Managing fires in a changing world: Fuel and weather determine fire behavior and safety in the neotropical savannas

Santos, Ana Carla dos; Montenegro, Samuel da Rocha; Ferreira, Maxmiller Cardoso; Barradas, Ana Carolina Sena; Schmidt, Isabel Belloni

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112508

Cited by 21 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…2017; Santos et al . 2021), and within the range reported for Australian savannas (around 0.7 to 0.9 kg m −2 two years after fire; Williams et al . 1998).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…In fact, Rodrigues et al (2021) Total and dead fuel loads did not differ between FI-2 and FI-4 plots, indicating the greater increment to the fuel bed occurs in the first two years after a fire episode, similar to what has been observed in African and Australian savannas (Williams et al 1998;Govender et al 2006). Amount of fuel load found in FI-2 and FI-4 plots (~0.8 and 1 kg m À2 , respectively) is within the range found in other Cerrado open savannas, in which 0.2 to 1.6 kg m À2 has been recorded (Kauffman et al 1994;Castro & Kauffman 1998;Gorgone-Barbosa et al 2015;Rissi et al 2017;Schmidt et al 2017;Santos et al 2021), and within the range reported for Australian savannas (around 0.7 to 0.9 kg m À2 two years after fire; Williams et al 1998). However, the values we found were higher than or equal to what has been reported for areas with longer fire-free intervals: Gorgone-Barbosa et al (2015) reported a mean fuel load of 0.6 kg m À2 in a Cerrado campo sujo protected from fire for seven years, while Schmidt et al (2017) reported a mean fuel load of 0.8 kg m À2 in a Cerrado wet grassland protected from fire for five years.…”

Section: Fuel Load and Fire Temperaturessupporting

confidence: 82%

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Experimental burns in an open savanna: Greater fuel loads result in hotter fires

et al. 2022

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Fire is a main disturbance structuring vegetation worldwide, but few studies have addressed differences in time since last fire and its relationship to fuel load characteristics and fire behavior in Neotropical savannas. We aimed to investigate fire behavior in a Cerrado open savanna of Central Brazil by conducting prescribed fires in areas with different fire-free intervals: one year (FI-1), two years (FI-2), and four years (FI-4). Specifically, we evaluated (1) the amount of live, dead, and total biomass (components of the fuel load); (2) fire behavior, including fire temperatures in three different heights (1 cm belowground, on the soil surface, and 50 cm aboveground), fire duration, residence time, fire intensity, rate of spread, and flame height; and (3) the relationship between soil heating, fuels, and fire by identifying the most important parameters driving soil heating. Total and dead fuel loads were greater in areas with longer fire-free intervals in comparison with areas burned the previous year, with the greatest increment to the fuel bed occurring in the first two years after fire. Greater fuel loads (consequently greater dead fuel loads) resulted in differences in belowground soil heating (-1 cm), where temperatures varied from 39 to 82°C in FI-2 plots and from 40 to 131°C in FI-4 plots; in FI-1 plots temperatures belowground varied from 29 to 68°C. Temperatures on the soil surface and 50 cm aboveground were also greater in plots with longer fire-free intervals, reaching over 400°C on the soil surface and exceeding 500°C 50 cm aboveground. Finally, amount of dead fuel was the best predictor of belowground soil heating, highlighting the importance of fuel loads, which is a key factor to be monitored in fire management plans of Cerrado open savannas.

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“…2017; Santos et al . 2021), and within the range reported for Australian savannas (around 0.7 to 0.9 kg m −2 two years after fire; Williams et al . 1998).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Fuel Load and Fire Temperaturessupporting

confidence: 82%

Experimental burns in an open savanna: Greater fuel loads result in hotter fires

et al. 2022

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“…This “trade‐off” between avoiding invasion and maintaining the underground organs of resprouter species promotes low investment in belowground biomass and high accumulation of aboveground biomass, from the planted acquisitive native species. In addition, the high accumulation of aboveground biomass can also increase the risk of severe fires, especially in dry season (as occurred in 2020 in the restored site) (De Moraes et al 2016; Rissi et al 2017; Schmidt et al 2017; Gomes et al 2020; dos Santos et al 2021). Principally, in areas with high invasion potential, as in the case of our restored area, fire disturbance might favor the return of exotic species through promoting additional nutrient input into the soil (Lannes et al 2016; Eller & Oliveira 2017; Damasceno & Fidelis 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How effective is direct seeding to restore the functional composition of neotropical savannas?

Giles

Costa

Rowland

et al. 2021

Restoration Ecology

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Species loss leads to changes in ecosystem function and services, impacting human well‐being. Although biodiversity restoration is pivotal to circumvent this situation, the techniques for restoring old‐growth savannas are still limited and the restoration outcomes remain unpredictable. Here, we use a trait‐based approach to understand the functional outcomes of ecological restoration via direct seeding in a Brazilian savanna (cerrado, hereafter neotropical savanna). We compared the functional composition from woody and non‐woody component, total biomass, and biomass allocation of a restored relative to a degraded savanna (abandoned pasture) dominated by exotic grasses and a well‐preserved old‐growth native savanna. We found that the functional composition of restored communities was very similar to those dominated by exotic grasses, both characterized by a greater dominance of species with acquisitive traits, higher above‐ground biomass, and lower investment in root biomass. In contrast, the native vegetation exhibited a dominance of conservative traits and higher investment in belowground rather than aboveground biomass. Even though the acquisitive traits in the restored savanna allow a fast aboveground biomass accumulation and soil cover, the lower belowground biomass investment in the restored savanna may limit its resistance and resilience to droughts and fires. Our findings suggest that restoration efforts in neotropical savanna should focus on fostering the establishment of slow‐growing species to recover the ecosystem properties provided by the high biodiversity in neotropical savannas.

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“…Wildfires can threaten native ecosystems and human lives (Rager et al, 2021;Santos et al, 2021;Xiang et al, 2021). There are frequent and even some large wildfires in the western United States because of vast flammable chaparral scrub vegetation under warm-dry and strong offshore wind meteorological conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opposite anomalous synoptic patterns for potential California large wildfire spread and extinguishing in 2018 cases

Qian

et al. 2021

Atmospheric Research

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The consecutive occurrence of three large wildfires in 1 year is rarely seen in northern California including the deadliest case during 8-25 November 2018 in Butte County. They happened under favorable fuel and meteorological conditions including long-term warming trends, normal summer-autumn warm-dry climate, and extreme heated air masses with strong offshore wind. The former two meteorological conditions contribute a background for large wildfires but extreme heated air masses and strong offshore winds are critical potentials for a fire spread. The relationship between extreme heated/cooled air masses and the three large wildfires was carefully examined from their starts to extinguishing. An anomaly-based synoptic analysis method is used by separating atmospheric variables into climatology and anomalies. A 3-dimensional anomalous synoptic pattern of atmospheric variables is established for the three wildfire cases in 2018. The analysis showed that one anomalous warm-air mass in the mid-to-low troposphere dynamically associated with a positive center of geopotential height (GPH) anomalies at the upper troposphere (150-300 hPa) is an anomalous synoptic pattern indicating a potential large wildfire spread, and conversely by negative anomalies when the fires were extinguished. The ECMWF model seems to be capable of predicting such anomalous temperature-pressure patterns to indicate possible fire spread and extinguishing.

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Managing fires in a changing world: Fuel and weather determine fire behavior and safety in the neotropical savannas

Cited by 21 publications

References 62 publications

Experimental burns in an open savanna: Greater fuel loads result in hotter fires

Experimental burns in an open savanna: Greater fuel loads result in hotter fires

How effective is direct seeding to restore the functional composition of neotropical savannas?

Opposite anomalous synoptic patterns for potential California large wildfire spread and extinguishing in 2018 cases

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