Global fire history of grassland biomes.

ABSTRACT: Grasslands are globally extensive; they exist in many different climates, at high and low elevations, on nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor soils. Grassland distributions today are closely linked to human activities, herbivores, and fire, but many have been converted to urban areas, forests, or agriculture fields. Roughly 80% of fires globally occur in grasslands each year, making fire a critical process in grassland dynamics. Yet, little is known about the long-term history of fire in grasslands. Here, we analyze sedimentary archives to reconstruct grassland fire histories during the Holocene. Given that grassland locations change over time, we compare several charcoal-based fire reconstructions based on alternative classification schemes: (a) sites from modern grassland locations; (b) sites

SUBMITTER: Leys BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6157676 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature