Biological and geophysical feedbacks with fire in the Earth system
Roughly 3% of the Earth’s land surface burns annually, representing a critical exchange of energy and matter between the land and atmosphere via combustion. Fires range from slow smouldering peat fires, to low-intensity surface fires, to intense crown fires, depending on vegetation structure, fuel m...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Institute of Physics Publishing
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/66647 |
| _version_ | 1848761361227579392 |
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| author | Archibald, S. Lehmann, C. Belcher, C. Bond, W. Bradstock, R. Daniau, A. Dexter, K. Forrestel, E. Greve, M. He, Tianhua Higgins, S. Hoffmann, W. Lamont, Byron McGlinn, D. Moncrieff, G. Osborne, C. Pausas, J. Price, O. Ripley, B. Rogers, B. Schwilk, D. Simon, M. Turetsky, M. Van der Werf, G. Zanne, A. |
| author_facet | Archibald, S. Lehmann, C. Belcher, C. Bond, W. Bradstock, R. Daniau, A. Dexter, K. Forrestel, E. Greve, M. He, Tianhua Higgins, S. Hoffmann, W. Lamont, Byron McGlinn, D. Moncrieff, G. Osborne, C. Pausas, J. Price, O. Ripley, B. Rogers, B. Schwilk, D. Simon, M. Turetsky, M. Van der Werf, G. Zanne, A. |
| author_sort | Archibald, S. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Roughly 3% of the Earth’s land surface burns annually, representing a critical exchange of energy and matter between the land and atmosphere via combustion. Fires range from slow smouldering peat fires, to low-intensity surface fires, to intense crown fires, depending on vegetation structure, fuel moisture, prevailing climate, and weather conditions. While the links between biogeochemistry, climate and fire are widely studied within Earth system science, these relationships are also mediated by fuels—namely plants and their litter—that are the product of evolutionary and ecological processes. Fire is a powerful selective force and, over their evolutionary history, plants have evolved traits that both tolerate and promote fire numerous times and across diverse clades. Here we outline a conceptual framework of how plant traits determine the flammability of ecosystems and interact with climate and weather to influence fire regimes. We explore how these evolutionary and ecological processes scale to impact biogeochemical and Earth system processes. Finally, we outline several research challenges that, when resolved, will improve our understanding of the role of plant evolution in mediating the fire feedbacks driving Earth system processes. Understanding current patterns of fire and vegetation, as well as patterns of fire over geological time, requires research that incorporates evolutionary biology, ecology, biogeography, and the biogeosciences. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:30:27Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-66647 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:30:27Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Institute of Physics Publishing |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-666472018-11-29T06:13:44Z Biological and geophysical feedbacks with fire in the Earth system Archibald, S. Lehmann, C. Belcher, C. Bond, W. Bradstock, R. Daniau, A. Dexter, K. Forrestel, E. Greve, M. He, Tianhua Higgins, S. Hoffmann, W. Lamont, Byron McGlinn, D. Moncrieff, G. Osborne, C. Pausas, J. Price, O. Ripley, B. Rogers, B. Schwilk, D. Simon, M. Turetsky, M. Van der Werf, G. Zanne, A. Roughly 3% of the Earth’s land surface burns annually, representing a critical exchange of energy and matter between the land and atmosphere via combustion. Fires range from slow smouldering peat fires, to low-intensity surface fires, to intense crown fires, depending on vegetation structure, fuel moisture, prevailing climate, and weather conditions. While the links between biogeochemistry, climate and fire are widely studied within Earth system science, these relationships are also mediated by fuels—namely plants and their litter—that are the product of evolutionary and ecological processes. Fire is a powerful selective force and, over their evolutionary history, plants have evolved traits that both tolerate and promote fire numerous times and across diverse clades. Here we outline a conceptual framework of how plant traits determine the flammability of ecosystems and interact with climate and weather to influence fire regimes. We explore how these evolutionary and ecological processes scale to impact biogeochemical and Earth system processes. Finally, we outline several research challenges that, when resolved, will improve our understanding of the role of plant evolution in mediating the fire feedbacks driving Earth system processes. Understanding current patterns of fire and vegetation, as well as patterns of fire over geological time, requires research that incorporates evolutionary biology, ecology, biogeography, and the biogeosciences. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/66647 10.1088/1748-9326/aa9ead http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Institute of Physics Publishing fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Archibald, S. Lehmann, C. Belcher, C. Bond, W. Bradstock, R. Daniau, A. Dexter, K. Forrestel, E. Greve, M. He, Tianhua Higgins, S. Hoffmann, W. Lamont, Byron McGlinn, D. Moncrieff, G. Osborne, C. Pausas, J. Price, O. Ripley, B. Rogers, B. Schwilk, D. Simon, M. Turetsky, M. Van der Werf, G. Zanne, A. Biological and geophysical feedbacks with fire in the Earth system |
| title | Biological and geophysical feedbacks with fire in the Earth system |
| title_full | Biological and geophysical feedbacks with fire in the Earth system |
| title_fullStr | Biological and geophysical feedbacks with fire in the Earth system |
| title_full_unstemmed | Biological and geophysical feedbacks with fire in the Earth system |
| title_short | Biological and geophysical feedbacks with fire in the Earth system |
| title_sort | biological and geophysical feedbacks with fire in the earth system |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/66647 |