The human–grass–fire cycle how people and invasives co-occur to drive fire regimes

Invasive grass species can alter fire regimes, converting native terrestrial ecosystems into non-native, grass-dominated landscapes, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of increasing fire activity and flammable grass expansion. Analyses of this phenomenon tend to focus on the ecology and geography of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in ecology and the environment Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 117 - 126
Main Authors: Fusco, Emily J, Balch, Jennifer K, Mahood, Adam L, Nagy, R Chelsea, Syphard, Alexandra D, Bradley, Bethany A
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Washington John Wiley and Sons, Inc 01.03.2022
Ecological Society of America
Subjects:
Anthropogenic factors
Burning
CONCEPTS AND QUESTIONS
environment
Flammability
Geography
Grasses
Human influences
humans
Introduced species
Invasive species
Land use
Landscape
people
Roads & highways
Terrestrial ecosystems
Wildfires
ISSN:1540-9295, 1540-9309
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Invasive grass species can alter fire regimes, converting native terrestrial ecosystems into non-native, grass-dominated landscapes, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of increasing fire activity and flammable grass expansion. Analyses of this phenomenon tend to focus on the ecology and geography of the grass–fire cycle independent of human activities. Yet people introduce non-native grasses to new landscapes (eg via agriculture), facilitate their spread (eg via road networks), and are a primary source of ignition (eg via debris burning). We propose a new framework for this phenomenon that explicitly recognizes the important role of anthropogenic activities in the human–grass–fire cycle. We review links between land use and invasive species as well as ignitions, with a particular focus on the spatial and temporal co-occurrences of these activities to show that these two drivers of wildfires are inextricable. Finally, management strategies that could mitigate impacts are discussed.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
ISSN:1540-9295
1540-9309
DOI:10.1002/fee.2432