Articles | Volume 12, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4017-2015
© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4017-2015
© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
03 Jul 2015
Research article |
| 03 Jul 2015
Spatiotemporal patterns of tundra fires: late-Quaternary charcoal records from Alaska
M. L. Chipman
Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois, 505 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, Illinois 61802, USA
V. Hudspith
Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois, 505 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, Illinois 61802, USA
now at: Department of Geography, University of Exeter, Laver Building 440, Exeter, EX4 4QE, UK
P. E. Higuera
College of Natural Resources, University of Idaho, P.O. Box 441133, Moscow, Idaho 83844, USA
P. A. Duffy
Neptune and Company, Inc., 1435 Garrison Street, Suite 110, Lakewood, Colorado 80215, USA
R. Kelly
Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois, 505 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, Illinois 61802, USA
now at: Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Box 90338, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA
W. W. Oswald
Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies, Emerson College, 120 Boylston St., Boston, Massachusetts 02116, USA
F. S. Hu
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois, 505 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, Illinois 61802, USA
Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois, 505 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, Illinois 61802, USA
Department of Geology, University of Illinois, 605 E. Springfield Ave., Champaign, Illinois 61820, USA
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Jennifer R. Marlon, Ryan Kelly, Anne-Laure Daniau, Boris Vannière, Mitchell J. Power, Patrick Bartlein, Philip Higuera, Olivier Blarquez, Simon Brewer, Tim Brücher, Angelica Feurdean, Graciela Gil Romera, Virginia Iglesias, S. Yoshi Maezumi, Brian Magi, Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi, and Tonishtan Zhihai
Biogeosciences, 13, 3225–3244, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-3225-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-3225-2016, 2016
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We reconstruct spatiotemporal variations in biomass burning since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) using the Global Charcoal Database version 3 (including 736 records) and a method to grid the data. LGM to late Holocene burning broadly tracks global and regional climate changes over that interval. Human activities increase fire in the 1800s and then reduce it for most of the 20th century. Burning is now rapidly increasing, particularly in western North America and southeastern Australia.
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Paleobiogeoscience: Terrestrial Record
The optimum fire window: applying the fire–productivity hypothesis to Jurassic climate states
Late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental evolution and sea level oscillation of Santa Catarina Island (southern Brazil)
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The emergence of the tropical rainforest biome in the Cretaceous
Faded landscape: unravelling peat initiation and lateral expansion at one of northwest Europe's largest bog remnants
Sediment and carbon accumulation in a glacial lake in Chukotka (Arctic Siberia) during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene: combining hydroacoustic profiling and down-core analyses
Wildfire history of the boreal forest of south-western Yakutia (Siberia) over the last two millennia documented by a lake-sediment charcoal record
The transformation of the forest steppe in the lower Danube Plain of southeastern Europe: 6000 years of vegetation and land use dynamics
Century-scale wood nitrogen isotope trajectories from an oak savanna with variable fire frequencies
Fire hazard modulation by long-term dynamics in land cover and dominant forest type in eastern and central Europe
Stable isotope signatures of Holocene syngenetic permafrost trace seabird presence in the Thule District (NW Greenland)
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The environmental and evolutionary history of Lake Ohrid (FYROM/Albania): interim results from the SCOPSCO deep drilling project
Yedoma Ice Complex of the Buor Khaya Peninsula (southern Laptev Sea)
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First tephrostratigraphic results of the DEEP site record from Lake Ohrid (Macedonia and Albania)
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Age–depth model of the past 630 kyr for Lake Ohrid (FYROM/Albania) based on cyclostratigraphic analysis of downhole gamma ray data
A 22 570-year record of vegetational and climatic change from Wenhai Lake in the Hengduan Mountains biodiversity hotspot, Yunnan, Southwest China
Comment on "Possible source of ancient carbon in phytolith concentrates from harvested grasses" by G. M. Santos et al. (2012)
Chemical composition of modern and fossil hippopotamid teeth and implications for paleoenvironmental reconstructions and enamel formation – Part 2: Alkaline earth elements as tracers of watershed hydrochemistry and provenance
Teuntje P. Hollaar, Claire M. Belcher, Micha Ruhl, Jean-François Deconinck, and Stephen P. Hesselbo
Biogeosciences, 21, 2795–2809, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2795-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2795-2024, 2024
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Fires are limited in year-round wet climates (tropical rainforests; too wet), and in year-round dry climates (deserts; no fuel). This concept, the intermediate-productivity gradient, explains the global pattern of fire activity. Here we test this concept for climate states of the Jurassic (~190 Myr ago). We find that the intermediate-productivity gradient also applies in the Jurassic despite the very different ecosystem assemblages, with fires most frequent at times of high seasonality.
Lidia A. Kuhn, Karin A. F. Zonneveld, Paulo A. Souza, and Rodrigo R. Cancelli
Biogeosciences, 20, 1843–1861, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1843-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1843-2023, 2023
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This study investigated changes in coastal ecosystems that reflect environmental changes over the past 6500 years on Brazil's largest oceanic island. This study was motivated by the need to understand the natural evolution of coastal areas to predict future changes. The results highlight the sensitivity of this ecosystem to changes caused by relative sea level variations. As such, it contributes to the debate about potential effects of current climate change induced by global sea level changes.
Boris K. Biskaborn, Amy Forster, Gregor Pfalz, Lyudmila A. Pestryakova, Kathleen Stoof-Leichsenring, Jens Strauss, Tim Kröger, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Biogeosciences, 20, 1691–1712, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1691-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1691-2023, 2023
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Lake sediment from the Russian Arctic was studied for microalgae and organic matter chemistry dated back to the last glacial 28 000 years. Species and chemistry responded to environmental changes such as the Younger Dryas cold event and the Holocene thermal maximum. Organic carbon accumulation correlated with rates of microalgae deposition only during warm episodes but not during the cold glacial.
Clément Coiffard, Haytham El Atfy, Johan Renaudie, Robert Bussert, and Dieter Uhl
Biogeosciences, 20, 1145–1154, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1145-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1145-2023, 2023
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Eighty-million-year-old fossil leaf assemblages suggest a widespread distribution of tropical rainforest in northeastern Africa.
Cindy Quik, Ype van der Velde, Jasper H. J. Candel, Luc Steinbuch, Roy van Beek, and Jakob Wallinga
Biogeosciences, 20, 695–718, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-695-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-695-2023, 2023
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In NW Europe only parts of former peatlands remain. When these peatlands formed is not well known but relevant for questions on landscape, climate and archaeology. We investigated the age of Fochteloërveen, using radiocarbon dating and modelling. Results show that peat initiated at several sites 11 000–7000 years ago and expanded rapidly 5000 years ago. Our approach may ultimately be applied to model peat ages outside current remnants and provide a view of these lost landscapes.
Stuart A. Vyse, Ulrike Herzschuh, Gregor Pfalz, Lyudmila A. Pestryakova, Bernhard Diekmann, Norbert Nowaczyk, and Boris K. Biskaborn
Biogeosciences, 18, 4791–4816, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4791-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4791-2021, 2021
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Lakes act as important stores of organic carbon and inorganic sediment material. This study provides a first investigation into carbon and sediment accumulation and storage within an Arctic glacial lake from Far East Russia. It shows that major shifts are related to palaeoclimate variation that affects the development of the lake and its surrounding catchment. Spatial differences to other lake systems from other regions may reflect variability in processes controlled by latitude and altitude.
Ramesh Glückler, Ulrike Herzschuh, Stefan Kruse, Andrei Andreev, Stuart Andrew Vyse, Bettina Winkler, Boris K. Biskaborn, Luidmila Pestryakova, and Elisabeth Dietze
Biogeosciences, 18, 4185–4209, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4185-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4185-2021, 2021
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Data about past fire activity are very sparse in Siberia. This study presents a first high-resolution record of charcoal particles from lake sediments in boreal eastern Siberia. It indicates that current levels of charcoal accumulation are not unprecedented. While a recent increase in reconstructed fire frequency coincides with rising temperatures and increasing human activity, vegetation composition does not seem to be a major driver behind changes in the fire regime in the past two millennia.
Angelica Feurdean, Roxana Grindean, Gabriela Florescu, Ioan Tanţău, Eva M. Niedermeyer, Andrei-Cosmin Diaconu, Simon M. Hutchinson, Anne Brigitte Nielsen, Tiberiu Sava, Andrei Panait, Mihaly Braun, and Thomas Hickler
Biogeosciences, 18, 1081–1103, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-1081-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-1081-2021, 2021
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Here we used multi-proxy analyses from Lake Oltina (Romania) and quantitatively examine the past 6000 years of the forest steppe in the lower Danube Plain, one of the oldest areas of human occupation in southeastern Europe. We found the greatest tree cover between 6000 and 2500 cal yr BP. Forest loss was under way by 2500 yr BP, falling to ~20 % tree cover linked to clearance for agriculture. The weak signs of forest recovery over the past 2500 years highlight recurring anthropogenic pressure.
Matthew L. Trumper, Daniel Griffin, Sarah E. Hobbie, Ian M. Howard, David M. Nelson, Peter B. Reich, and Kendra K. McLauchlan
Biogeosciences, 17, 4509–4522, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4509-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4509-2020, 2020
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We developed century-scale records of wood nitrogen isotopes (δ15N) from 16 trees across a long-term savanna fire experiment. Results show similar long-term trajectories in three out of four burn treatments. Lack of evidence to support our hypotheses underscores the complexity of nitrogen dynamics inferred from wood δ15N. This is the first study to our knowledge to investigate multi-decadal effects of fire at different return intervals on wood δ15N, a potential proxy of nitrogen availability.
Angelica Feurdean, Boris Vannière, Walter Finsinger, Dan Warren, Simon C. Connor, Matthew Forrest, Johan Liakka, Andrei Panait, Christian Werner, Maja Andrič, Premysl Bobek, Vachel A. Carter, Basil Davis, Andrei-Cosmin Diaconu, Elisabeth Dietze, Ingo Feeser, Gabriela Florescu, Mariusz Gałka, Thomas Giesecke, Susanne Jahns, Eva Jamrichová, Katarzyna Kajukało, Jed Kaplan, Monika Karpińska-Kołaczek, Piotr Kołaczek, Petr Kuneš, Dimitry Kupriyanov, Mariusz Lamentowicz, Carsten Lemmen, Enikö K. Magyari, Katarzyna Marcisz, Elena Marinova, Aidin Niamir, Elena Novenko, Milena Obremska, Anna Pędziszewska, Mirjam Pfeiffer, Anneli Poska, Manfred Rösch, Michal Słowiński, Miglė Stančikaitė, Marta Szal, Joanna Święta-Musznicka, Ioan Tanţău, Martin Theuerkauf, Spassimir Tonkov, Orsolya Valkó, Jüri Vassiljev, Siim Veski, Ildiko Vincze, Agnieszka Wacnik, Julian Wiethold, and Thomas Hickler
Biogeosciences, 17, 1213–1230, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-1213-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-1213-2020, 2020
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Our study covers the full Holocene (the past 11 500 years) climate variability and vegetation composition and provides a test on how vegetation and climate interact to determine fire hazard. An important implication of this test is that percentage of tree cover can be used as a predictor of the probability of fire occurrence. Biomass burned is highest at ~ 45 % tree cover in temperate forests and at ~ 60–65 % tree cover in needleleaf-dominated forests.
Sebastian Wetterich, Thomas A. Davidson, Anatoly Bobrov, Thomas Opel, Torben Windirsch, Kasper L. Johansen, Ivan González-Bergonzoni, Anders Mosbech, and Erik Jeppesen
Biogeosciences, 16, 4261–4275, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4261-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4261-2019, 2019
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The effects of seabird presence on permafrost peat evolution in NW Greenland were studied by tracing changes in stable C and N isotope composition along the path from bird sources into permafrost peat. The permafrost growth was triggered by organic matter and nutrient input since the neoglacial cooling and concurrent polynya establishment. The study deals with the complex response of biologic and permafrost dynamics to High Arctic climatic and oceanographic conditions of the Late Holocene.
Malin M. Ziehmer, Kurt Nicolussi, Christian Schlüchter, and Markus Leuenberger
Biogeosciences, 15, 1047–1064, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-1047-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-1047-2018, 2018
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Cellulose content (CC (%)) series from two high-Alpine species, Larix decidua Mill. (European larch, LADE) and Pinus cembra L. (Swiss stone pine, PICE) are investigated in modern wood samples and Holocene wood remains from the Early and mid-Holocene. Trends in modern and Holocene time series as well as climate–cellulose relationships for modern trees in the Alps show high potential for CC (%) to be established as novel supplementary proxy in dendroclimatology.
Stephanie L. Strother, Ulrich Salzmann, Francesca Sangiorgi, Peter K. Bijl, Jörg Pross, Carlota Escutia, Ariadna Salabarnada, Matthew J. Pound, Jochen Voss, and John Woodward
Biogeosciences, 14, 2089–2100, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2089-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2089-2017, 2017
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One of the main challenges in Antarctic vegetation reconstructions is the uncertainty in unambiguously identifying reworked pollen and spore assemblages in marine sedimentary records influenced by waxing and waning ice sheets. This study uses red fluorescence and digital imaging as a new tool to identify reworking in a marine sediment core from circum-Antarctic waters to reconstruct Cenozoic climate change and vegetation with high confidence.
Bernd Wagner, Thomas Wilke, Alexander Francke, Christian Albrecht, Henrike Baumgarten, Adele Bertini, Nathalie Combourieu-Nebout, Aleksandra Cvetkoska, Michele D'Addabbo, Timme H. Donders, Kirstin Föller, Biagio Giaccio, Andon Grazhdani, Torsten Hauffe, Jens Holtvoeth, Sebastien Joannin, Elena Jovanovska, Janna Just, Katerina Kouli, Andreas Koutsodendris, Sebastian Krastel, Jack H. Lacey, Niklas Leicher, Melanie J. Leng, Zlatko Levkov, Katja Lindhorst, Alessia Masi, Anna M. Mercuri, Sebastien Nomade, Norbert Nowaczyk, Konstantinos Panagiotopoulos, Odile Peyron, Jane M. Reed, Eleonora Regattieri, Laura Sadori, Leonardo Sagnotti, Björn Stelbrink, Roberto Sulpizio, Slavica Tofilovska, Paola Torri, Hendrik Vogel, Thomas Wagner, Friederike Wagner-Cremer, George A. Wolff, Thomas Wonik, Giovanni Zanchetta, and Xiaosen S. Zhang
Biogeosciences, 14, 2033–2054, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2033-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2033-2017, 2017
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Lake Ohrid is considered to be the oldest existing lake in Europe. Moreover, it has a very high degree of endemic biodiversity. During a drilling campaign at Lake Ohrid in 2013, a 569 m long sediment sequence was recovered from Lake Ohrid. The ongoing studies of this record provide first important information on the environmental and evolutionary history of the lake and the reasons for its high endimic biodiversity.
Lutz Schirrmeister, Georg Schwamborn, Pier Paul Overduin, Jens Strauss, Margret C. Fuchs, Mikhail Grigoriev, Irina Yakshina, Janet Rethemeyer, Elisabeth Dietze, and Sebastian Wetterich
Biogeosciences, 14, 1261–1283, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-1261-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-1261-2017, 2017
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We investigate late Pleistocene permafrost at the Buor Khaya Peninsula (Laptev Sea, Siberia) for cryolithological, geochemical, and geochronological parameters. The sequences were composed of ice-oversaturated silts and fine-grained sands with 0.2 to 24 wt% of organic matter. The deposition was between 54.1 and 9.7 kyr BP. Due to coastal erosion, the biogeochemical signature of the deposits represents the terrestrial end-member, and is related to organic matter deposited in the marine realm.
Heike Hildegard Zimmermann, Elena Raschke, Laura Saskia Epp, Kathleen Rosmarie Stoof-Leichsenring, Georg Schwamborn, Lutz Schirrmeister, Pier Paul Overduin, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Biogeosciences, 14, 575–596, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-575-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-575-2017, 2017
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Organic matter stored in permafrost will start decomposing due to climate warming. To better understand its composition in ice-rich Yedoma, we analyzed ancient sedimentary DNA, pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs throughout an 18.9 m long permafrost core. The combination of both proxies allow an interpretation both of regional floristic changes and of the local environmental conditions at the time of deposition.
Niklas Leicher, Giovanni Zanchetta, Roberto Sulpizio, Biagio Giaccio, Bernd Wagner, Sebastien Nomade, Alexander Francke, and Paola Del Carlo
Biogeosciences, 13, 2151–2178, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-2151-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-2151-2016, 2016
Laura Sadori, Andreas Koutsodendris, Konstantinos Panagiotopoulos, Alessia Masi, Adele Bertini, Nathalie Combourieu-Nebout, Alexander Francke, Katerina Kouli, Sébastien Joannin, Anna Maria Mercuri, Odile Peyron, Paola Torri, Bernd Wagner, Giovanni Zanchetta, Gaia Sinopoli, and Timme H. Donders
Biogeosciences, 13, 1423–1437, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-1423-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-1423-2016, 2016
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Lake Ohrid (FYROM/Albania) is the deepest, largest and oldest lake in Europe. To understand the climatic and environmental evolution of its area, a palynological study was undertaken for the last 500 ka. We found a correspondence between forested/non-forested periods and glacial-interglacial cycles of marine isotope stratigraphy. Our record shows a progressive change from cooler and wetter to warmer and dryer interglacial conditions. This shift is also visible in glacial vegetation.
H. Baumgarten, T. Wonik, D. C. Tanner, A. Francke, B. Wagner, G. Zanchetta, R. Sulpizio, B. Giaccio, and S. Nomade
Biogeosciences, 12, 7453–7465, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-7453-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-7453-2015, 2015
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Gamma ray (GR) fluctuations and K values from downhole logging data obtained in the sediments of Lake Ohrid correlate with the global climate reference record (LR04 stack from δ18O) (Lisiecki and Raymo, 2005). GR and K values are considered a reliable proxy to depict glacial-interglacial cycles and document warm, humid and cold, drier periods. A robust age model for the downhole logging data over the past 630kyr was established and will play a crucial role for other working groups.
Y. F. Yao, X. Y. Song, A. H. Wortley, S. Blackmore, and C. S. Li
Biogeosciences, 12, 1525–1535, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1525-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1525-2015, 2015
L. A. Sullivan and J. F. Parr
Biogeosciences, 10, 977–980, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-977-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-977-2013, 2013
G. Brügmann, J. Krause, T. C. Brachert, B. Stoll, U. Weis, O. Kullmer, I. Ssemmanda, and D. F. Mertz
Biogeosciences, 9, 4803–4817, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-9-4803-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-9-4803-2012, 2012
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Short summary
Tundra fires may have increased as a result of anthropogenic climate change. To evaluate this hypothesis in the context of natural variability, we reconstructed fire history of the late Quaternary in the Alaskan tundra. Fire-return intervals are spatially variable, ranging from 1648 to 6045 years at our sites. The rarity of historical fires implies that increased fire frequency may greatly alter the structure and function of tundra ecosystems.
Tundra fires may have increased as a result of anthropogenic climate change. To evaluate this...
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