Slow burn: the insidious effects of surface fires on tropical forests

Accidental surface fires are emerging as one of the most pervasive threats to tropical forests. Although unimpressive in appearance, these fires can have surprisingly potent impacts on rainforest plant and animal communities, as demonstrated by recent studies led by Jos Barlow and Carlos Peres in central Amazonia. Even worse, surface fires greatly increase the likelihood of far larger conflagrations that can lead to complete forest destruction.

[1]  M. Cochrane,et al.  Fire as a Recurrent Event in Tropical Forests of the Eastern Amazon: Effects on Forest Structure, Biomass, and Species Composition 1 , 1999 .

[2]  S. Scheiner,et al.  REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL BIAS WHEN MEASURING NATURAL SELECTION , 2002, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[3]  C. Peres.  Ground fires as agents of mortality in a Central Amazonian forest , 1999, Journal of Tropical Ecology.

[4]  P. Fearnside,et al.  Incêndios na Amazônia Brasileira: estimativa da emissão de gases do efeito estufa pela queima de diferentes ecossistemas de Roraima na passagem do evento “El Nino” (1997/98) , 1999 .

[5]  J. Barlow,et al.  Vertebrate responses to surface wildfires in a central Amazonian forest , 2003, Oryx.

[6]  Johann G. Goldammer,et al.  Forests on Fire , 1999, Science.

[7]  S. J. Arnold,et al.  THE MEASUREMENT OF SELECTION ON CORRELATED CHARACTERS , 1983, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[8]  J. Barlow,et al.  Effects of ground fires on understorey bird assemblages in Amazonian forests , 2002 .

[9]  Leighton,et al.  Impact of El Nino and logging on canopy tree recruitment in borneo , 1999, Science.

[10]  C. Uhl,et al.  FIRE IN AMAZONIAN SELECTIVELY LOGGED RAIN FOREST AND THE POTENTIAL FOR FIRE REDUCTION , 1997 .

[11]  Timothy J. Hoar,et al.  The 1990–1995 El Niño‐Southern Oscillation Event: Longest on Record , 1996 .

[12]  W. Laurance,et al.  A crisis in the making: responses of Amazonian forests to land use and climate change. , 1998, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[13]  J. Kauffman,et al.  Deforestation, Fire Susceptibility, and Potential Tree Responses to Fire in the Eastern Amazon , 1990 .

[14]  A. Timmermann,et al.  Increased El Niño frequency in a climate model forced by future greenhouse warming , 1999, Nature.

[15]  A. Robertson.  A mathematical model of the culling process in dairy cattle , 1966 .

[16]  Timothy J. Hoar,et al.  El Niño and climate change , 1997 .

[17]  J. Barlow,et al.  Ecological responses to el Niño-induced surface fires in central Brazilian Amazonia: management implications for flammable tropical forests. , 2004, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[18]  M. Cochrane.  Fire science for rainforests , 2003, Nature.

[19]  F. Siegert,et al.  Increased damage from fires in logged forests during droughts caused by El Niño , 2001, Nature.

[20]  J. Saldarriaga,et al.  Amazon Rain-Forest Fires , 1985, Science.

[21]  L. Kruuk,et al.  Explaining stasis: microevolutionary studies in natural populations , 2004, Genetica.

[22]  M. Rausher.  THE MEASUREMENT OF SELECTION ON QUANTITATIVE TRAITS: BIASES DUE TO ENVIRONMENTAL COVARIANCES BETWEEN TRAITS AND FITNESS , 1992, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[23]  D. Nepstad,et al.  Positive feedbacks in the fire dynamic of closed canopy tropical forests , 1999, Science.

[24]  D. Piperno,et al.  Vegetational History of a Site in the Central Amazon Basin Derived from Phytolith and Charcoal Records from Natural Soils , 1996, Quaternary Research.

[25]  T. Lovejoy,et al.  Rain-forest fragmentation and the phenology of Amazonian tree communities , 2003, Journal of Tropical Ecology.

[26]  S. J. Arnold,et al.  Directional selection and the evolution of breeding date in birds. , 1988, Science.

[27]  C. Potter,et al.  Large-scale impoverishment of Amazonian forests by logging and fire , 1999, Nature.

[28]  B. Meggers.  Archeological evidence for the impact of mega-Niño events on Amazonia during the past two millennia , 1994 .

[29]  M. Cochrane,et al.  Fire as a large-scale edge effect in Amazonian forests , 2002, Journal of Tropical Ecology.

[30]  J. Barlow,et al.  Large tree mortality and the decline of forest biomass following Amazonian wildfires. , 2002 .

[31]  R. Dunbar.  El Niño: Clues from corals , 2000, Nature.

[32]  J. Barlow,et al.  Morphological correlates of fire-induced tree mortality in a central Amazonian forest , 2003, Journal of Tropical Ecology.

[33]  G. B. Williamson,et al.  Receding Forest Edges and Vanishing Reserves , 2000, Science.