TY - JOUR
T1 - Fire in Australian savannas
T2 - From leaf to landscape
AU - Beringer, Jason
AU - Hutley, Lindsay B.
AU - Abramson, David
AU - Arndt, Stefan K.
AU - Briggs, Peter
AU - Bristow, Mila
AU - Canadell, Josep G.
AU - Cernusak, Lucas A.
AU - Eamus, Derek
AU - Edwards, Andrew C.
AU - Evans, Bradley J.
AU - Fest, Benedikt
AU - Goergen, Klaus
AU - Grover, Samantha P.
AU - Hacker, Jorg
AU - Haverd, Vanessa
AU - Kanniah, Kasturi
AU - Livesley, Stephen J.
AU - Lynch, Amanda
AU - Maier, Stefan
AU - Moore, Caitlin
AU - Raupach, Michael
AU - Russell-Smith, Jeremy
AU - Scheiter, Simon
AU - Tapper, Nigel J.
AU - Uotila, Petteri
N1 - © 2014 The Authors. Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - Savanna ecosystems comprise 22% of the global terrestrial surface and 25% of Australia (almost 1.9 million km2) and provide significant ecosystem services through carbon and water cycles and the maintenance of biodiversity. The current structure, composition and distribution of Australian savannas have coevolved with fire, yet remain driven by the dynamic constraints of their bioclimatic niche. Fire in Australian savannas influences both the biophysical and biogeochemical processes at multiple scales from leaf to landscape. Here, we present the latest emission estimates from Australian savanna biomass burning and their contribution to global greenhouse gas budgets. We then review our understanding of the impacts of fire on ecosystem function and local surface water and heat balances, which in turn influence regional climate. We show how savanna fires are coupled to the global climate through the carbon cycle and fire regimes. We present new research that climate change is likely to alter the structure and function of savannas through shifts in moisture availability and increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, in turn altering fire regimes with further feedbacks to climate. We explore opportunities to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions from savanna ecosystems through changes in savanna fire management.
AB - Savanna ecosystems comprise 22% of the global terrestrial surface and 25% of Australia (almost 1.9 million km2) and provide significant ecosystem services through carbon and water cycles and the maintenance of biodiversity. The current structure, composition and distribution of Australian savannas have coevolved with fire, yet remain driven by the dynamic constraints of their bioclimatic niche. Fire in Australian savannas influences both the biophysical and biogeochemical processes at multiple scales from leaf to landscape. Here, we present the latest emission estimates from Australian savanna biomass burning and their contribution to global greenhouse gas budgets. We then review our understanding of the impacts of fire on ecosystem function and local surface water and heat balances, which in turn influence regional climate. We show how savanna fires are coupled to the global climate through the carbon cycle and fire regimes. We present new research that climate change is likely to alter the structure and function of savannas through shifts in moisture availability and increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, in turn altering fire regimes with further feedbacks to climate. We explore opportunities to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions from savanna ecosystems through changes in savanna fire management.
KW - Biomass burning
KW - Climate feedbacks
KW - Greenhouse gas exchange
KW - Net ecosystem carbon balance
KW - Savanna
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84917675840&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/FF0348550
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DP0344744
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DP0772981
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DP130101566
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/LP0774812
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/LP100100073
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/SR0566976
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/FT1110602
U2 - 10.1111/gcb.12686
DO - 10.1111/gcb.12686
M3 - Review article
C2 - 25044767
AN - SCOPUS:84917675840
SN - 1354-1013
VL - 21
SP - 62
EP - 81
JO - Global Change Biology
JF - Global Change Biology
IS - 1
ER -