AUTHOR=Iglesias Virginia , Yospin Gabriel I. , Whitlock Cathy TITLE=Reconstruction of fire regimes through integrated paleoecological proxy data and ecological modeling JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science VOLUME=5 YEAR=2015 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2014.00785 DOI=10.3389/fpls.2014.00785 ISSN=1664-462X ABSTRACT=

Fire is a key ecological process affecting vegetation dynamics and land cover. The characteristic frequency, size, and intensity of fire are driven by interactions between top-down climate-driven and bottom-up fuel-related processes. Disentangling climatic from non-climatic drivers of past fire regimes is a grand challenge in Earth systems science, and a topic where both paleoecology and ecological modeling have made substantial contributions. In this manuscript, we (1) review the use of sedimentary charcoal as a fire proxy and the methods used in charcoal-based fire history reconstructions; (2) identify existing techniques for paleoecological modeling; and (3) evaluate opportunities for coupling of paleoecological and ecological modeling approaches to better understand the causes and consequences of past, present, and future fire activity.