Long-term records of FireColin Courtney Mustaphi

University of York Institute for Tropical Ecosystems

www.real-project.eu

10th TAWIRI conference – Dec 3 2015

CollaboratorsRob Marchant (U of York)

Stephen Rucina (NMK)

Michael Pisaric (Brock U)

REAL project

Serengeti Fire Project

Paleofire Working Group

Why study historical fire?Basic science – It’s interesting! and people care

about fire

Why study historical fire?Basic science – It’s interesting! and people care

about fire

Understand long term ecological processes

Examine the role of fire in:

ecological processes

influences on biodiversity

land cover change

human-environment interactions

Why study historical fire?Applications:

Context for ecology

Human landscape modification and remediation

Testing models

Big data analyses (databases)

Inform policy and management decisions

Approaches to paleofire studies

Remote sensing

Socio-ecological data

Palaeoecology

Palaeoecology

Tools:Global Charcoal Database (GCD)

PAGES paleofire working group

CharAnalysis (Phil Higuera – U Montana)

Paleofire R package

New Initiatives:Modern GCD

LandCover 6k (PAGES)

East Africa radiocarbon database

Charcoal deposits in sediments

Many depositional environments

Lakes, swamps, marine, ice, soil

Used to interpret changes in fire activity on

landscapes

Used in conjunction with other proxies:

Pollen, plant macrofossils

sedimentology

En

viro

nm

en

tal

pro

ce

sse

sM

eth

od

olo

gy

Charcoal analysis

Sediment Collection

Sediment Core

Photo: Z. Gedalof (U. of Guelph)

Sediment Core

Photo: Z. Gedalof

Coring and Geochronology

C

Pb

Volcanic ash

210

14

Macroscopic

Charcoal

Proxy measures of past fireshttp://www.real-project.eu/macroscopic-charcoal-analysis-of-sediments/

- Microscopic Charcoal

- Levoglucosan

Proxy for local fires

100 micrometers

30 x magnification

Charcoal Morphology

Grass

Wood

Leaf

Ca

l yr

BP

Charcoal Accumulation Rate (pieces / cm-2 / yr-1)

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

0 1 2 3 4 5

Roc

kslid

e

0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6

NEL0

1

0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 3 6 91215

NEL0

2

0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6 810

NEL0

3

0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 25 50 75

Coo

ley

0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6 810

CRN2

0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6

Pya

tts

0.00.20.40.60.81.0

Charcoal Records

Ca

l yr

BP

Charcoal Accumulation Rate (pieces / cm-2 / yr-1)

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

0 1 2 3 4 5

Roc

kslid

e

0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6

NEL0

1

0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 3 6 91215

NEL0

2

0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6 810

NEL0

3

0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 25 50 75

Coo

ley

0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6 810

CRN2

0.00.20.40.60.81.0 0 2 4 6

Pya

tts

0.00.20.40.60.81.0

Charcoal Records

Charcoal Morphology Key

Charcoal morphology represents:

1) Fuel type (woody, grassy, herbaceous, leaves, roots, moss, etc)

2) Fire type (low or high severity, ground fire, crown fire)

3) Taphonomic processes (transport of charcoal)

Charcoal Morphology Assemblage

Charcoal records Qualitative indicator of fire/biomass burning

Quantitative: Decompose charcoal time series into peaks and background, relation to other proxies

To understand role of fire frequency in evolution of ecosystems, anthropogenic changes, compare over large scales

Future methodological work:

reconstruct other fire regime variables

Calibration studies (experimental, empirical, modeled)

Multi-archive: dendrology, soils, historical, earth obs.

Social science: human fire ecology

Environmental history of a

wetland in the

Amboseli ecosystem

Esther N. Githumbi, Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi,

Kevin J. Yun, Veronica Muiruri,

Stephen M. Rucina, Rob Marchant

Esambu Swamp

Age-depth model

Palaeoecological data

Pollen analysis

Macroscopic charcoal

Palaeoecological data

Landscape

interpretation

Landscape

interpretation

Plan view

x-section

human

history

Dry

Dry

Increasing

Moisture

More fuel in swamp

(Typha)

Dry

Increasing

Moisture

More fuel in swamp

(Typha)

Increasing

Human

modifications

Fire activity at regional-global

scalesGlobal charcoal database (GCD)

http://www.paleofire.org/

Used to study past patterns of fire activity

NEW! Modern global charcoal database

To examine relationships between burning and ecosystem processes

CO2 emissions, satellite products, land cover models(?)