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Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum: an assessment based on a global synthesis and analysis of charcoal data

Climate Dynamics volume 30, pages 887–907 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Fire activity has varied globally and continuously since the last glacial maximum (LGM) in response to long-term changes in global climate and shorter-term regional changes in climate, vegetation, and human land use. We have synthesized sedimentary charcoal records of biomass burning since the LGM and present global maps showing changes in fire activity for time slices during the past 21,000 years (as differences in charcoal accumulation values compared to pre-industrial). There is strong broad-scale coherence in fire activity after the LGM, but spatial heterogeneity in the signals increases thereafter. In North America, Europe and southern South America, charcoal records indicate less-than-present fire activity during the deglacial period, from 21,000 to ∼11,000 cal yr BP. In contrast, the tropical latitudes of South America and Africa show greater-than-present fire activity from ∼19,000 to ∼17,000 cal yr BP and most sites from Indochina and Australia show greater-than-present fire activity from 16,000 to ∼13,000 cal yr BP. Many sites indicate greater-than-present or near-present activity during the Holocene with the exception of eastern North America and eastern Asia from 8,000 to ∼3,000 cal yr BP, Indonesia and Australia from 11,000 to 4,000 cal yr BP, and southern South America from 6,000 to 3,000 cal yr BP where fire activity was less than present. Regional coherence in the patterns of change in fire activity was evident throughout the post-glacial period. These complex patterns can largely be explained in terms of large-scale climate controls modulated by local changes in vegetation and fuel load.

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Acknowledgments

The data analyses on which this paper is based were made at a workshop of the Palaeofire Working Group of the International Geosphere Biosphere Program (IGBP) Fast Track Initiative on Fire. We thank the IGBP and Quantifying and Understanding the Earth System (QUEST) for providing funding for this workshop. The construction of the charcoal database has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), QUEST funding to the QUEST-Deglaciation Project and by Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) funding under the Joint RAPID program to the ORMEN project. Most of the data (published and unpublished) included in the compilation has been provided by the co-authors or extracted from publications by those co-authors who are regional coordinators of the Palaeofire Working Group. We also thank the International Multiproxy Paleofire Database (IMPD) for data contributions. The version of the charcoal database (GCD, V1) used for this paper is available from British Atmospheric Data Center (BADC) (http://badc.nerc.ac.uk/home/index.html) and from the Global Palaeofire Working Group (GPWG) website (http://www.bridge.bris.ac.uk/projects/QUEST_IGBP_Global_Palaeofire_WG). Animations showing the change in charcoal abundance at 500-year time steps from the LGM to present are also available on the GPWG website.

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  1. Institute of Geography, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    M. J. Power

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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. J. Power.

Additional information

The readers are requested to refer to the section “List of contributors” for the complete list of author affiliation details.

Appendices

List of contributors

Power, M.J.1,*, Marlon, J.2, Ortiz, N.3, Bartlein, P.J.2, Harrison, S.P.3, Mayle, F.E.1, Ballouche, A.4, Bradshaw, R.H.W.5, Carcaillet, C.6, Cordova, C.7, Mooney, S.8, Moreno, P.I.9, Prentice, I.C.10, Thonicke, K.3, Tinner, W.11, Whitlock, C.12, Zhang, Y.13, Zhao, Y.3, Ali, A.A.14, Anderson, R.S.15, Beer, R.11, Behling, H.16, Briles, C.12, Brown, K.J.17, Brunelle A.18, Bush, M.19, Camill, P.20, Chu, G.Q.21, Clark, J.22, Colombaroli, D.11, Connor, S.23, Daniau, A.-L.24, Daniels, M.25, Dodson, J.26, Doughty, E.27, Edwards, M.E.28, Finsinger, W.11,29, Foster, D.27, Frechette J.30, Gaillard, M.-J.31, Gavin, D.G.2, Gobet, E.11, Haberle, S.32, Hallett, D.J.33, Higuera, P.12, Hope, G.32, Horn, S.34, Inoue, J.35, Kaltenrieder, P.11, Kennedy, L.36, Kong, Z.C.37, Larsen, C.38, Long, C.J.39, Lynch, J.40, Lynch, E.A.41, McGlone, M.42, Meeks, S.43, Mensing, S.44, Meyer, G.30, Minckley, T.45, Mohr, J.46, Nelson, D.M.47, New, J.30, Newnham, R.48, Noti, R.49, Oswald, W.50, Pierce, J.51, Richard, P.J.H.52, Rowe, C.3, Sanchez Goñi, M.F.53, Shuman, B.N.54, Takahara, H.55, Toney, J.56, Turney, C.57, Urrego-Sanchez, D.H.19, Umbanhowar, C.58, Vandergoes, M.59, Vanniere, B.60, Vescovi, E.11, Walsh, M.2, Wang, X.61, Williams, N.62, Wilmshurst, J.42, Zhang, J.H.63

1Institute of Geography, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

2Department of Geography, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA

3BRIDGE, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

4Laboratoire Paysages et Biodiversité, Université d’Angers, Angers Cedex 1, France

5Department of Geography, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

6Centre for Bio-Archaeology & Ecology (UMR5059 CNRS/UM2/EPHE), Montpellier, France

7Department of Geography, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA

8School of BEES, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

9Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Biología, Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity, Ñuñoa, Santiago, Chile

10QUEST, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

11Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, CH–3013 Bern, Switzerland

12Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA

13Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

14Chaire industrielle CRSNG-UQAT-UQAM en aménagement forestier durable, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Noranda, QC, Canada

15Center for Environmental Science and Education, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

16Department of Palynology and Climate Dynamics, Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany

17Department of Quaternary Geology, Geological Survey Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark

18Department of Geography, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

19Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USA

20Department of Biology, Carlton College, Northfield, MN, USA

21Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

22Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

23Social and Environmental Enquiry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

24Institut de Préhistoire et Géologie du Quaternaire, Université Bordeaux 1, Talence Cedex, France

25Ecological Restoration Institute, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AR, USA

26Institute for the Environment, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK

27Harvard University, Harvard Forest, Petersham, MA, USA

28School of Geography, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

29Palaeoecology, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

30Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

31School of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Kalmar, Kalmar, Sweden

32Australian National University, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Canberra, ACT, Australia

33Department of Geography and School of Environmental Studies, Queens University, Kingston, ON, Canada

34Department of Geography, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA

35Department of Biology and Geoscience, Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

36Department of Geography, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg, WV, USA

37Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

38Department of Geography, University of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA

39Department of Geography and Urban Planning, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, WI, USA

40Biology Department, North Central College, Naperville, IL, USA

41Biology Department, Luther College, Decorah, IA, USA

42Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand

43Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA

44Department of Geography, University of Reno, Nevada, NV, USA

45Department of Botany, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA

46College of Forestry, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

47Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA

48School of Geography, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon, UK

49Institut de Botanique, Université de Neuchâtel, Bern, Switzerland

50Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Emerson College, Boston, MA, USA

51Department of Geosciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA

52Département de Géographie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

53EPHE, UMR-CNRS 5805, EPOC, Université Bordeaux 1, 33405 Talence, France

54Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA

55Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto Prefectual University, Kyoto, Japan

56Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

57GeoQuEST Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

58Biology and Environmental Studies, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, USA

59GNS Science, Avalon, New Zealand

60LCE CNRS-University of Franche-Comté, Besançon, France

61Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

62Department of Environment and Conservation, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

63Chinese Academy of Meteorological Science, Beijing, China

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Power, M.J., Marlon, J., Ortiz, N. et al. Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum: an assessment based on a global synthesis and analysis of charcoal data. Clim Dyn 30, 887–907 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-007-0334-x

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Keywords

  • Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction
  • Biomass burning
  • Palaeofire regimes
  • Charcoal
  • Data-model comparisons