Wildfire history of the boreal forest of southwestern Yakutia (Siberia) over the last two millennia documented by a lake-sedimentary charcoal record
Wildfires, as a key disturbance in forest ecosystems, are shaping the world’s boreal landscapes. Changes in fire regimes are closely linked to a wide array of environmental factors, such as vegetation composition, climate change, and human activity. Arctic and boreal regions and, in particular, Sibe...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:bgd90992 2023-05-15T15:17:05+02:00 Wildfire history of the boreal forest of southwestern Yakutia (Siberia) over the last two millennia documented by a lake-sedimentary charcoal record Glückler, Ramesh Herzschuh, Ulrike Kruse, Stefan Andreev, Andrei Vyse, Stuart Andrew Winkler, Bettina Biskaborn, Boris K. Pestryakova, Luidmila Dietze, Elisabeth 2020-11-11 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-415 https://bg.copernicus.org/preprints/bg-2020-415/ eng eng doi:10.5194/bg-2020-415 https://bg.copernicus.org/preprints/bg-2020-415/ eISSN: 1726-4189 Text 2020 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-415 2020-11-16T17:22:14Z Wildfires, as a key disturbance in forest ecosystems, are shaping the world’s boreal landscapes. Changes in fire regimes are closely linked to a wide array of environmental factors, such as vegetation composition, climate change, and human activity. Arctic and boreal regions and, in particular, Siberian boreal forests are experiencing rising air and ground temperatures with the subsequent degradation of permafrost soils, leading to shifts in tree cover and species composition. Compared to the boreal zones of North America or Europe, little is known about how such environmental changes might influence long-term fire regimes in Russia. The larch-dominated eastern Siberian deciduous boreal forests differ markedly from the composition of other boreal forests, yet data about past fire regimes remain sparse. Here, we present a high-resolution macroscopic charcoal record from lacustrine sediments of Lake Khamra (SW Yakutia, Siberia) spanning the last c. 2200 years, including information about charcoal particle sizes and morphotypes. Our results reveal a phase of increased charcoal accumulation between 600–900 CE, indicative of relatively high amounts of burnt biomass and high fire frequencies. This is followed by an almost 900-year-long period of low charcoal accumulation without significant peaks, likely corresponding to cooler climate conditions. After 1750 CE fire frequencies and the relative amount of biomass burnt start to increase again, coinciding with a warming climate and increased anthropogenic land development after Russian colonisation. In the 20th century, total charcoal accumulation decreases again to very low levels, despite higher fire frequency, potentially reflecting a change in fire management strategies and/or a shift of the fire regime towards more frequent, but smaller fires. A similar pattern for different charcoal morphotypes and comparison to a pollen and non-pollen palynomorph record from the same sediment core indicate that broad-scale changes in vegetation composition were probably not a major driver of recorded fire regime changes. Instead, the fire regime of the last two millennia at Lake Khamra seems to be controlled mainly by a combination of short-term climate variability and anthropogenic fire ignition and suppression. Text Arctic Climate change permafrost Yakutia Siberia Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Arctic |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
Wildfires, as a key disturbance in forest ecosystems, are shaping the world’s boreal landscapes. Changes in fire regimes are closely linked to a wide array of environmental factors, such as vegetation composition, climate change, and human activity. Arctic and boreal regions and, in particular, Siberian boreal forests are experiencing rising air and ground temperatures with the subsequent degradation of permafrost soils, leading to shifts in tree cover and species composition. Compared to the boreal zones of North America or Europe, little is known about how such environmental changes might influence long-term fire regimes in Russia. The larch-dominated eastern Siberian deciduous boreal forests differ markedly from the composition of other boreal forests, yet data about past fire regimes remain sparse. Here, we present a high-resolution macroscopic charcoal record from lacustrine sediments of Lake Khamra (SW Yakutia, Siberia) spanning the last c. 2200 years, including information about charcoal particle sizes and morphotypes. Our results reveal a phase of increased charcoal accumulation between 600–900 CE, indicative of relatively high amounts of burnt biomass and high fire frequencies. This is followed by an almost 900-year-long period of low charcoal accumulation without significant peaks, likely corresponding to cooler climate conditions. After 1750 CE fire frequencies and the relative amount of biomass burnt start to increase again, coinciding with a warming climate and increased anthropogenic land development after Russian colonisation. In the 20th century, total charcoal accumulation decreases again to very low levels, despite higher fire frequency, potentially reflecting a change in fire management strategies and/or a shift of the fire regime towards more frequent, but smaller fires. A similar pattern for different charcoal morphotypes and comparison to a pollen and non-pollen palynomorph record from the same sediment core indicate that broad-scale changes in vegetation composition were probably not a major driver of recorded fire regime changes. Instead, the fire regime of the last two millennia at Lake Khamra seems to be controlled mainly by a combination of short-term climate variability and anthropogenic fire ignition and suppression. |
format |
Text |
author |
Glückler, Ramesh Herzschuh, Ulrike Kruse, Stefan Andreev, Andrei Vyse, Stuart Andrew Winkler, Bettina Biskaborn, Boris K. Pestryakova, Luidmila Dietze, Elisabeth |
spellingShingle |
Glückler, Ramesh Herzschuh, Ulrike Kruse, Stefan Andreev, Andrei Vyse, Stuart Andrew Winkler, Bettina Biskaborn, Boris K. Pestryakova, Luidmila Dietze, Elisabeth Wildfire history of the boreal forest of southwestern Yakutia (Siberia) over the last two millennia documented by a lake-sedimentary charcoal record |
author_facet |
Glückler, Ramesh Herzschuh, Ulrike Kruse, Stefan Andreev, Andrei Vyse, Stuart Andrew Winkler, Bettina Biskaborn, Boris K. Pestryakova, Luidmila Dietze, Elisabeth |
author_sort |
Glückler, Ramesh |
title |
Wildfire history of the boreal forest of southwestern Yakutia (Siberia) over the last two millennia documented by a lake-sedimentary charcoal record |
title_short |
Wildfire history of the boreal forest of southwestern Yakutia (Siberia) over the last two millennia documented by a lake-sedimentary charcoal record |
title_full |
Wildfire history of the boreal forest of southwestern Yakutia (Siberia) over the last two millennia documented by a lake-sedimentary charcoal record |
title_fullStr |
Wildfire history of the boreal forest of southwestern Yakutia (Siberia) over the last two millennia documented by a lake-sedimentary charcoal record |
title_full_unstemmed |
Wildfire history of the boreal forest of southwestern Yakutia (Siberia) over the last two millennia documented by a lake-sedimentary charcoal record |
title_sort |
wildfire history of the boreal forest of southwestern yakutia (siberia) over the last two millennia documented by a lake-sedimentary charcoal record |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-415 https://bg.copernicus.org/preprints/bg-2020-415/ |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change permafrost Yakutia Siberia |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change permafrost Yakutia Siberia |
op_source |
eISSN: 1726-4189 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/bg-2020-415 https://bg.copernicus.org/preprints/bg-2020-415/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-415 |
_version_ |
1766347365666521088 |