Forest edge burning in the Brazilian Amazon promoted by escaping fires from managed pastures

Cano-Crespo, Ana; Oliveira, Paulo J. C.; Boit, Alice; Cardoso, Manoel; Thonicke, Kirsten

doi:10.1002/2015jg002914

Cited by 89 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Our results also aligned with other studies in Brazil and Colombia concluding fire frequency increases at the forest edge (Cochrane 2001;Cochrane and Laurance 2002;Armenteras et al, 2013a). Some studies argue that the majority of fires in Brazil are agricultural fires or escaped fires from managed pastures (Cano-Crespo et al, 2015). It is likely that the countries with a higher percentage of fires resulting in deforestation are those countries, such as Colombia, that have most fires closest to the forest edge and less agricultural development (Armenteras et al, 2013a).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Changing patterns of fire occurrence in proximity to forest edges, roads and rivers between NW Amazonian countries

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Tropical forests in NW Amazonia are highly threatened by the expansion of the agricultural frontier and subsequent deforestation. Fire is used, both directly and indirectly, in Brazilian Amazonia to propagate deforestation and increase forest accessibility. Forest fragmentation, a measure of forest degradation, is also attributed to fire occurrence in the tropics. However, outside the Brazilian Legal Amazonia the role of fire in increasing accessibility and forest fragmentation is less explored. In this study, we compared fire regimes in five countries that share this tropical biome in the most north-westerly part of the Amazon Basin (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil). We analysed spatial differences in the timing of peak fire activity and in relation to proximity to roads and rivers using 12 years of MODIS active fire detections. We also distinguished patterns of fire in relation to forest fragmentation by analysing fire distance to the forest edge as a measure of fragmentation for each country. We found significant hemispheric differences in peak fire occurrence with the highest number of fires in the south in 2005 vs. 2007 in the north. Despite this, both hemispheres are equally affected by fire. We also found difference in peak fire occurrence by country. Fire peaked in February in Colombia and Venezuela, whereas it peaked in September in Brazil and Peru, and finally Ecuador presented two fire peaks in January and October. We confirmed the relationship between fires and forest fragmentation for all countries and also found significant differences in the distance between the fire and the forest edge for each country. Fires were associated with roads and rivers in most countries. These results can inform land use planning at the regional, national and subnational scales to minimize the contribution of road expansion and subsequent access to the Amazonian natural resources to fire occurrence and the associated deforestation and carbon emissions.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Changing patterns of fire occurrence in proximity to forest edges, roads and rivers between NW Amazonian countries

et al. 2017

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show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

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Armenteras¹

2017

Preprint

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Tropical forests in NW Amazonia are highly threatened by the expansion of the agricultural frontier and subsequent deforestation. Fire is used, both directly and indirectly, in Brazilian Amazonia to propagate deforestation and increase forest accessibility. Forest fragmentation, a measure of forest degradation, is also attributed to fire occurrence in the tropics. However, outside the Brazilian Legal Amazonia the role of fire in increasing accessibility and forest fragmentation is less explored. In this study, we compared fire regimes in five countries that share this tropical biome in the most north-westerly part of the Amazon Basin (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil). We analysed spatial differences in the timing of peak fire activity and in relation to proximity to roads and rivers using 12 years of MODIS active fire detections. We also distinguished patterns of fire in relation to forest fragmentation by analysing fire distance to the forest edge as a measure of fragmentation for each country. We found significant hemispheric differences in peak fire occurrence with the highest number of fires in the south in 2005 vs. 2007 in the north. Despite this, both hemispheres are equally affected by fire. We also found difference in peak fire occurrence by country. Fire peaked in February in Colombia and Venezuela, whereas it peaked in September in Brazil and Peru, and finally Ecuador presented two fire peaks in January and October. We confirmed the relationship between fires and forest fragmentation for all countries and also found significant differences in the distance between the fire and the forest edge for each country. Fires were associated with roads and rivers in most countries. These results can inform land use planning at the regional, national and subnational scales to minimize the contribution of road expansion and subsequent access to the Amazonian natural resources to fire occurrence and the associated deforestation and carbon emissions.Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.

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“…Recent increases in dry season length (Agudelo et al, 2018;Fu et al, 2013) and intensity (Barkhordarian, von Storch, Behrangi, et al, 2018, Barkhordarian, von Storch, Zorita, et al, 2018 can escalate the likelihood of fires throughout the season in that region (Barlow et al, 2019). As a result, without proper fire management, positive feedbacks between fire frequency, dry season length, land-use change, and management (i.e., the use of fire on pastoral and agricultural land) are expected to facilitate shifts fromfire-sensitive to fire-adapted vegetation (Brando et al, 2014;Cano-Crespo et al, 2015;Dantas et al, 2015;Flores et al, 2017;Hansen et al, 2008;Hoffmann et al, 2012;Lovejoy & Nobre, 2018;Silverio et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire Affects Asymbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Southern Amazon Forests

et al. 2020

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In this study, we investigate the biogeochemical consequences of fire in seasonally flooded Amazon forests, where recent declines in forest cover have been linked to increases in fire frequency and severity. Previous studies have hypothesized that a quasi‐permanent state‐shift transition from typical Amazon forests to open savannas can occur when fire results in further depletion of already impoverished soil nutrient pools. Asymbiotic N2 fixation (ANF) is an essential pathway for fire‐affected forests to acquire nitrogen (N) after disturbance, but ANF response to fire has yet to be quantified in Amazonia. Here, we quantify ANF through field sampling and laboratory incubations using 15N‐labeled dinitrogen (15N2) and measurement of 14 biogeochemical parameters in surface (0–10 cm) and subsurface (10–30 cm) soils. Our data represent burned and unburned replicated sampling sites, across five stands, spanning a gradient from infrequent (once in 13 years) to frequent (five times in 13 years) fire occurrences. ANF did not vary with fire frequency but was, on average, 24% lower in burned than in unburned surface soils across all stands. Burned and unburned subsurface soils had similar ANF rates. About 58% of ANF variance was explained by the joint effect of carbon (C):N ratio and available phosphorus (P) in burned and unburned soils. ANF increased linearly with C:N and P availability in unburned soils, but a highly non‐linear relationship was observed in burned soils. Our findings show that fire alters soil C‐to‐nutrient stoichiometry, which resulted in lower N inputs via ANF into burned relative to unburned tropical forest soils.

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Forest edge burning in the Brazilian Amazon promoted by escaping fires from managed pastures

Cited by 89 publications

References 54 publications

Changing patterns of fire occurrence in proximity to forest edges, roads and rivers between NW Amazonian countries

Changing patterns of fire occurrence in proximity to forest edges, roads and rivers between NW Amazonian countries

Response to Reviewer Comments

Fire Affects Asymbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Southern Amazon Forests

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