Fire on Earth

Andrew C. Scott is Professor of Applied Palaeobotany and a Distinguished Research Fellow in the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London, England David M.J.S.Bowman is Professor of Environmental Change Biology in the School of Plant Science at the University of Tasmania, AustraliaWilliam J. Bond is Professor of Plant Ecology in the Department of Botany at the University of Cape Town, South AfricaStephen J. Pyne is Regent’s Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USAMartin E. Alexander is an Adjunct Professor of Wildland Fire Science and Management at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and formerly a senior fire behavior research officer with the Canadian Forest Service

The well-organized and illustrated work can be used as a textbook or a reference source for practitioners. Each chapter has a list of further readings, and each part has its own extensive bibliography. This phenomenal contribution will become a classic reference for five mangers, students of fire ecology and climate, and researchers for years to come. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries." (Choice, 1 October 2014)"Overall, the book provides an excellent, multidisciplinary introduction to fire, authored by leading experts in their fields, written in a very accessible style and supported by superb illustrations and extensive references. Hence, I highly recommend it to potential readers, who may be upper level undergraduate students, graduate students, teaching staff and everyone working, or simply interested, in the area of environmental science." (International Journal of Wildland Fire, 1 August 2014)"Fire and earth scientists, anthropologists, ecol­ogists, resource managers, and especially ad­vanced students in natural sciences will find the text, along with its online resources, a req­uisite addition to their libraries. Not only is it a pleasure to read, simply put, it sparks the imagination." (Fire Ecology, 1 June 2014)"With wildfire recognised in key government contingency documents, not least for climate change, foresters looking for greater understanding of this future challenge over the coming decades, should look no further." (Chartered Forester, 1 May 2014)"This book is a good example of a multidisciplinary investigation. The writers express the wish that it may stimulate further research into fire processes, both 'natural' and induced by humanity. A book worth reading!." (Geological Journal, 29 April 2014)"Each part has an extensive reference list reflecting the worldwide significance of wildfire and varied scientific approaches: tables, diagrams and colour photographs are abundant, and there is a welcome companion website with a host of useful teaching/demonstration material." (The Biologist 2016)"Fire on Earth would serve as an outstanding basis for a graduate course in fire science and management. It is also a valuable reference that has a place on the bookshelf of any instructor, scientist, or land manager whose work involves the role of fire in terrestrial ecosystems and human civilization." (The Quarterly Review of Biology 2016)

• Preface xiiiAcknowledgements xvAbout the Authors xviiAbout the Companion Website xixPART ONE FIRE IN THE EARTH SYSTEM 1Preface to part one 2Chapter 1 What is fire? 31.1 How fire starts and initially spreads 31.2 Lightning and other ignition sources 41.3 The charring process 61.4 Pyrolysis products 71.5 Fire types 101.6 Peat fires 141.7 Fire effects on soils 151.8 Post-fire erosion-deposition 181.9 Fire and vegetation 221.10 Fire and climate 261.11 Fire triangles 301.12 Fire return intervals 301.13 How we study fire: satellites 311.14 Modelling fire occurrence 381.15 Climate forcing 421.16 Scales of fire occurrence 44Further reading 45Chapter 2 Fire in the fossil record: recognition 472.1 Fire proxies: fire scars and charcoal 472.2 The problem of nomenclature: black carbon, char, charcoal, soot and elemental carbon 492.3 How we study charcoal: microscopical and chemical techniques 512.4 Charcoal as an information-rich source 562.5 Charcoal reflectance and temperature 562.6 Uses of charcoal 582.7 Fire intensity/severity 592.8 Deep time studies 602.9 Pre-requisite for fire: fuel – the evolution of plants 612.10 Charcoal in sedimentary systems 62Further reading 63Chapter 3 Fire in the fossil record: earth system processes 653.1 Fire and oxygen 653.2 Fire feedbacks 673.3 Systems diagrams 673.4 Charcoal as proxy for atmospheric oxygen 693.5 Burning experiments – fire spread 693.6 Fire and the terrestrial system 70Further reading 72Chapter 4 The geological history of fire in deep time: 420 million years to 2 million years ago 734.1 Periods of high and low fire, and implications 734.2 The first fires 734.3 The rise of fire 754.4 Fire in the high-oxygen Paleozoic world 774.5 Collapse of fire systems 804.6 Fire at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary 824.7 Jurassic variation 824.8 Cretaceous fires 844.9 Fire at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-P or K-T) boundary 874.10 Paleocene fires 884.11 Fires across the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) 884.12 Dampening of fire systems 894.13 Rise of the grass-fire cycle 89Further reading 89Chapter 5 The geological history of fire – the last two million years 915.1 Problems of Quaternary fire history 915.2 The Paleofire working group: techniques and analysis 935.3 Fire and climate cycles 975.4 Fire and humans: the fossil evidence 985.5 Fire and the industrial society 101Further reading 101References for part one 103PART TWO BIOLOGY OF FIRE 111Preface to part two 112Chapter 6 Pyrogeography – temporal and spatial patterns of fire 1136.1 Fire and life 1136.2 Global climate, vegetation patterns and fire 1136.3 Pyrogeography 1166.4 Fire and the control of biome boundaries 1216.5 The fire regime concept 1256.6 Fire ecology 1286.7 Conclusion 129Further reading 129Chapter 7 Plants and fire 1317.1 Introduction 1317.2 Fire and plant traits 1317.3 Fire regimes and the characteristic suite of fire plant traits 1377.4 Evolution of fire traits 1407.5 Summary and implications 145Further reading 145General reading 146Chapter 8 Fire and fauna 1478.1 Direct effects of fire on fauna 1478.2 The effect of fire regimes on fauna 1488.3 The landscape mosaic and pyrodiversity 1508.4 The effect of fauna on fire regimes 1528.5 Fire and the evolution of fauna 1548.6 Summary 155Further reading 155Chapter 9 Fire as an ecosystem process 1579.1 Introduction 1579.2 Fire and erosion 1579.3 Fire and nutrient cycling 1609.4 Fire and pedogenesis 1639.5 Fire and atmospheric chemistry 1649.6 Fire and climate 1659.7 Summary 168Further reading 169Chapter 10 Fire and anthropogenic environmental change 17110.1 Introduction 17110.2 Prehistoric impacts 17110.3 Prehistoric fire management 17410.4 Contemporary fire management 17610.5 Climate change 17710.6 Fire and carbon management 18010.7 Fire regime switches: a major challenge for fire ecology 18010.8 Invasive plants and altered fire regimes 18410.9 Conclusion 187Further reading 187References for part two 189PART THREE ANTHROPOGENIC FIRE 193Preface to part three 194Chapter 11 Fire creature 19511.1 Early hominins: spark of creation 19511.2 Aboriginal fire: control over ignition 19811.3 Cultivated fire: control over combustibles 20611.4 Ideas and institutions: lore and ritual 22011.5 Narrative arcs (and equants) 221Further reading 229Chapter 12 A new epoch of fire: the anthropocene 23112.1 The Great Disruption 23112.2 The pyric transition 23212.3 Enlightenment and empire 23612.4 Scaling the transition 23812.5 After the revolution 245Further reading 257Chapter 13 Fire management 25913.1 Introducing integrated fire management 25913.2 Two realms: managing the pyric transition 26013.3 Strategies 26113.4 Institutions: ordering fire 27213.5 Ideas: conceptions of fire 27713.6 Fire management: selected examples 279Further reading 289References and further reading for part three 291PART FOUR THE SCIENCE AND ART OF WILDLAND FIRE BEHAVIOUR PREDICTION 295Preface to part four 296Chapter 14 Fundamentals of wildland fire as a physical process 29714.1 Introduction 29714.2 The basics of combustion and heat transfer 29814.3 The wildland fire environment concept 30314.4 Characterization of wildland fire behaviour 31514.5 Extreme wildland fire behaviour phenomena 32914.6 Field methods of measuring and quantifying wildland fire behaviour 33614.7 Towards increasing our understanding of wildland fire behaviour 337Further reading 339Chapter 15 Estimating free-burning wildland fire behaviour 34115.1 Introduction 34115.2 A historical sketch of wildland fire behaviour research 34215.3 Models, systems and guides for predicting wildland fire behaviour 35015.4 Limitations on the accuracy of model predictions of wildland fire behaviour 35915.5 The wildland fire behaviour prediction process 36315.6 Specialized support in assessing wildland fire behaviour 37015.7 Looking ahead 371Further reading 372Chapter 16 Fire management applications of wildland fire behaviour knowledge 37316.1 Introduction 37316.2 Wildfire suppression 37616.3 Wildland firefighter safety 37816.4 Community wildland fire protection 38216.5 Fuels management 38316.6 Prediction of fire effects 38816.7 Getting on the road towards self-improvement 389Further reading 390References for part four 393Index 405