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Long-term records of FireColin Courtney Mustaphi
University of York Institute for Tropical Ecosystems
www.real-project.eu
10th TAWIRI conference – Dec 3 2015
CollaboratorsRob Marchant (U of York)
Stephen Rucina (NMK)
Michael Pisaric (Brock U)
REAL project
Serengeti Fire Project
Paleofire Working Group
Why study historical fire?Basic science – It’s interesting! and people care
about fire
Why study historical fire?Basic science – It’s interesting! and people care
about fire
Understand long term ecological processes
Examine the role of fire in:
ecological processes
influences on biodiversity
land cover change
human-environment interactions
Why study historical fire?Applications:
Context for ecology
Human landscape modification and remediation
Testing models
Big data analyses (databases)
Inform policy and management decisions
Approaches to paleofire studies
Remote sensing
Socio-ecological data
Palaeoecology
Palaeoecology
Tools:Global Charcoal Database (GCD)
PAGES paleofire working group
CharAnalysis (Phil Higuera – U Montana)
Paleofire R package
New Initiatives:Modern GCD
LandCover 6k (PAGES)
East Africa radiocarbon database
Charcoal deposits in sediments
Many depositional environments
Lakes, swamps, marine, ice, soil
Used to interpret changes in fire activity on
landscapes
Used in conjunction with other proxies:
Pollen, plant macrofossils
sedimentology
En
viro
nm
en
tal
pro
ce
sse
sM
eth
od
olo
gy
Charcoal analysis
Sediment Collection
Sediment Core
Photo: Z. Gedalof (U. of Guelph)
Sediment Core
Photo: Z. Gedalof
Coring and Geochronology
C
Pb
Volcanic ash
210
14
Macroscopic
Charcoal
Proxy measures of past fireshttp://www.real-project.eu/macroscopic-charcoal-analysis-of-sediments/
- Microscopic Charcoal
- Levoglucosan
Proxy for local fires
100 micrometers
30 x magnification
Charcoal Morphology
Grass
Wood
Leaf
Ca
l yr
BP
Charcoal Accumulation Rate (pieces / cm-2 / yr-1)
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
0 1 2 3 4 5
Roc
kslid
e
0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6
NEL0
1
0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 3 6 91215
NEL0
2
0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6 810
NEL0
3
0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 25 50 75
Coo
ley
0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6 810
CRN2
0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6
Pya
tts
0.00.20.40.60.81.0
Charcoal Records
Ca
l yr
BP
Charcoal Accumulation Rate (pieces / cm-2 / yr-1)
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
0 1 2 3 4 5
Roc
kslid
e
0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6
NEL0
1
0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 3 6 91215
NEL0
2
0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6 810
NEL0
3
0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 25 50 75
Coo
ley
0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6 810
CRN2
0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6
Pya
tts
0.00.20.40.60.81.0
Charcoal Records
Charcoal Morphology Key
Charcoal morphology represents:
1) Fuel type (woody, grassy, herbaceous, leaves, roots, moss, etc)
2) Fire type (low or high severity, ground fire, crown fire)
3) Taphonomic processes (transport of charcoal)
Charcoal Morphology Assemblage
Charcoal records Qualitative indicator of fire/biomass burning
Quantitative: Decompose charcoal time series into peaks and background, relation to other proxies
To understand role of fire frequency in evolution of ecosystems, anthropogenic changes, compare over large scales
Future methodological work:
reconstruct other fire regime variables
Calibration studies (experimental, empirical, modeled)
Multi-archive: dendrology, soils, historical, earth obs.
Social science: human fire ecology
Environmental history of a
wetland in the
Amboseli ecosystem
Esther N. Githumbi, Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi,
Kevin J. Yun, Veronica Muiruri,
Stephen M. Rucina, Rob Marchant
Esambu Swamp
Age-depth model
Palaeoecological data
Pollen analysis
Macroscopic charcoal
Palaeoecological data
Landscape
interpretation
Landscape
interpretation
Plan view
x-section
human
history
Dry
Dry
Increasing
Moisture
More fuel in swamp
(Typha)
Dry
Increasing
Moisture
More fuel in swamp
(Typha)
Increasing
Human
modifications
Fire activity at regional-global
scalesGlobal charcoal database (GCD)
http://www.paleofire.org/
Used to study past patterns of fire activity
NEW! Modern global charcoal database
To examine relationships between burning and ecosystem processes
CO2 emissions, satellite products, land cover models(?)
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