Fire ecology for the 21st century: Conserving biodiversity in the age of megafire

Nimmo, Dale G.; Andersen, Alan N.; Archibald, Sally; Boer, Matthias M.; Brotons, Lluı́s; Parr, Catherine L.; Tingley, Morgan W.

doi:10.1111/ddi.13482

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 65 publications

(52 reference statements)

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“…Our study offers novel and salient insights into the recovery of understory plant communities following a mixed-severity megafire in British Columbia, Canada, with a focus on plants of high cultural significance to local Indigenous people. In doing so, this study responds to recent calls for a new "megafire ecology" that better understands the effects of exceptionally large fires on species, communities, and ecosystems (Nimmo et al, 2022). The negative relationship between fire severity and species richness and diversity, even in the subalpine forests in our study area that were historically characterized by infrequent, high-severity fire, highlights how recent megafires may be pushing these ecosystems outside of the historical range of variability, with negative implications for ecosystem recovery.…”

Section: Conclusion and Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Following a fire, recovery can follow three pathways. In situ recovery is driven by individuals that survive within the burned area; ex situ recovery is driven by off‐site colonization from outside the fire footprint; and nucleated recovery is driven by survivors in fire refugia that remained unburned or burned less severely (Downing et al, 2020; Nimmo et al, 2022). These three pathways are facilitated by a range of plant fire‐adaptive traits, such as the capacity to resprout (e.g., from underground structures such as large taproots, corms, or rhizomes), fire‐cued seed germination or seed dispersal capacity, and availability of and distance to propagule source (Clarke et al, 2013; Morgan et al, 2015; Nolan et al, 2021; Roberts, 2004; Stark et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Conservation scientists and land managers now highlight concerns that the scale and severity of these megafires may lead to “catastrophic” vegetation degradation or ecosystem conversion (Coop et al, 2020; Falk et al, 2022; Seidl & Turner, 2022; Stephens et al, 2014). As such, there is a critical need to better understand how ecosystems are affected by and recover from megafires (Nimmo et al, 2022), including fine‐scale vegetation responses (Donovan et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fire severity drives understory community dynamics and the recovery of culturally significant plants

Dickson‐Hoyle,

Eatherton,

Baron

et al. 2024

Ecosphere

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Anthropogenic influences are altering fire regimes worldwide, resulting in an increase in the size and severity of wildfires. Simultaneously, throughout western North America, there is increasing recognition of the important role of Indigenous fire stewardship in shaping historical fire regimes and fire‐adapted ecosystems. However, there is limited understanding of how ecosystems are affected by or recover from contemporary “megafires,” particularly in terms of understory plant communities that are critical to both biodiversity and Indigenous cultures. To address this gap, our collaborative study, in partnership with Secwépemc First Nations, examined understory community recovery following a large, mixed‐severity wildfire that burned in the dry and mesic conifer forests of British Columbia, Canada, with a focus on plants of high cultural significance to Secwépemc communities. To measure the effect of a continuous gradient of fire severity across forest types, we conducted field assessments of fire severity and sampled understory plants 4 years postfire. We found that native species richness and richness of species of high cultural significance were lowest in areas that burned at high severity, with distinct compositional differences between unburned areas and those that burned at high severity. These findings were consistent across forest types characterized by distinct historical fire regimes. In contrast, richness of exotic species increased with increasing fire severity in the dominant montane interior Douglas‐fir forests, with exotic species closely associated with areas that burned at high severity. Our study indicates that recent megafires may be pushing ecosystems outside their historical range of variability, with negative implications for ecosystem recovery and cultural use across these fire‐affected landscapes. We also found consistently higher plant diversity, and both native and cultural species richness, in subalpine forests. Collectively, our results provide strong evidence of the ecological and cultural significance of low‐ to moderate‐severity fire and subalpine forests, and the longstanding and ongoing role of Indigenous peoples in shaping these landscapes. As wildfires continue to impact ecosystems and human communities, this study offers novel insights into the recovery of important ecological and cultural values, while highlighting the need to support ethical research collaborations with Indigenous communities and Indigenous‐led revitalization of fire and plant stewardship.

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Section: Conclusion and Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Fire severity drives understory community dynamics and the recovery of culturally significant plants

Dickson‐Hoyle,

Eatherton,

Baron

et al. 2024

Ecosphere

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“…The impacts of fire on biodiversity depend on fire frequency and intensity (Jolly et al, 2022; Santos et al, 2022), the biome (Bond & Van Wilgen, 2012; Whelan, 1995), as well as the focal taxa (Andersen, 2021) and their biogeographic histories (Andersen & Vasconcelos, 2022). It is important to understand how fire regimes affect biodiversity because these are changing dramatically under anthropogenic land use and climate change, with some regions now experiencing more frequent fires (e.g., in tropical forests and mid‐latitude deserts), more intense fires (e.g., in boreal and seasonally dry forests), or fire suppression (e.g., in tropical savannas) (Abram et al, 2021; Balch et al, 2018; Bowman et al, 2011; Nimmo et al, 2022; Williams & Abatzoglou, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire influences ant diversity by modifying vegetation structure in an Australian tropical savanna

Brassard

Pettit

Murphy

et al. 2023

Ecology

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Fire is a dominant ecological force shaping many faunal communities globally. Fire affects fauna either directly, such as by killing individuals, or indirectly, such as by modifying vegetation structure. Vegetation structure itself also modulates fire frequency and intensity. As such, faunal responses to fire need to be seen through the lens of variable fire activity and vegetation structure. Here, we incorporate information on fire activity and vegetation structure to enhance an understanding of the response of ants to long‐term (17‐year) experimental fire treatments in an extremely fire‐prone tropical savanna in northern Australia. Previous analysis revealed limited divergence in ant communities after 5 years of experimental fire treatment. Hence, we first investigated the extent to which ant communities diverged over a subsequent 12 years of treatment. We then assessed the relative contribution of fire treatment, cumulative fire intensity (fire activity), and woody cover to responses of ant species frequency of occurrence, richness, and composition. We found that, even after 17 years, fire treatments explained little variation in any ant response variable. In contrast, woody cover was a strong predictor for all of them, while fire activity was a moderate predictor for abundance and richness. Ant species occurrence and richness increased in open habitats receiving higher levels of fire activity, compared with plots with higher vegetation cover experiencing low (or no) fire activity. Moreover, species composition differed between plots with high and low vegetation cover. Our findings provide experimental support to the principle that the effects of fire on fauna are primarily indirect, via its effect on vegetation structure. Furthermore, our results show that a “uniform” fire regime does not have uniform impacts on the ant fauna, because of variability imposed by interactions between vegetation structure and fire activity. This helps to explain why there is often a weak relationship between pyrodiversity and biodiversity, and it lessens the need for active management of pyrodiversity to maintain biodiversity.

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“…(Martinho, 2019) emphasizes that the damages due to forest fires have increased worldwide. In recent years, the number of forest fires has increased throughout the world and the incidence of forest fires has increased in different seasons (Nimmo et al, 2022) Major challenges of landscapewildfire interactions in southern Europe can be seen in these key areas as proposed by (Moreira et al, 2011). Many socioeconomic factors have contributed to the changes in land cover in the past few decades, resulting in increased fire hazards, and frequent large wildfires which invariably increase homogeneous landscapes (covered by shrubland) making them prone to fire (Moreira et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote Sensing for Assessing the Ecological and Socio-Economic Impacts of Forest Fire Severity in Kozan District, Turkey

Ibrahim¹,

KÖSE

Adamu

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Monitoring the ecological and socio-economic impacts of wildfires using traditional approaches requires significant financial resources, time, and sampling expertise. However, not only are resources scarce, but the spatial and temporal extent of forest fires may make it impractical to assess large areas over time. As a result, fire monitoring initiatives are often not realized. This makes the remote sensing approach an intriguing option for fire protection managers and decision makers due to its ability to measure large areas and its temporal capabilities. In this study, burn spectral indices derived from Landsat 8 (difference normalized vegetation index (dNDVI) and difference normalized burn ratio (dNBR)) were used to assess the ecological and socio-economic impacts of forest fire based on an existing land use land cover dataset. The relationships between estimated fire severity/area and, environmental and anthropogenic factors were also evaluated. The results show that more than 700 hectares of forest and other land use categories were burnt. Fires adversely affect high forests, thickets, degraded forests, and most cultivation and rural areas. The study also shows a moderate positive relationship between burn severity and pre-fire vegetation (R2 = 0.48 and R2 = 0.49 for dNDVI and dNBR, respectively). This result suggests, that fuel amount is the main driver of burn severity during the fire season in this particular ecosystem. Topography has been shown to affect the fire behavior in the study area, where fires occurred primarily on elevations averaging 400-800 meters above mean sea level. In addition, there is a weak positive relationship between population density and burnt area. This is typical of certain areas where fire increases with increasing population density, and falls when the burning exceeds a threshold. This study has shown that Landsat 8 data-derived burn spectral indices (dNDVI and dNBR) have a high potential for the spatial analysis of wildfire. The study recommends an improvement in the application of remote sensing to detect, monitor, and assess fire extent and patterns. These in return will protect and improve lives and properties for sustainable development.

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Fire ecology for the 21st century: Conserving biodiversity in the age of megafire

Cited by 11 publications

References 65 publications

Fire severity drives understory community dynamics and the recovery of culturally significant plants

Fire severity drives understory community dynamics and the recovery of culturally significant plants

Fire influences ant diversity by modifying vegetation structure in an Australian tropical savanna

Remote Sensing for Assessing the Ecological and Socio-Economic Impacts of Forest Fire Severity in Kozan District, Turkey

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