Fire Regimes, Landscape Dynamics, and Landscape Management

Abstract

Fire history can inform science and management of landscapes now and in a future of rapid change. In this chapter to our book, Fire science from chemistry to landscape management, we build on the understanding of fire occurrence and effects from previous chapters, starting with temporal dynamics at points, and then expanding over scales in space and time to landscapes. Readers learn the potential, uncertainty, and limitations of the different data sources used to describe recurring fires as part of past, present, and future fire regimes. The local fire effects from single fires vary within patches and across landscapes, and the resulting spatial variability over time and space influence ecosystem response to each fire. In turn, these influence how subsequent fires will burn and landscape dynamics, reflecting the legacy through multiple fires. Using clear examples from around the globe, we discuss current issues such as the relative importance of climate and fuels in influencing fire occurrence and area burned and the ecological effects of fires (i.e., burn severity). We address the implications of changing climate and other aspects of global change as they influence fires. Fires are often agents of change. We conclude that the ways in which climate, vegetation, and people drove historical fire regimes may hold important lessons for understanding what makes ecosystems resilient and managing them to adapt for the future. Thus, we link fire effects on landscapes to landscape management in forests, grasslands, shrublands, and other vegetation types worldwide.