Coherent signature of warming-induced extreme sub-continental boreal wildfire activity 4800 and 1100 years BP

Climate changes are expected to progressively increase extreme wildfire frequency in forests. Finding past analogs for periods of extreme biomass burning would provide valuable insights regarding what the effects of warming might be for tree species distribution, ecosystem integrity, atmospheric gre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental research letters 2019-12, Vol.14 (12), p.124042
Main Authors: Girardin, Martin P, Portier, Jeanne, Remy, Cécile C, Ali, Adam A, Paillard, Jordan, Blarquez, Olivier, Asselin, Hugo, Gauthier, Sylvie, Grondin, Pierre, Bergeron, Yves
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analogs
Biomass
Biomass burning
Boreal forest
Burning
Charcoal
Climate change
Climatic conditions
Cores
Ecosystem services
Ethane
Fluctuations
Forest ecosystems
Geographical distribution
Greenhouse effect
Greenhouse gases
Lake sediments
paleoecology
Plant species
sedimentary charcoal
temperature
Wildfires
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Summary:Climate changes are expected to progressively increase extreme wildfire frequency in forests. Finding past analogs for periods of extreme biomass burning would provide valuable insights regarding what the effects of warming might be for tree species distribution, ecosystem integrity, atmospheric greenhouse gas balance, and human safety. Here, we used a network of 42 lake-sediment charcoal records across a ∼2000 km transect in eastern boreal North America to infer widespread periods of wildfire activity in association with past climate conditions. The reconstructed fluctuations in biomass burning are broadly consistent with variations in ethane concentration in Greenland polar ice cores. Biomass burning fluctuations also significantly co-varied with Greenland temperatures estimated from ice cores, at least for the past 6000 years. Our retrospective analysis of past fire activity allowed us to identify two fire periods centered around 4800 and 1100 BP, coinciding with large-scale warming in northern latitudes and having respectively affected an estimated ∼71% and ∼57% of the study area. These two periods co-occurred with widespread decreases in mean fire-return intervals. The two periods are likely the best analogs for what could be anticipated in terms of impacts of fire on ecosystem services provided by these forests in coming decades.
ISSN:1748-9326
1748-9326
DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/ab59c9