Modeling of Fire Occurrence in the Boreal Forest Region of Canada

Abstract

ire is a significant component of most boreal forest ecosystems. It is important to understand its occurrence and spread to assess the potential impact of global climate change on boreal forest ecosystems. This chapter presents an overview of our understanding of the processes and models that have been developed and used to predict both people-caused and lightning-caused fire occurrences in the boreal forest. We draw heavily on our experience with fire occurrence in the boreal forest region of Canada, but some of our observations may be applicable to other parts of the circumpolar boreal forest as well as other biomes.