About this Research Topic
Vegetation fires — also known as wilderness fires, wildfires, landscape fires, bush fires, biomass burning, forest fires, brush fires, crop fires, and grassland fires — are unique Earth system disturbances that affect the coupling of the biosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, cryosphere, and atmosphere. Fire regimes are changing globally, with an increase in the number and extent of wildfires and an increase in extreme fire events, such as the "megafires" in Australia and the western United States in 2019/20.
Recent changes in fire regimes have been linked to climatic factors, such as warming and increased drought. In addition, human activities are increasingly influencing contemporary forest fire scenarios, further shaping fires through fire exclusion, as well as landscape changes and fuel loads through prescribed burning, land clearing, etc.
Fire disturbance reverses photosynthesis and affects vegetation growth by converting ecosystem stores of carbohydrates to CO2, CO, CH4, water, and energy. The decomposition of combustibles left over after fire can change the environmental conditions, microbial community and the quality of decomposition substrates in the area. In addition, the physical properties also change with the surface after a fire, resulting in a lower ground albedo. With the recovery of vegetation after a fire, the surface energy effect is changed, the albedo is increased, and the distribution between the surface latent heat and sensible heat flux is changed. However, there is a lack of systematic and in-depth research on the effects of climate change and human-induced forest fires on forest ecosystem functions.
In that spirit, this Research Topic aims to compile the latest research on forest fire ecology to better understand forest ecosystem resilience after fire disturbance. We would like to address these issues in an interdisciplinary manner, encouraging discussion of current and future fire disturbance impacts on forests and feedback mechanisms to promote a deeper understanding of fuels-forest-fire interactions.
Potential topics include, but are not limited, to the following:
- Soil biogeochemistry
- Ecological responses to forest fire disturbances
- Restoration of vegetation after fire
- Carbon capture and storage, the effect of climate change on forest fire
We welcome the submission of original research or review articles in different spatial and temporal scales based on laboratory experiments, field observation, and modelling.
Recent changes in fire regimes have been linked to climatic factors, such as warming and increased drought. In addition, human activities are increasingly influencing contemporary forest fire scenarios, further shaping fires through fire exclusion, as well as landscape changes and fuel loads through prescribed burning, land clearing, etc.
Fire disturbance reverses photosynthesis and affects vegetation growth by converting ecosystem stores of carbohydrates to CO2, CO, CH4, water, and energy. The decomposition of combustibles left over after fire can change the environmental conditions, microbial community and the quality of decomposition substrates in the area. In addition, the physical properties also change with the surface after a fire, resulting in a lower ground albedo. With the recovery of vegetation after a fire, the surface energy effect is changed, the albedo is increased, and the distribution between the surface latent heat and sensible heat flux is changed. However, there is a lack of systematic and in-depth research on the effects of climate change and human-induced forest fires on forest ecosystem functions.
In that spirit, this Research Topic aims to compile the latest research on forest fire ecology to better understand forest ecosystem resilience after fire disturbance. We would like to address these issues in an interdisciplinary manner, encouraging discussion of current and future fire disturbance impacts on forests and feedback mechanisms to promote a deeper understanding of fuels-forest-fire interactions.
Potential topics include, but are not limited, to the following:
- Soil biogeochemistry
- Ecological responses to forest fire disturbances
- Restoration of vegetation after fire
- Carbon capture and storage, the effect of climate change on forest fire
We welcome the submission of original research or review articles in different spatial and temporal scales based on laboratory experiments, field observation, and modelling.
Keywords: Fire disturbance, Climate change, Ecological system, Prescribed burning, Fuels
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
