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Fire futures for a megadiverse continent
Citation
Williams, RJ and Bowman, DMJS, Fire futures for a megadiverse continent, New Phytologist, 196, (2) pp. 337-340. ISSN 0028-646X (2012) [Letter or Note in Journal]
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DOI: doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2012.04342.x
Abstract
Climate change has the capacity to fundamentally alter global fire
regimes. The Australian continent is megadiverse with respect to
both biodiversity, and fire regimes. It is an ideal ‘laboratory’ within
which interactions between climate change, fire regimes, ecosystems
and people can be examined. Leading fire researchers and
senior fire and biodiversity managers met at a recent national
workshop in Hobart, Australia, to discuss these complex interactions,
and how fire management may adapt to the challenges of the
coming century. Regional responses of fire regimes to climate
change may vary. Fire activity may increase due to rising
temperatures and decreasing humidity. Alternatively, fire activity
may decrease if ecosystem productivity decreases due to declining
rainfall. Climate change will also interact with other drivers, such as
the spread of alien species, to alter fire regimes. Such changes in fire
regimes may lead to gradual changes in ecosystem composition and
structure, or the changes may be rapid and transformational. How
fire is managed under climate change scenarios will also have effects
on biodiversity. Targeted ecosystem monitoring in the field and
enhanced national fire regime mapping capacity are both critical to
predicting and managing ecosystem changes resulting from climate
change-induced changes to fire regimes.
Item Details
Item Type: | Letter or Note in Journal |
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Keywords: | Australia, biodiversity, climate change, ecological monitoring, fire regimes, fuels, invasive species |
Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
Research Group: | Ecology |
Research Field: | Terrestrial ecology |
Objective Division: | Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards |
Objective Group: | Natural hazards |
Objective Field: | Natural hazards not elsewhere classified |
UTAS Author: | Bowman, DMJS (Professor David Bowman) |
ID Code: | 83467 |
Year Published: | 2012 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 2 |
Deposited By: | Plant Science |
Deposited On: | 2013-03-14 |
Last Modified: | 2013-06-27 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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