The diversification of Paleozoic fire systems and fluctuations in atmospheric oxygen concentration.

ABSTRACT: By comparing Silurian through end Permian [approximately 250 million years (Myr)] charcoal abundance with contemporaneous macroecological changes in vegetation and climate we aim to demonstrate that long-term variations in fire occurrence and fire system diversification are related to fluctuations in Late Paleozoic atmospheric oxygen concentration. Charcoal, a proxy for fire, occurs in the fossil record from the Late Silurian (approximately 420 Myr) to the present. Its presence at any interval in the fossil record is already taken to constrain atmospheric oxygen within the range of 13% to 35% (the "fire window"). Herein, we observe that, as predicted, atmospheric oxygen levels rise from approximately 13% in the Late Devonian to approximately 30% in the Late Permian so, too, fires progressi

SUBMITTER: Scott AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1544139 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature