Climate and human influence on late Holocene fire regimes in the British Virgin Islands

2018 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 679-690
Author(s):  
Joshua R. Mueller ◽  
Mitchell J. Power ◽  
Colin J. Long
Keyword(s):  
Fire Regime ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Virgin Islands ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Fire Disturbance ◽  
British Virgin Islands ◽  
Landscape Modification ◽  
Anthropogenic Landscape ◽  
European Settlement

AbstractGlobal climate change poses significant threats to the Caribbean islands. Yet, little is known about the long-term disturbance regimes in island ecosystems. This research investigates 2000 yr of natural and anthropogenic fire disturbance through the analysis of a latitudinal transect of sediment records from coastal salt ponds in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). The two research objectives in this study are (1) to determine the fire regime history for the BVI over the last 2000 yr and (2) to explore ecological impacts from anthropogenic landscape modification pre- and post-European settlement. The magnitude of anthropogenic landscape modification, including the introduction of agriculture, was investigated through a multiproxy approach using sedimentary records of fossil pollen and charcoal. Our results suggest fire regimes from Belmont Pond, Thatch Island, and Skeleton Pond have been influenced by human activity, particularly during the postsettlement era, from 500 cal yr BP to modern. Our results suggest that fire regimes during the Medieval Climate Anomaly were responding to changes in climate via dominant atmospheric drivers. The presettlement fire regimes from these islands suggest that fires occurred every 90 to 120 yr. This research represents a significant data contribution to a region with little disturbance and vegetation data available.

Fire regime and vegetation change in the transition from Aboriginal to European land management in a Tasmanian eucalypt savanna

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise M. Romanin ◽  
Feli Hopf ◽  
Simon G. Haberle ◽  
David M. J. S. Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Plantago Lanceolata ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Open Water ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Early 19Th Century ◽  
European Settlement

Using pollen and charcoal analysis we examined how vegetation and fire regimes have changed over the last 600 years in the Midlands of Tasmania. Sediment cores from seven lagoons were sampled, with a chronology developed at one site (Diprose Lagoon) using 210Pb and 14C dating. Statistical contrasts of six cores where Pinus served as a marker of European settlement in the early 19th Century and showed significant changes in pollen composition following settlement with (a) influx of ruderal exotic taxa including Plantago lanceolata L., Brassicaceae, Asteraceae (Liguliflorae) and Rumex, (b) increase in pollen of the aquatics Myriophyllum spp. and Cyperaceae, (c) a decline in native herbaceous pollen taxa, including Chenopodiaceae and Asteraceae (Tubuliflorae) and (d) a decline in Allocasuarina and an initial decline and then increase of Poaceae. The presence of Asteraceae (Liguliflorae) in the pre-European period suggests that an important root vegetable Microseris lanceolata (Walp.) Sch.Bip. may have been abundant. Charcoal deposition was low in the pre-European period and significantly increased immediately after European arrival. Collectively, these changes suggest substantial ecological impacts following European settlement including cessation of Aboriginal traditions of fire management, a shift in hydrological conditions from open water lagoons to more ephemeral herb covered lagoons, and increased diversity of alien herbaceous species following pasture establishment.

scholarly journals Large fires and their ecological consequences: introduction to the special issue

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Williams ◽  
Ross A. Bradstock
Keyword(s):  
Fire Ecology ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Ecological Consequences ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
Historical Range

In the last decade, extensive fires have occurred on most continents, affecting a wide range of ecosystems. We convened a Symposium at the 3rd International Fire Ecology and Management Congress in 2006 to address the issue of large fires and their ecological consequences in landscapes. The 10 papers presented here variously discuss the place of large fires in the context of historical fire regimes, the heterogeneity of fire regime components that are associated with large fires, and the ecological consequences of large fires. The discussions cover a range of biomes, from tropical to temperate, across the world. Three consistent themes emerged: firstly, large fires are usually a part of the Historical Range of Variability; secondly, large fires are inherently heterogeneous, leaving footprints of spatial and temporal diversity that may influence landscapes for decades; and thirdly, large fires have been perceived as socially and ecologically ‘disastrous’, due to obvious and significant deleterious effects on life and property, and the scale of immediate environmental impact. However, the papers presented here indicate that the long-term ecological impacts of individual large fires are not necessarily disastrous. Crucial impacts of large fires on ecosystems may depend largely on their rate of recurrence as well as landscape-scale variation in severity. The incidence and characteristics of large fires may change in the future, as a consequence of global climate change, and other social drivers of landscape change.

Using fire regimes to delineate zones in a high-resolution lake sediment record from the western United States

2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse L. Morris ◽  
Andrea Brunelle ◽  
R. Justin DeRose ◽  
Heikki Seppä ◽  
Mitchell J. Power ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Summer Precipitation ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Detection Algorithm ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Transitional Period ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Fire Disturbance ◽  
Forest Fuel

AbstractPaleoenvironmental reconstructions are important for understanding the influence of long-term climate variability on ecosystems and landscape disturbance dynamics. In this paper we explore the linkages among past climate, vegetation, and fire regimes using a high-resolution pollen and charcoal reconstruction from Morris Pond located on the Markagunt Plateau in southwestern Utah, USA. A regime shift detection algorithm was applied to background charcoal accumulation to define where statistically significant shifts in fire regimes occurred. The early Holocene was characterized by greater amounts of summer precipitation and less winter precipitation than modern. Ample forest fuel and warm summer temperatures allowed for large fires to occur. The middle Holocene was a transitional period between vegetation conditions and fire disturbance. The late Holocene climate is characterized as cool and wet reflecting an increase in snow cover, which reduced opportunities for fire despite increased availability of fuels. Similarities between modern forest fuel availability and those of the early Holocene suggest that warmer summers projected for the 21st century may yield substantial increases in the recurrence and ecological impacts of fire when compared to the fire regime of the last millennium.

scholarly journals Disruption of Traditional Grazing and Fire Regimes Shape the Fungal Endophyte Assemblages of the Tall-Grass Brachypodium rupestre

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Durán ◽  
Leticia San Emeterio ◽  
Leire Múgica ◽  
Iñigo Zabalgogeazcoa ◽  
Beatriz R. Vázquez de Aldana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fire Regime ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Fungal Endophyte ◽  
Tall Grass ◽  
Anthropogenic Fire ◽  
Core Species ◽  
Resistance To Stress ◽  
Future Work ◽  
High Altitude Grasslands

The plant microbiome is likely to play a key role in the resilience of communities to the global climate change. This research analyses the culturable fungal mycobiota of Brachypodium rupestre across a sharp gradient of disturbance caused by an intense, anthropogenic fire regime. This factor has dramatic consequences for the community composition and diversity of high-altitude grasslands in the Pyrenees. Plants were sampled at six sites, and the fungal assemblages of shoots, rhizomes, and roots were characterized by culture-dependent techniques. Compared to other co-occurring grasses, B. rupestre hosted a poorer mycobiome which consisted of many rare species and a few core species that differed between aerial and belowground tissues. Recurrent burnings did not affect the diversity of the endophyte assemblages, but the percentages of infection of two core species -Omnidemptus graminis and Lachnum sp. -increased significantly. The patterns observed might be explained by (1) the capacity to survive in belowground tissues during winter and rapidly spread to the shoots when the grass starts its spring growth (O. graminis), and (2) the location in belowground tissues and its resistance to stress (Lachnum sp.). Future work should address whether the enhanced taxa have a role in the expansive success of B. rupestre in these anthropized environments.

The influences of drought and humans on the fire regimes of northern Pennsylvania, USA

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (8) ◽  
pp. 757-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick H. Brose ◽  
Daniel C. Dey ◽  
Richard P. Guyette ◽  
Joseph M. Marschall ◽  
Michael C. Stambaugh
Keyword(s):  
American Indians ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Pine Regeneration ◽  
Fire Exclusion ◽  
Dormant Season

Understanding past fire regimes is necessary to justify and implement restoration of disturbance-associated forests via prescribed fire programs. In eastern North America, the characteristics of many presettlement fire regimes are unclear because of the passage of time. To help clarify this situation, we developed a 435-year fire history for the former conifer forests of northern Pennsylvania. Ninety-three cross sections of fire-scarred red pines (Pinus resinosa Aiton) collected from three sites were analyzed to determine common fire regime characteristics. Prior to European settlement, fires occurred every 35–50 years and were often large dormant-season burns that sometimes initiated red pine regeneration. American Indians probably ignited these fires. Fire occurrence had a weak association with multiyear droughts. After European settlement started around 1800, fires occurred every 5–7 years due to widespread logging. Fire size and seasonality expanded to include small growing-season fires. The weak drought–fire association ceased. In the early 1900s, logging ended and wildfire control began. Since then, fires have been nearly absent from the sites despite several multiyear droughts in the 20th century. The human influences of cultural burning, logging, and fire exclusion are more important than the influence of drought to the fire regimes of northern Pennsylvania.

Pre- and post-European settlement fire history of red pine dominated forest ecosystems of Seney National Wildlife Refuge, Upper Michigan

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (9) ◽  
pp. 2497-2514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Drobyshev ◽  
P. Charles Goebel ◽  
David M. Hix ◽  
R. Gregory Corace ◽  
Marie E. Semko-Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Red Pine ◽  
Sand Ridge ◽  
Cumulative Number ◽  
National Wildlife Refuge ◽  
Wildlife Refuge ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
In Fire

To understand the dynamics of fire in red pine ( Pinus resinosa Ait.) forest ecosystems that once dominated areas of the northern Lake States, we dendrochronologically reconstructed the fire regime prior to European settlement (pre-1860), after European settlement (1860–1935), and postrefuge establishment (post-1935) for different portions (wilderness and nonwilderness) and landforms (sand ridges and outwash channels) of the Seney National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR) in eastern Upper Michigan. Using data from 50 sites, we found that the cumulative number of fires showed a slow rate of accumulation from the 1700s to 1859, a steeper pattern suggesting higher fire occurrence from 1860 to 1935, and a return to fewer fires after 1935. Prior to European settlement, the fire cycle (FC) of sand ridge landforms interspersed within a poorly drained lacustrine plain in the Seney Wilderness Area was 91–144 years. This was longer than on glacial outwash channel landforms (53 years) and on sand ridge landforms interspersed within lacustrine plains located outside of the wilderness (47 years). The FC was also shorter (30 years) during this period and has subsequently increased (149–1090 years) after SNWR establishment. Differences in fire regimes among landform types were minor relative to the temporal variation in fire regimes among the three time periods.

scholarly journals Humans take control of fire-driven diversity changes in Mediterranean Iberia’s vegetation during the mid–late Holocene

The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 886-901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon E Connor ◽  
Boris Vannière ◽  
Daniele Colombaroli ◽  
R Scott Anderson ◽  
José S Carrión ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fire Regime ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Regime Shifts ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
Vegetation Diversity ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Regime Changes

Fire regime changes are considered a major threat to future biodiversity in the Mediterranean Basin. Such predictions remain uncertain, given that fire regime changes and their ecological impacts occur over timescales that are too long for direct observation. Here we analyse centennial- and millennial-scale shifts in fire regimes and compositional turnover to track the consequences of fire regime shifts on Mediterranean vegetation diversity. We estimated rate-of-change, richness and compositional turnover (beta diversity) in 13 selected high-resolution palaeoecological records from Mediterranean Iberia and compared these with charcoal-inferred fire regime changes. Event sequence analysis showed fire regime shifts to be significantly temporally associated with compositional turnover, particularly during the last three millennia. We find that the timing and direction of fire and diversity change in Mediterranean Iberia are best explained by long-term human–environment interactions dating back perhaps 7500 years. Evidence suggests that Neolithic burning propagated a first wave of increasing vegetation openness and promoted woodland diversity around early farming settlements. Landscape transformation intensified around 5500 to 5000 cal. yr BP and accelerated during the last two millennia, as fire led to permanent transitions in ecosystem state. These fire episodes increased open vegetation diversity, decreased woodland diversity and significantly altered richness on a regional scale. Our study suggests that anthropogenic fires played a primary role in diversity changes in Mediterranean Iberia. Their millennia-long legacy in today’s vegetation should be considered for biodiversity conservation and landscape management.

Long-term climate, vegetation and fire regime change in a managed municipal water supply area, British Columbia, Canada

The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (9) ◽  
pp. 1411-1424
Author(s):  
KJ Brown ◽  
NJR Hebda ◽  
G Schoups ◽  
N Conder ◽  
KAP Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Fire Disturbance ◽  
Municipal Water Supply ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Municipal Water

Post-glacial climate, vegetation and fire history were reconstructed from a sediment record from Begbie Lake, British Columbia, Canada, located in a municipal water supply area servicing > 350,000 people. Watershed managers have identified wildfire as a threat to water supply and seek to understand how vegetation and fire have varied through time with climate. In the cold late-glacial, open Pinus woodlands, periodically disturbed by fire, transitioned to mixed conifer forests subject to high-severity fire. The early Holocene is of interest to watershed managers because climate was warmer and drier than present. During this interval, low streamflow, abundant fire-adapted taxa, elevated background charcoal and regional increases in biomass burning indicate that fire seasons were longer and that fire was an important disturbance mechanism. Climate moistened in the mid Holocene, facilitating canopy closure and decreased fire disturbance. However, surface fires prevailed in Quercus ecosystems, which were expanding locally. Charcoal increased between 6180–2500 cal yr BP as climate further cooled and moistened, likely reflecting human activity and/or increased climate variability. Modern conditions arose within the last few millennia, impacted most recently by European settlement. In combination with paleoclimate modelling, modern management practices and forecast simulations, the Begbie Lake record informs about ecosystem changes within the watershed, yielding insights for management.

Contexts

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Chenoweth
Keyword(s):  
Virgin Islands ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
British Virgin Islands ◽  
Caribbean Islands ◽  
Social Forms ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Agricultural Potential ◽  
Archaeological Work ◽  
History Of

Chapter 2 provides a history of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) themselves and how their unusual place in the colonial process produced a more isolated, poorer set of white colonists than many other Caribbean islands. The marginal agricultural potential of the BVI left them uncolonized longer than most islands and European settlement began there in a haphazard way, with no formal government, church, or other institutions. This left the settlers free to experiment with new social forms, such as Quakerism, the arrival of which is also recounted here. But this isolation also posed challenges and left them in precarious positions. This chapter also introduces the Lettsom family who will be the focus for the study along with their island of Little Jost van Dyke, before describing the archaeological work undertaken to address the project’s questions. The remainder of the volume takes up the themes of simplicity, equality, and peace, shifting between written and archaeological evidence to understand how BVI Quakers understood and enacted these ideas differently than Quakers elsewhere.

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