Pyrogeography

Pyrogeography is the study of the past, present, and projected distribution of wildfire. Wildland fire occurs under certain conditions of climate, vegetation, topography, and sources of ignition, such that it has its own biogeography, or pattern in space and time. The earliest published evidence of the term appears to be in the mid-1990s, and the meaning was primarily related to mapping fires The current understanding of pyrogeography emerged in the 2000s as a combination of biogeography and fire ecology, facilitated by the availability of global-scale datasets of fire occurrence, vegetation cover, and climate. Pyrogeography has also been placed at the juncture of biology, the geophysical environment, and society and cultural influences on fire. Pyrogeography often uses a framework of ecological niche concepts to evaluate the environmental controls on fire. By examining how environmental factors interact to facilitate fire activity, pyrogeographers can predict expected fire behavior under new conditions. Pyrogeographic research contributes to and informs land management policy in various regions across the globe. Under the framework used in pyrogeography, there are three basic categories that control fire regimes across the world: consumable resources, ignitions and atmospheric conditions. Each of the three factors varies across space and time, causing and creating different fire regime types. Fire is a result of the intersection of these three components. Consumable resources - This term refers to the vegetation consumed as a fuel source in wildfires. Vegetation type can vary in productivity, structure, and flammability, and that variability will lead to different types of fire behavior or intensity. Ignitions - Fire is controlled in part by the availability of an ignition source. There are two primary sources of ignition for fire: natural and anthropogenic. The importance of these two sources varies according to region. Natural Ignition: the primary form of natural ignition is lightning, though some fires may begin through other sources of ignition (such as volcanic activity).