Tropical Fire Ecology

Professor Mark A. Cochrane is eminently qualified to explain in detail the historic and current fire situations in the tropics. He is internationally renowned for the documentation of the characteristics, behavior and ecological effects of fire in tropical forests. His research focuses on understanding spatial patterns, interactions and synergisms between the multiple physical and biological factors that affect ecosystems. His recent published work has emphasized human dimensions of land-cover change and the potential for sustainable development and it has been instrumental in the Brazilian government’s recent (2003) program to increase its national forest system in the Amazon to 50 million hectares. In current research programs, Professor Cochrane investigates the drivers and effects of disturbance regime changes resulting from various forms of forest degradation, including fire, fragmentation and logging. He is the President of the Association for Fire Ecology of the Tropics (AFET) and has written and edited several books and articles in influential scientific publications about fire in tropical forests.

From the reviews: "This comprehensive, multidimensional book is a welcome compilation of timely information on fire ecology, a central issue in the science of global climate change. ... the book for the ecology and science of fire-dependent ecosystems. ... Each chapter contributes ... a rich source of information for both academic curricula and reference purposes. ... good use of technology including GIS in their analyses and data representations. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduate through professional ecology, forestry, geography, and biological science collections." (E. J. Delaney, Choice, Vol. 47 (3), November, 2009) "This weighty book comprises 21 chapters at an average of more than 30 pages per chapter. There are three introductory chapters, 15 regional chapters and three pantropical reviews for specific vegetation types. ... Tropical Fire Ecology contains a wealth of concepts and information and will prove useful for research scientists as well as practitioners struggling with difficult management issues." (Donald Franklin, Biotropica, 2010)

• Fire in the tropics.- Fire in the tropics.- Fire and fire ecology: Concepts and principles.- Fire and fire ecology: Concepts and principles.- Global overview of fire in the tropics.- Overview: Global fire regime conditions, threats, and opportunities for fire management in the tropics.- Fire in the Australian tropics.- Fire-driven land cover change in Australia and W.D. Jackson’s theory of the fire ecology of southwest Tasmania.- Fires in Australia’s tropical savannas: Interactions with biodiversity, global warming, and exotic biota.- Aboriginal fire use in Australian tropical savannas: Ecological effects and management lessons.- Fire in the African tropics.- Fire ecology and fire politics in Mali and Madagascar.- Climate change and wildland fires in Mozambique.- Fire in the Asian tropics.- Tropical peatland fires in Southeast Asia.- Fire ecology and management of seasonal evergreen forests in mainland Southeast Asia.- Fire behavior and fire effects across the forest landscape of continental Southeast Asia.- Forest fire regimes and their ecological effects in seasonally dry tropical ecosystems in the Western Ghats, India.- Fire and land use effects on biodiversity in the southern Sumatran wetlands.- Fire in the South American tropics.- Fire, land use, land cover dynamics, and climate change in the Brazilian Amazon.- Fires in the cerrado, the Brazilian savanna.- The role of fire in the vegetation dynamics of upland savannas of the Venezuelan Guayana.- Pattern and process: Fire-initiated grass invasion at Amazon transitional forest edges.- Fire in the Central American tropics.- Fire in the páramo ecosystems of Central and South America.- Pan-tropical fire.- The consequences of fire for the fauna of humid tropical forests.- Fire in tropical pine ecosystems.- Changing fire regimes in tropical montane cloud forests: a global synthesis.