Fire regimes can be modified by the type of land use and land cover

Text by Daniel Alves

Analyzing the type of land use and land cover that burns to help us to measure how human impacts can modify fire regimes. In this sense, we recently published a study that combines information from remote sensing derived data (between 2001-2018), to generically characterize the burned area patterns on each Brazilian biome. We used the burned area product from the MODIS satellite series (MCD64A1 v006) (https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/products/mcd64a1v006/) and the annual mapping of land use from Mapbiomas (https: / /mapbiomas.org/).

Our findings highlighted the strong influence of fire on the dynamics of Brazilian ecosystems, and, especially, on those that have an evolutionary relationship with fire, such as the Cerrado and Pantanal. In these biomes, as well as in the Caatinga, fires over natural vegetation areas (e.g. savanna and grassland formations) were dominant across the analyzed period. On the Amazon, Atlantic Forest, and Pampa biomes, the fire occurred mainly over agropastoral land uses, with proportions higher than ≈ 50% of the subtotal area affected by the fire.

Burned Areas detected by the product MCD64A1 v006 between 2001 and 2018, in the Brazilian biomes

Understanding the current spatial and temporal pattern of fire occurrence requires information that allows us to analyze the anthropic influences on the formation and transformation of landscapes, thus addressing ecological, cultural, and socioeconomic aspects. It is necessary to understand the impacts of fire regime changes on components of the biosphere, pedosphere, and atmosphere. However, it is also necessary to consider the importance of fire in the ecosystem dynamics that have evolved with it, broadening debates about its use for agricultural activities, acknowledging the traditional knowledge associated with fire use. Furthermore, this information will help stakeholders and decision-makers to promote and to regulate public policies to integrate fire management in conservation areas.

Total burned area by Brazilian biome during the period 2001-2018

Dou you want to know more about this published article? Access directly through the following link:

Alves, D.B., Alvarado, S.T., 2019. Variação espaço-temporal da ocorrência do fogo nos biomas brasileiros com base na análise de produtos de sensoriamento remoto. Geografia 44, 321–345.

And any further information, you can contact daniel.borini@unesp.br

Figures legends:

Figure 1. Burned Areas detected by the product MCD64A1 v006 between 2001 and 2018, in the Brazilian biomes (a). The zoom frames (b-f) allow to observe in detail the spatial patterns of fire incidence in certain selected areas.

Figure 2. Total burned area by Brazilian biome during the period 2001-2018: absolute burned area recorded by the product MCD64A1 v006 (a), and their corresponding land use and land cover observed according to the Mapbiomas Collection 4.1 (b).

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