Effects of landscape pattern and vegetation type on the fire regime of a mesic savanna in Mali

Laris, Paul; Jo, Aurahm; Wechsler, Suzanne P.

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.08.091

Cited by 18 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Indeed, it is probable that a fire, which burns less than 50% of biomass, can burn a second time late in the season because a fire consuming such a small fraction will not break fuel connectivity. It is also important to note that braking fuel connectivity is a key reason for setting early fires and a critical reason that a seasonal-mosaic fire regime burns less total area (Laris et al, 2018). As such, although theoretically possible, we do not agree that using such low CC values is reasonable for determining emissions from fires in working African landscapes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Methane gas emissions from savanna fires: What analysis of local burning regimes in a working West African landscape tell us

Laris

Koné

Dembélé

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Savanna fires contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. While it is recognized that these fires play an important role in the global methane cycle, there are too few accurate estimates of emissions from West Africa, the continent's most active fire region. Most estimates of methane emissions contain high levels of uncertainty because they are based on generalizations of diverse landscapes that are burned by complex fire regimes. To improve estimates we used an approach grounded in the burning practices of people who set fires to working landscapes. We conducted 97 experimental fires collecting data for savanna type, grass type, biomass composition and amount consumed, scorch height, speed of fire front, fire type and ambient air conditions for two sites in Mali. We collected smoke samples for 36 fires using a canister method. We report values for fire intensity, combustion completeness, patchiness, modified combustion efficiency (MCE) and emission factor (EF). Our study finds that methane EFs ranged from 3.71 g/kg in the early dry season (EDS) to 2.86 in the mid-dry season (MDS). We found head fires had nearly double the CH4 EF of backfires (4.89 g/kg to 2.92). Fires during the MDS have the lowest intensity values and the lowest methane emissions 0.981 g/m2 compared with 1.030 g/m2 for EDS and 1.102 g/m2 for the late dry season (LDS). We conclude that policies aimed at shifting the burning regime earlier to reduce methane emissions will not have the desired effects, especially if fire type is not considered. We recommend using the adjusted mean value of 0.862 g/m2—based on the carbon content for West African grasses—for calculating emissions for West African savannas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Methane gas emissions from savanna fires: What analysis of local burning regimes in a working West African landscape tell us

Laris

Koné

Dembélé

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…After a decade of progress resulting from the development of more sophisticated remote sensing algorithms to detect and map fire regimes more accurately, questions about the stability of fire regimes in unstable environments have been raised for mesic savannas [57][58][59]. Although spatiotemporal analysis of burn patterns provides some answers concerning fire regime repeatability or regularity, here, we have given a more functional explanation through modelling.…”

Section: Modelling: Limits and Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropogenic Fires in West African Landscapes: A Spatially Explicit Model Perspective of Humanized Savannas

Caillault

Laris

Fleurant

et al. 2020

Fire

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Fire regimes are important components of environmental dynamics, but our understanding of them is limited. Despite recent advances in the methodologies used to remotely sense and map fires and burned areas and new case studies that shed light on local fire use and management practices, the scientific community still has much to learn about anthropogenic fire regimes. We identify two areas for improvement: first, the fine-scale heterogeneity of fire dynamics for specific regions is often masked by global-scale approaches, and second, barriers between the disciplines focusing on fire impacts hamper the development of knowledge of the human dimensions of fire regimes. To address the “blind spot” that these limitations create, we present a simple dynamic model of fire ignition in savanna systems. The aim is to connect the local and global scales of fire regimes by focusing on human fire management (anthropogenic fire). Our dynamical model is based on a study area in Western Burkina Faso and integrates biophysical elements (climate and soil data), land cover, and fire management scenarios based on field surveys. The simulation results offer contrasting views of the impact of local fire management practices on regional fire regimes observed in savannas. Fire density and frequency are local variables that clearly change the fire regimes despite a complex and constrained biophysical system. This experience, drawing from fieldwork and modelling, may be a way to integrate some key aspects of anthropogenic fire research in savanna systems.

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“…One point of divergence we found pertained to how the intervention in Talensi underappreciated the complex role of fire in land and natural resource management. Burning in mesic savannas is seasonal (Laris et al 2018), and farmers in the parklands traditionally use fire to clear land, including fallows, where tree stumps are commonly left in • 73 coppice in order to facilitate natural regeneration (Boffa 1999). A recent study found that fire is positively associated with abundance of regeneration in parkland farm plots in Burkina Faso and Ghana (Lohbeck et al 2020).…”

Section: Who Frames Equity? Thinking On a Landscape Scalementioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Social Equity in Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) Interventions: Findings from Ghana

Kandel

Agaba

Alare³

et al. 2021

Ecological Rest.

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Achieving social equity in land and forest restoration is a key objective of major international frameworks and commitments, including the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Meeting this objective requires consideration of key governance questions such as who makes decisions about what is restored, where, and how? And how do factors specific to local contexts influence which decisions are made, and, in turn, the distribution of benefits? Despite the demonstrated importance of social equity on project outcomes in many natural resource-based fields, there have to date been no assessments of social equity of farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR), an approach used mainly for restoring degraded agricultural land. Drawing on findings from community-based fieldwork in 2019-2020 in northeastern Ghana, this paper aims to fill this void. We address the following question: How do historical, socio-ecological, and political processes condition prospects for social equity in FMNR interventions? Key findings were: 1) Preexisting hierarchies in authority, control, and access over land and trees shaped decision-making in project design and the potential distribution of benefits from FMNR 2) FMNR, when implemented on farmland, generally aligned with local agroecological practices; but, when implemented to restore communal lands, it created tensions with local perceptions of equity as well as traditional land and natural resource management practices, and 3) The FMNR project reflected the continuing salience of dominant political and environmental discourses, which carry implications for restoring landscapes with FMNR. To support practitioners, we provide several recommendations for strengthening social equity of FMNR project designs.

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Effects of landscape pattern and vegetation type on the fire regime of a mesic savanna in Mali

Cited by 18 publications

References 37 publications

Methane gas emissions from savanna fires: What analysis of local burning regimes in a working West African landscape tell us

Methane gas emissions from savanna fires: What analysis of local burning regimes in a working West African landscape tell us

Anthropogenic Fires in West African Landscapes: A Spatially Explicit Model Perspective of Humanized Savannas

Assessing Social Equity in Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) Interventions: Findings from Ghana

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