rockies that is part of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study. We provide a comprehensive synthesis of short-term (<4 years) and mid-term (<14 years) results from previous findings. We then place these results in the context of a mountain pine beetle (MPB; Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreak that impacted the site 5-10 years post-treatment and describe 20-year responses to assess the longevity of restoration and fuel reduction treatments in light of the MPB outbreak. Thinning treatments had persistently lower forest density and higher tree growth, but effects were more pronounced when thinning was combined with prescribed fire. The thinning +prescribed fire treatment had the additional benefit of maintaining the highest proportion of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) for overstory and regeneration. No differences in understory native plant cover and richness or exotic species cover remained after 20 years, but exotic species richness, while low relative to native species, was still higher in the thinning+prescribed fire treatment than the control. Aboveground live carbon stocks in thinning treatments recovered to near control and prescribed fire treatment levels by 20 years. The prescribed fire treatment and control had higher fuel loads than thinning treatments due to interactions with the MPB outbreak. The MPBinduced changes to forest structure and fuels increased the fire hazard 20 years post-treatment in the control and prescribed fire treatment. Should a wildfire occur now, the thinning+prescribed fire treatment would likely have the lowest intensity fire and highest tree survival and stable carbon stocks. Our findings show broad support that thinning and prescribed fire increase ponderosa pine forest resilience to both wildfire and bark beetles for up to 20 years, but efficacy is waning and additional fuel treatments are needed to maintain resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the influence of extreme weather patterns has led to an alarming increase in the frequency and severity of sub-surface forest fires in boreal forests. The Ledum palustre-Larix gmelinii forests of the Daxing'an Mountains of China have emerged as a hotspot for sub-surface fires, and terrain slope has been recognized as a pivotal factor shaping forest fire behavior. The present study was conducted to (1) study the effect of terrain slope on the smoldering temperature and spread rate using simulated smoldering experiments and (2) establish occurrence probability prediction model of the sub-surface fires' smoldering with different slopes based on the random forest model. The results showed that all the temperatures with different slopes were high, and the highest temperature was 947.91 °C. The spread rates in the horizontal direction were higher than those in the vertical direction, and the difference increased as the slope increased. The influence of slope on the peak temperature was greater than that of spread rate. The peak temperature was extremely positively correlated with the slope, horizontal distance and vertical depth. The spread rate was extremely positively correlated with the slope. The spread rate in the vertical direction was strongly positively correlated with the depth, but was strongly negatively correlated with the horizontal distance; the horizontal spread rate was opposite. The prediction equations for smoldering peak temperature and spread rate were established based on slope, horizontal distance, and vertical depth, and the model had a good fit (p < 0.01). Using random forest model, we established the occurrence prediction models for different slopes based on horizontal distance, vertical depth, and combustion time. The models had a good fit (AUC > 0.9) and high prediction accuracy (accuracy > 80%). The study proved the effect of slope on the characteristics of sub-surface fire smoldering, explained the variation in peak temperature and spread rate between different slopes, and established the occurrence prediction model based on the random forest model. The selected models had a good fit, and prediction accuracy met the requirement of the sub-surface fire prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Forest disturbances such as wildfires can dramatically alter forest structure and composition, increasing the likelihood of ecosystem changes. Up-to-date and accurate measures of post-disturbance forest recovery in managed forests are critical, particularly for silvicultural planning. Measuring the live and dead vegetation post-fire is challenging because areas impacted by wildfire may be remote, difficult to access, and/or dangerous to survey. The difficulties of post-fire monitoring are compounded by the global increase in the frequency and severity of disturbances, as expansion of disturbed areas also increases the number and size of areas requiring post-disturbance monitoring. Methods that safely, efficiently, and extensively differentiate silviculturally beneficial coniferous growth from barren ground or deciduous shrubs are necessary to inform post-fire forest management. Satellite imagery can detect burn patterns, but monitoring changes in forest structure post fire is challenging due to complex vegetation responses. To overcome this challenge, this study combines post-disturbance spectral trajectory measures from a time series of historical Landsat imagery with field and remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) lidar (light detection and ranging) data to examine vegetation recovery of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) dominated sub-boreal forests after high-severity fires in 2006 in central British Columbia, Canada. Distinct spectral recovery trajectories were identified using data-clustering from a combination of seven Landsat spectral indices, with trajectories varying by recovery magnitude and rate. The forest structure associated with each distinct trajectory of spectral recovery was analyzed using 430 ha of spatially explicit forest structure measures (e.g., basal area, stem counts) and composition (e.g., percent coniferous) derived from 26 coincident field plots and high density RPA lidar (>200 points/m2) data. By comparing spectral trajectories to forest structure measures, we found the most spatially abundant cluster of spectral recovery coincided with a basal area of 0.62 m2/ha, high stem densities (>5000 stems/ha) and a high abundance of coniferous trees (>95 % coniferous). Around 10 % of the landscape was associated with relatively high abundance of deciduous vegetation (>20 %) in addition to very high conifer stem densities (>8000 stems/ha). By identifying the structural characteristics associated with unique Landsat spectral trajectories, we highlight the combined value of RPA lidar data and satellite image time series in providing a detailed and spatially explicit characterization of post-fire recovery relevant to managed forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large‐scale disturbances such as wildfire can have profound impacts on the composition, structure, and functioning of ecosystems. Bees are critical pollinators in natural settings and often respond positively to wildfires, particularly in forests where wildfire leads to more open conditions and increased floral resources. The use of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) provides opportunities for quantifying habitat features across large spatial scales and is increasingly available to scientists and land managers for post‐fire habitat assessment. We evaluated the extent to which LiDAR‐derived forest structure measurements can predict forest bee communities after a large, mixed‐severity fire. We hypothesized that LiDAR measurements linked to post‐fire forest structure would improve our ability to predict bee abundance and species richness when compared to satellite‐based maps of burn severity. To test this hypothesis, we sampled wild bee communities within the Douglas Fire Complex in southwestern Oregon, USA. We then used LiDAR and Landsat data to quantify forest structure and burn severity, respectively, across bee sampling locations. We found that the LiDAR forest structure model was the best predictor of abundance, whereas the Landsat burn severity model had better predictive ability for species richness. Furthermore, the Landsat burn severity model was better at predicting the presence and species richness of bumble bees (Bombus spp.), an ecologically distinct and economically important group within the Pacific Northwest. We posit that the divergent responses of the two modeling approaches are due to distinct responses by bee taxa to variation in forest structure as mediated by wildfire, with bumble bees in particular depending on closed‐canopy forest for some portions of their life cycle. Our study demonstrates that LiDAR data can provide information regarding the drivers of bee abundance in post‐wildfire conifer forest, and that both remote sensing approaches are useful for predicting components of wild bee diversity after large‐scale wildfire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is intensifying the fire regime across Siberia, with the potential to alter carbon combustion and post‐fire carbon re‐accumulation trajectories. Few field‐based estimates of fire severity (e.g., carbon combustion and tree mortality) exist in Siberian larch forests (Larix spp.), which limits our ability to project how an intensified fire regime will affect regional and global climate feedbacks. Here, we present field‐based estimates of fire‐induced tree mortality and carbon loss in eastern Siberian larch forests. Our results suggest that fires in this region result in high tree mortality (means of 83% and 76% at Arctic and subarctic sites, respectively). In both absolute and relative terms, aboveground carbon loss following fire is higher in Siberian larch forests than in North America, but belowground carbon loss is considerably lower. This suggests fundamental differences in wildfire behavior and carbon dynamics between dominant vegetation types across the boreal biome. Plain Language Summary: With climate change, forest fires in Siberia are expected to become more severe and more frequent, which could amplify climate change by transferring carbon from the ecosystem to the atmosphere. Although Siberian larch forests make up 20% of the boreal forest biome by area, scientific understanding of the Siberian larch fire regime is limited because the region is remote and mostly roadless. We collected data from burned and nearby unburned Siberian larch forests to understand the effects of fire on the ecosystem. We found that fires in Siberian larch forests kill, on average, about 75% of trees and result in large carbon losses to the atmosphere. These observations of tree mortality and carbon loss are higher than reported in most satellite‐based studies and demonstrate that fires in Siberian larch forests could contribute to ongoing climate change. Key Points: Siberian larch forest fires cause high tree mortality despite species traits and stand structure hypothesized to promote low severity firesCompared with boreal North America, fires in Siberian larch forests result in greater aboveground C loss but lower belowground C loss [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Fire Ecology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Monitoring post-fire forest disturbances and subsequent recovery is vital for the management and preservation purposes of the forest ecosystems. This study aimed to assess forests' damages and regrowth dynamics after fire using remotely sensed data and to compare its reliability for post-fire monitoring in different forest environments. This paper compared forest regrowth dynamics applying selected spectral indices - Differenced Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (dNDVI), Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR), and Differenced Disturbance Index (dDI). The post-fire environmental impact and recovery processes were performed on the territory of the three fires in Bulgaria - Ardino, Bistrishko branishte, and Perperek. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire can lead to transitions between forest and grassland ecosystems and trigger positive feedbacks to climate warming by releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. Climate change is projected to increase the prevalence and severity of wildfires. However, fire effects on the fate and impact of terrestrial organic matter (i.e., terrestrial subsidies) in aquatic ecosystems are unclear. Here, we performed a gradient design experiment in freshwater pond mesocosms adding 15 different amounts of burned or unburned plant detritus and tracking the chronology of detritus effects at 10, 31, 59, and 89 days. We show terrestrial subsidies had time‐ and mass‐dependent, non‐linear impacts on ecosystem function that influenced dissolved organic carbon (DOC), ecosystem metabolism (net primary production and respiration), greenhouse gas concentrations (carbon dioxide [CO2], methane [CH4]), and trophic transfer. These impacts were shifted by fire treatment. Burning increased the elemental concentration of detritus (increasing %N, %P, %K), with cascading effects on ecosystem function. Mesocosms receiving burned detritus had lower [DOC] and [CO2] and higher dissolved oxygen (DO) through Day 59. Fire magnified the effects of plant detritus on aquatic ecosystem metabolism by stimulating photosynthesis and respiration at intermediate detritus‐loading through Day 89. The effect of loading on DO was similar for burned and unburned treatments (Day 10); however, burned‐detritus in the highest loading treatments led to sustained hypoxia (through Day 31), and long‐term destabilization of ecosystem metabolism through Day 89. In addition, fire affected trophic transfer by increasing autochthonous nitrogen source utilization and reducing the incorporation of 15N‐labeled detritus into plankton biomass, thereby reducing the flux of terrestrial subsidies to higher trophic levels. Our results indicate fire chemically transforms plant detritus and alters the role of aquatic ecosystems in processing and storing carbon. Wildfire may therefore induce shifts in ecosystem functions that cross the boundary between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

World forests face many threats, including wildfires, with tremendous ecological, social, and economic implications. Mediterranean ecosystems have evolved in the presence of fire, but changes to fire regimes associated with other global changes pose new challenges to postfire community regeneration. Forest regeneration largely depends on plant adaptations to survive wildfires or on the recolonization of burnt areas through seed dispersal. However, the value of the service provided by wild animals to postfire forest regeneration remains unevaluated. Here, we estimate the economic value of the biotic seed dispersal service in postfire restoration in Portugal. We combine budgeted costs of governmental Emergency Stabilisation Reports with network analysis that estimates the dependency of the Portuguese flora on biotic seed dispersal and on alternative fire regeneration strategies. Replacing the services provided by seed dispersers during postfire regeneration of Portuguese forests would cost 23,061,621€/year, highlighting the need for integrative policies that promote resilient forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire can have negative effects on the ant community by reducing species abundance through direct mortality, changes in resource availability, or foraging activity. Fire can also have positive effects, especially for opportunistic species preferring open or disturbed habitats. We assessed the direct effects of a large-scale fire on ant communities in open habitats (grassland and Carex) and moist forested peatland (birch and alder) sites in Biebrza National Park, testing three hypotheses: (i) the large-scale fire had more significant effects on ant nest density in forests than in open habitats, (ii) the post-fire ant diversity changes within sites are stronger in forests than open habitats, and (iii) ant species preferring disturbed habitats are favoured by the fire event. The fire had negative effects on ant nest density only in the Carex and grassland sites but not in the birch and alder sites, suggesting that fire had a stronger impact in open habitats than in forests. Temporal post-fire ant diversity changes within sites were stronger in forests than in open habitats. We observed higher beta diversity changes between the first and second year of the study in the burned forest sites due to colonisation, indicating a greater fire impact on species community composition followed by a higher recolonisation rate. Ant species preferring disturbed habitats were favoured by the fire. The seed-eating ant species Tetramorium caespitum, a thermophilous and opportunistic species, dominated the burned grassland site. This contrasts with other species, e.g., Lasius alienus, for which nest density decreased after fire, underlining the importance of food resource availability as a major driver of community changes after fire. Our study also underlines the importance of periodic biodiversity monitoring in conservation areas for assessing the recovery of the original status after disturbances and revealing possible habitat changes endangering the survival of local biotic communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Evaluate the effect of fire on natural regeneration and forest species diversity in a medium superennifolia forest in southeastern Mexico. Design/methodology/approach: Natural regeneration was classified into three height categories (0 to 30 cm, 31 cm to 1 m and 1 to 3 m) and trees in three forest sites burned and unburnt by fire. Results: A total of 1193 individuals belonging to 69 species in 29 taxonomic families were recorded. Regeneration from 0 to 30 cm presented significant differences in species diversity in unburnt forest sites, while in regeneration from 1 to 3 m in burned forest sites. Limitations on study/implications: These types of studies are a first approximation to natural regeneration after a fire in tropical forests, so it is important to maintain permanent sites to monitor the recovery of ecosystems and thus be able to establish management strategies for the restoration of these ecosystems. Findings/conclusions: Regeneration after the fire was established with a low but constant number of species, indicating a tendency towards vegetation resilience. This information allows government institutions to make better decisions on the management and prevention of these ecosystems in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large fire of 233 ha in Huascarán National Park in Peru provided an opportunity to compare plant and bird responses in burned and nearby unburned zones of the puna. Heights and live diameters of flagship Puya raimondii rosettes (assigned to four broad developmental phases), plant communities (66 species in 24 families and nine growth forms) and bird communities (77 species in six trophic guilds) were monitored after the fire. Although no mortality was observed, Puya raimondii plants were affected by the fire, losing approximately 60% of their photosynthetic area across all developmental phases, but recovered quickly during the first two years after fire. The comparison of Puya rosette recovery after fire was complicated by the changes in live rosette diameter for unburned plants, which showed plasticity of photosynthetic area linked to seasonal and annual fluctuations in precipitation in this relatively dry environment (decreased by 26% for mature adult plants over the study period). Fire caused an immediate change in the density, biomass and composition of vegetation. Although the species present remained similar, their abundances changed significantly immediately after the fire, with notable reductions in dominant tussock grasses. This provided opportunities for other plants, resulting in higher post-fire diversity of plant species, genera, families and growth forms. In turn, the changes in vegetation after fire affected the composition of birds according to their trophic guild. Granivores largely disappeared, generalists were mostly unaffected, and other guilds showed a more complex response. As the vegetation recovered, most displaced birds returned within approximately one year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Environmental & Social Management Journal / Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental is the property of Environmental & Social Management Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Key message: Above 40° N/S, increasing latitude is linked to greater post-fire tree regeneration. However, species dominance shifts from conifers to short-lived deciduous trees, which may negatively impact flora, fauna, and ecosystem services dependent on coniferous forests. These results were primarily driven by studies from North America, highlighting the need for more research that directly measures post-fire forest recovery in other high-latitude regions. Context: As the size and frequency of wildfires increase across many regions, high-latitude forests may be at particular risk for decreases in regeneration and state shifts post-fire. Aims: Through this systematic review, we sought to determine the general relationship between post-fire tree regeneration densities and latitude in forests above 40° N/S. We expected regeneration densities post-fire would decrease with increasing latitude, and that forest regeneration would be negatively impacted by high burn severities, forest management, harsh site conditions, and unprotected microsites. We also anticipated that light-demanding species with adaptations to fire would replace shade-tolerant species that lack such adaptations post-fire. Methods: We conducted a literature search that returned over 4500 articles. We selected those that directly measured post-fire regeneration at or above 40° N/S and retained 93 articles for analysis. Fire characteristics, pre- and post-fire tree species compositions and regeneration densities, and regeneration predictors were then extracted from the retained articles. We fit linear mixed models to post-fire regeneration density with latitude and species traits as explanatory variables and also explored the significance and magnitude of predictors that informed post-fire tree species response. Results: Contrary to our expectations, post-fire regeneration increased significantly with latitude. High burn severities and unprotected microsites had negative impacts on post-fire regeneration; higher elevations and more prolific pre- or post-fire reproduction were positively correlated with post-fire regeneration, while management of any type did not have an impact. Conclusion: Although forests are regenerating after wildfires at the most extreme latitudes included in this study (above 55° N), regeneration is often limited to only a handful of genera: aspen (Populus) and birch (Betula), for example. Regeneration was less abundant at the lower range of our study area. Certain lower latitude forests that occupy marginal habitats are under increasing stress from drier, warmer conditions that are exacerbated by wildfires. Results were largely driven by studies from Canada and the USA and may not be applicable to all high-latitude forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetation structural complexity (VSC) plays an essential role in the functioning and the stability of fire-prone Mediterranean ecosystems. However, we currently lack knowledge about the effects of increasing fire severity on the VSC spatial variability, as modulated by the plant community type in complex post-fire landscapes. Accordingly, this study explored, for the first time, the effect of fire severity on the VSC of different Mediterranean plant communities one year after fire by leveraging field inventory and Sentinel-1 C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. The field-evaluated VSC retrieved in post-fire scenarios from Sentinel-1 γ0 VV and VH backscatter data featured high fit (R2 = 0.878) and low predictive error (RMSE = 0.112). Wall-to-wall VSC estimates showed that plant community types strongly modulated the VSC response to increasing fire severity, with this response strongly linked to the regenerative strategies of the dominant species in the community. Moderate and high fire severities had a strong impact, one year after fire, on the VSC of broom shrublands and Scots pine forests, dominated by facultative and obligate seeder species, respectively. In contrast, the fire-induced impacts on VSC were not significantly different between low and moderate fire-severity scenarios in communities dominated by resprouter species, i.e., heathlands and Pyrenean oak forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conditions conducive to fires are becoming increasingly common and widespread under climate change. Recent fire events across the globe have occurred over unprecedented scales, affecting a diverse array of species and habitats. Understanding biodiversity responses to such fires is critical for conservation. Quantifying post‐fire recovery is problematic across taxa, from insects to plants to vertebrates, especially at large geographic scales. Novel datasets can address this challenge. We use presence‐only citizen science data from iNaturalist, collected before and after the 2019–2020 megafires in burnt and unburnt regions of eastern Australia, to quantify the effect of post‐fire diversity responses, up to 18 months post‐fire. The geographic, temporal, and taxonomic sampling of this dataset was large, but sampling effort and species discoverability were unevenly spread. We used rarefaction and prediction (iNEXT) with which we controlled sampling completeness among treatments, to estimate diversity indices (Hill numbers: q = 0–2) among nine broad taxon groupings and seven habitats, including 3885 species. We estimated an increase in species diversity up to 18 months after the 2019–2020 Australian megafires in regions which were burnt, compared to before the fires in burnt and unburnt regions. Diversity estimates in dry sclerophyll forest matched and likely drove this overall increase post‐fire, while no taxon groupings showed clear increases inconsistent with both control treatments post‐fire. Compared to unburnt regions, overall diversity across all taxon groupings and habitats greatly decreased in areas exposed to extreme fire severity. Post‐fire life histories are complex and species detectability is an important consideration in all post‐fire sampling. We demonstrate how fire characteristics, distinct taxa, and habitat influence biodiversity, as seen in local‐scale datasets. Further integration of large‐scale datasets with small‐scale studies will lead to a more robust understanding of fire recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire is a common disturbance in the Brazilian savanna (the cerrado), wherein high-frequency fires drive the vegetation structure, composition, function, and dynamics of savanna ecosystems. Under climate change pressure, further understanding of fire–vegetation relationships and interactions can provide new approaches for establishing integrated fire management strategies and can promote post-fire savanna vegetation recovery. To understand how 15 years of annually manipulated burning has affected vertical and horizontal structures of the vegetation, species composition and diversity metrics (species richness, Shannon's diversity, and Pielou's evenness), and aboveground carbon stocks, we surveyed all woody plant species with a diameter greater than three centimeters, in 15 plots of a typical Brazilian savanna (cerrado stricto sensu) at an experimental research station in central Brazil (the cerrado biome). The 15 plots (five plots per treatment) had been differently affected by fire events over a decade, and comprised three treatments: (i) annual fire, (ii) legacy fire (>15 years since the last fire event), and (iii) control (not burned in the past 30 years). A non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis indicated that fire had a significant effect on the species composition among the treatments; some species benefited from fire, such as Erythroxylum suberosum, whereas other species propagated better without fire, such as Roupala montana and Dalbergia miscolobium. Over a decade of annual fire events have led to decreases in Shannon's diversity, species richness, and stem density, which were significantly lower in the annual fire treatment than in the control and legacy fire treatments. Stem density by diameter and height size classes (except for the 1–2 m class and above 8 m class) was higher in the control than that in the annual fire treatment, but the number of dead trees did not differ between the control and the annual fire treatment. Our results also showed that fire was a factor in changes in the evaluated parameters, such as in the annual fire treatment, where fire reduced the amount of biomass, and therefore the carbon stocks. This study suggests that, if burned yearly, typical Brazilian savannas can become less biodiverse in terms of woody plant species which negatively affects their fire resilience. Therefore, fire management practices should focus on determining the frequency of fire disturbances from which these ecosystems may benefit the most. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every year, wildfires accentuated by global warming, cause economic and ecological losses, and often, human casualties. Increasing operational capacity of firefighter crews is of utmost importance to better face the forest fire period that yearly occurs. In this study, we investigate the real-world firefighters timetabling problem of the INFOCA institution, Andalusia (Spain). The main issue is to achieve maximum operational capability while taking into account work regulation constraints. This paper proposes an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) formulation that makes it feasible to solve small/medium instances to optimality. We put forward a matheuristic (ILPH) based on the ILP formulation, and we obtain solutions for larger instances. We propose an Adaptive Large Neighbourhood Search metaheuristic (ALNS) to obtain better results for larger instances and we use a version of the ILPH as one of the constructive methods. The ALNS obtains all the optimal solutions found by the ILP on small instances. It yields better solutions than the ILPH matheuristic on larger instances within shorter processing times. We report on experiments performed on datasets generated using real-world data of the INFOCA institution. The work was initiated as part of the GEO-SAFE project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important component of the ecosystem carbon pool, and fire is one of the important disturbances in forest ecosystems. With global warming, there has been a gradual increase in boreal forest fires, which has a nonnegligible impact on the SOC dynamics in forests. The CENTURY model was employed in our study to simulate the changes in SOC stocks in boreal forests of the Great Xing'an Mountains, China under different fire severity conditions. Fire severity was represented by the metric of difference normalized burn ratio (dNBR) derived from 30-m Landsat-8 imageries. Changes in forest SOC stocks following fire disturbance were predicted under four future Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0, and RCP8.5). We found that the CENTURY model had good results in simulating the SOC stocks in the postfire of China's boreal forests. Forest SOC dynamics responded differently to fire severities and the larger SOC loss was associated with increasing fire severity. Importantly, a feedback mechanism was found between climate change and SOC stocks, which reduces SOC stocks with increasing temperatures. High-severity forest fires tended to cause serious damage to the SOC pool and delay forest SOC recovery time; after such events, forest SOC stocks cannot be fully recovered to the prefire levels (6.74% loss). In addition, higher CO2 emissions and warmer temperatures significantly affected the recovery of SOC stocks after fire disturbance, resulting in larger SOC losses. Overall, we projected losses of 10.14%, 12.06%, 12.41%, and 15.70% of SOC stocks after high-severity fires in four RCP scenarios, respectively. Our findings emphasize the importance of fire disturbance and climate change on future dynamics of SOC stocks in China's boreal forests, providing a scientific basis for future boreal forest management and fire management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fungi have important ecological functions in the soil of forests, where they decompose organic matter, provide plants with nutrients, increase plant water uptake, and improve plant resistance to adversity, disease, and disturbance. A forest fire presents a serious disturbance of the local ecosystem and can be considered an important component affecting the function of ecosystem biomes; however, the response of soil fungi to fire disturbance is largely unknown. To investigate the effects of fire disturbance on the community composition and diversity of soil fungi in a taiga forest, we collected soil from plots that had undergone a light, moderate, and heavy fire 10 years previously, with the inclusion of a fire-free control. The present soil fungi were characterized using Illumina MiSeq technology, and the sequences were analyzed to identify differences in the community composition and diversity in response to the changed soil physicochemical properties. The results showed that the Chao1 index, which characterizes the alpha diversity of the fungi, did not change significantly. In contrast, the Shannon index increased significantly (p < 0.05) and the Simpson index decreased significantly (p < 0.05) following a light or heavy fire disturbance compared to the control. The relative abundance of Basidiomycota was significantly higher in the soil of the fire sites than that in the control (p < 0.01), and the relative abundance of Ascomycota was significantly lower (p < 0.01). The results of principal coordinates analyses (PCoAs) showed that fire disturbance highly significantly affected the beta diversity of soil fungi (p < 0.001), while the results of canonical correlation analysis (CCA) indicated that the available nitrogen (AN), moisture content (MC), pH, available potassium (AK), and total nitrogen (TN) contents of the soil significantly affected the compositional structure and diversity of the soil fungal communities. The results of functional prediction showed that the majority of the detected soil fungi were symbiotrophs, followed by saprotrophs and saprotroph–symbiotrophs, with ectomycorrhiza being the dominant functional taxon. Fire disturbance significantly reduced the relative abundance of ectomycorrhiza (p < 0.05). This study illustrates that fire disturbance alters the structural composition, diversity, dominance, and relative abundance of the guilds of soil fungal communities in taiga forest, and strongly affected the beta diversity of soil fungi, with AN, MC, pH, AK, and TN being the most important factors affecting their community structure. The results may provide a useful reference for the restoration and rehabilitation of taiga forests after fire disturbance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire is a common natural disturbance in forest ecosystems and plays an important role in subsequent vegetation patterns. Based on the spatial sequence method, adopted as an alternative to the time successional sequence method, we selected burned areas in different locations in the Anning River Basin, which encompasses typical dry valleys. Quadrat surveys and quantitative classification were used to identify and classify the vegetation and distribution pattern and to carry out environmental interpretation during the natural restoration process after a forest fire. The results showed the following: (1) in the early stage of natural recovery after a forest fire disturbance, the vegetation community could be divided into seven community types, and Quercus guyavaefolia H. Leveille (Qg) was the dominant species in the community; (2) the vegetation samples could be divided into five ecological types, and the classification and distribution pattern of community types in this region changed most notably with altitude; and (3) a detrended correspondence analysis could be used to accurately classify vegetation community types, while a detrended canonical correspondence analysis could reveal the relationships between species and environmental factors. This study provides a scientific basis for guiding the restoration of ecosystem structural stability and biodiversity in burned areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have debated the relative importance of environmental versus Indigenous effects on past fire regimes in eastern North America. Tree-ring fire-scar records (FSRs) provide local-resolution physical evidence of past fire, but few studies have spatially correlated fire frequency from FSRs with environmental and anthropogenic variables. No study has compared FSR locations to Native American settlement features in the eastern United States. We assess whether FSRs in the eastern US are located near regions of past Native American settlement. We also assess relationships between distance to Native American settlement, environmental conditions, and fire frequency in central Pennsylvania (PA), US, using an "ensemble of small models" approach for low sample sizes. Regression models of fire frequency at 21 locations in central PA often selected distance-based proxies of Indigenous land use. Models with mean annual temperature and Native American variables as predictors explained > 70% of the variation in fire frequency. Alongside temperature and wind speed, "distance to nearest trail" and "mean distance to nearest town" were significant and important predictors. In 18th-century central PA, fires were more frequent near Indigenous trails and towns, and further south due to increasing temperature and pyrophilic vegetation. However, for the entire eastern US, FSRs are located far from past settlement, limiting their effectiveness in detecting fire patterns near population centers. Improving understanding of historical fire will require developing FSRs closer to past Native American settlement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Fire Ecology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Biodiversity loss is often attributable to multiple interacting pressures that are moderated across environmental gradients. These processes contribute to complex responses that are challenging to interpret and understand. Well‐designed and well‐implemented monitoring can play a vital role in this but is rarely undertaken.Mounting evidence suggests that current fire regimes across Savanna ecosystems have contributed to the decline of a range of biota. Hence, contemporary fire regimes are at odds with conservation goals.Using an extensive spatiotemporal monitoring dataset from three large National Parks in northern Australia, we applied generalised linear mixed models to examine: (1) trends in mammal richness and abundance through time and variation across environmental gradients such as productivity or landscape position (e.g. terrain ruggedness); and (2) how fire, a potential driver, is moderated by environmental gradients.Across 24 years, major declines in mammal richness and abundance were observed with greater reductions in less rugged and less mesic habitats. Patterns of decline were related to multiple aspects of fire regimes, but not changes in vegetation structure and composition, or cane toads, Rhinella marina, arrival and concomitant poisoning of predatory animals during consumption. More pronounced declines occurred in sites that were exposed to larger fires, had less long unburnt (>5 years without fire) vegetation and were more distant from large, long unburnt patches.Relationships between mammal persistence and fire varied among vegetation communities, with the strongest fire effects observed in lowland woodland—drier with few barriers to fire spread—where the availability of long unburnt areas moderated declines more than in other vegetation communities.Synthesis and applications. Current fire regimes are contributing to mammal declines in northern Australian Savanna. Collectively, our results highlight: (1) the value of long term monitoring, and importance of considering landscape position when assessing faunal responses to landscape‐level perturbations like fire; (2) that significant improvements in fire regimes are required to ameliorate mammal declines; and (3) the need to shift management focus from retaining small, short‐lived unburnt patches toward preserving relatively large contiguous areas of long unburnt habitat, particularly in less rugged lowland and sandstone woodlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research utilizes an interdisciplinary approach, combining geological, ecological, and historical methods. It delves into the environmental evolution of Lake Kolon over a span of 17,700 years, shedding light on the intricate interplay between geological processes and ecological changes. The historical, statistical (PCA, DCA), and palaeoecological analyses centers on a core sequence situated in the heart of the lake, building upon previous research endeavors (pollen, malacological, macrobotanical and sedimentological analyses with radiocarbon dating). Forest fires occurred at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM); the boreal forest–steppe environment changed into temperate deciduous forest at the Pleistocene–Holocene boundary; human-induced environmental change into open parkland occurred; and from medieval times, communities used the land as pasture. This type of reconstruction is crucial for understanding how ecosystems respond to climate change over time, which has broader implications for modern-day conservation efforts and managing ecosystems in the face of ongoing climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Savanna ecosystems are maintained by fires with a fire-adapted biota, and savannas occur in Amazonia in patches surrounded by tropical forest. Different fire regimes can generate structurally diverse vegetation, and the composition of savanna bird assemblages is known to be closely related to vegetation structure. However, long-term approaches and interaction of fire with other environmental factors need to be explored for the better understanding of the effects of fire on birds. In an Amazonian landscape composed by savanna and forest, we investigated the effects of different fire regimes in a 12-ha area in three periods through 23 years. We also examined the effects of frequency and extent of fires, tree cover, and distance to forest on bird composition in twelve 3.7-ha savanna plots. Birds were surveyed with mist-nets and species were classified as to their habitat use by their frequency of registers in forest and savanna plots in visual/acoustical surveys. After 13 years without fire, many forest species colonized the area and some savanna species were lost. After one fire event in a plot that had not burned for 12 years, some savanna species returned. These results highlight the effects of fire regime on birds and indicate that many savanna bird species depend on the occurrence of regular fires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire is a fundamental ecological process with a long history on Earth, determining the distribution of vegetation formations across the globe. Fire, however, does not only affect the vegetation but also the soil on which vegetation grows, creating a post-fire environment that differs significantly in terms of soil chemical and physical properties from the pre-fire environment. The duration of these alterations remains largely unknown and depends both on the vegetation condition and the fire characteristics. In the current study, we investigate the effect of fire on some chemical and physical properties 11 years after the event in four plant communities. Two of them constitute typical Mediterranean fire-prone plant communities, dominated by sclerophyllous Mediterranean shrubs, such as Quercus coccifera and Q. ilex, while the other two are not considered fire prone and are dominated by deciduous broadleaved species such as Q. petraea and Castanea sativa, respectively. The results indicate that fire affects the soil properties of the various communities in a different manner. Burned sites in the Q. coccifera community have a significantly lower concentration of organic matter, total nitrogen, and available magnesium. At the same time, they have a significantly higher concentration of sand particles and a lower concentration of clay particles. The effect of fire on the soil properties of the other three communities is less dramatic, with differences only in total phosphorus, organic matter, and total nitrogen. The results are discussed in relation to the site conditions and the post-fire regeneration of plant communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire is an inherent disturbance in western North American ecosystems, but wildfire mitigation and prescribed fire application is complicated by human social perspectives and behaviors. Given the variability of rancher use of fire within and across regions of the United States, we interviewed thirtythree ranchers in U.S. Central Rocky Mountain (CRM; Montana, Wyoming, Colorado) rangelands to understand how wildfire experiences and perceptions are related with rancher willingness to utilize prescribed fire. Results indicate rancher willingness to utilize prescribed fire in rangeland ecosystems may not be explained by rancher perceptions and experience with wildfire. Specifically, CRM rancher willingness to utilize prescribed fire may not be constrained by wildfire experiences [which was statistically similar between burner (n = 12) and non-burner (n = 21) orientations; all p-values > 0.05] regardless of wildfire proximity (on the ranch or nearby) and may be enhanced by their perceived benefits of wildfires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial data metrics are commonly used to capture environmental quality for recreation and visitation studies. Spatial data and tools, such as viewshed analysis, provide methods to incorporate spatial atributes into nonmarket valuation studies of consumer preferences, like portraying changes in visual-sensory qualities (e.g., from wildfires). We review the use of viewsheds in the nonmarket valuation literature and summarize insights from viewshed-based studies in other disciplines. We offer a conceptual framework for how to incorporate viewsheds into recreation demand studies, including to capture post-fire landscape changes. We discuss recent innovations in methods and data and identify avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a complex interaction between lightning-caused fire behavior and the flora and fauna of the forest, which involves the influence of a large number of ecological factors. However, more comprehensive simulation studies under multi-system interactions between lightning ignition, forest fire spread, and animal behavior are not well developed. In this paper, we propose a forest ecosystem model based on the Agent-based modelling approach to explore the detailed linkages between different forms of lightning-caused fires and forest biodiversity. The model simulates the lightning ignition, fire spread, vegetation burning and recovery, and multi-species-survival dynamics. The experimental results show the sensitivity between environmental parameters and the magnitude of lightning-caused fires, and the beneficial ecological consequences of lightning-caused fires on forest ecosystems. By exploring detailed linkages between different forms of lightning-caused fires and forest biodiversity, we provide theoretical insights and reference suggestions for forest system governance and biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternative states defined by tree‐canopy dominance result in different ecosystem functioning and shape habitat conditions for the understory vegetation. One example in the boreal forest is the alternation between broadleaf deciduous and coniferous forests. Disturbances related to natural fires and human land uses have produced changes in tree‐canopy dominance in the boreal region where coniferous forests change to broadleaved forests, affecting understory community dynamics and their related ecosystem processes and functions. To analyze the factors driving changes in understory vegetation and the resistance of its vegetation to shifts between alternative states, we compared the effects of changes in the system between two contrasting boreal forest types (black spruce vs. trembling aspen) in adjacent stands with similar topoedaphic conditions. We performed a 5‐year in situ experiment using alternative states as a theoretical framework including two approaches: (1) the ecosystem approach, manipulating environmental conditions of light, litter, and nutrients in each forest type to determine the main mechanisms associated with tree‐canopy dominance that affect the diversity and composition of understory communities; and (2) the community approach, physically exchanging understory communities between alternative states, to determine their resistance under a new tree‐canopy dominance through time, as well as the resilience of the forest understory after a small‐scale disturbance. Results indicate that the understory vegetation of trembling aspen forests were resistant through time both after changes in local conditions in the ecosystem approach and in the new black spruce‐dominated alternative state in the community approach. In contrast, mosses and ericaceous plants that typically dominate the forest floor of black spruce forests were negatively affected by the physical effect of broadleaf litter addition in our ecosystem approach and they were not resistant when transplanted to trembling aspen forests in the community approach, as they decreased in abundance and were invaded by aspen understory community species over time. The understory vegetation is a key forest ecosystem driver that can contribute to maintain the resilience of the boreal system and help to preserve their ecosystem services, which is a key aspect to consider in forest management faced with the effects of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe droughts can lead to fires that cause massive tree mortality in even the wettest and most isolated Amazonian forests. After repeated fires, blackwater floodplain forests can remain in an open vegetation state of arrested succession that facilitates a transition towards a white‐sand 'savanna‐like' vegetation. These vegetation shifts, from closed‐canopy floodplain forests to open fire scars and eventually white‐sand savannas, may have profound implications for fish communities that depend on floodplain forests for food and recruitment. In turn, changes in fish communities may contribute to the arrested forest recovery after fires as fish are important seed dispersal agents for many floodplain tree species.To explore the impacts of floodplain forest fires on fish communities, we sampled fish in unburnt forests, fire scars, and white‐sand savannas in the middle Rio Negro basin (Brazil) during two consecutive flooding seasons. We compared the abundance, species richness, and the taxonomic and trophic composition of fish assemblages across the three habitat types.We found significant shifts in fish assemblages in fire scars compared to unburnt floodplain forests. Also, as fire scars increased in size, total fish biomass decreased strongly. Fish communities in unburnt floodplain forests seem to be characterized by a higher proportion of smaller and omnivorous fish species than fish communities in burned floodplain forests and white sand savannas. Fish assemblages in fire scars and white‐sand savanna were not significantly different.Synthesis and Applications. Amazonian fish communities change after floodplain forest fires. Unburnt forests have diverse fish communities, with a large proportion of unique and small omnivorous species. In contrast, carnivores and detritivores become more common in fire scars and white‐sand savannas formed after forest fires. Less omnivore fish after forest fires can reduce tree seed dispersal and forest regeneration, affecting ecosystem functioning and the services provided by Amazonian forests. Fish are also a primary source of food and income for people living in Amazonian floodplains. Preventing forest fires is therefore of fundamental importance for the conservation of Amazonian aquatic and terrestrial ecological communities as well as for the livelihood of people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest fires in North America are becoming larger in area and burning with higher severity as a result of climate change and land management practices. High-severity, stand-replacement fires can inflict major changes to forest insect communities, potentially extirpating many species through altered post-fire habitat resources. We assessed forest-dwelling macrolepidopteran moth communities in mixed conifer and ponderosa pine forests during the first year after the 2011 Las Conchas fire in New Mexico, USA. We deployed blacklight traps in replicated burned and unburned stands during June, July, and August in 2012. We collected 9,478 individuals, representing 211 species and 8 families. Noctuidae (124 species) and Geometridae (53) comprised the majority of the taxa, followed by Erebidae (21), Sphingidae (5), Notodontidae (3), Lasiocampidae (2), Saturniidae (2), and Drepanidae (1). Moth communities (species composition and abundances) in each forest type (mixed conifer vs. ponderosa pine) were statistically distinguishable, but shared 56.4% (119) of observed species. Overall, compared to unburned forests, post-fire moth communities in both forest types had significantly lower numbers of individuals, species richness and diversity, and lower evenness in ponderosa pine forests. As expected, categorizing moth taxa by larval host plant taxa revealed that reductions of moth populations following fire were associated with the elimination or reduction of available larval host plants (particularly conifers, oaks, and junipers). We predict that future moth community succession will likely parallel the overall transformation from a forested landscape to a montane meadow/grassland ecosystem, with continued reduction in tree-feeding species and increasing dominance by forb/grass-feeding species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 20st century, the Mediterranean landscape has been transformed by the appearance of pine plantations of considerable economic value. However, these plantations are highly flammable and, together with other factors (rural depopulation and climate change), they have altered the natural fire regime to an anthropogenic one where fires are now more frequent, larger, and more intense. The abundant literature focused on responses to fire reports widely varying results, indicating positive, negative or neutral responses depending on the taxonomic group or the region sampled. The lack of general trends challenges conservation actions to mitigate the effect of fire on biodiversity. Comparative studies among taxa at a single locality are needed in order to identify similar or opposing responses to fire. In this study, we examine the response of soil and vegetation arthropod communities to fire in four burnt pine plantations in western North Africa. According to our results, the response of arthropods to fire varied between the two structural layers sampled. Overall soil arthropod abundance excluding Formicidae decreased with fire, this effect being particularly negative for the abundance of Coleoptera, Blattodea, and Isopoda. By contrast, vegetation arthropod communities increased in abundance after fire, this pattern being especially pronounced for Coleoptera and Orthoptera. Implications for insect conservation: As a whole, our results imply that the response of arthropods 5–9 years since fire shows opposing results regarding the taxonomic group analyzed and the structural layer sampled. This finding is key for land managers to understand the impact of fire on animal communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]