Biodiversity and ecosystem responses to forest fires in the Amazonian forests
Peter Fleming Award 2006 (Grant of £2000)
Dr. Jos Barlow (now at the Department of Biological Sciences, Lancaster University)
The Project
To assess what would happen to the Amazon forest under drier climatic conditions. The team spent four months in the field, in the Rio Mara Basin of westernmost Para. They studied forest areas that had been burned different numbers of times.
Why this is important
The Amazon Forests are under threat in places from both climate change and forest clearance. Future climate change is predicted to increase the risk of fires spreading into the Amazon forest as warmer temperatures and longer dry seasons will further desiccate the forests.
Also, large scale logging and forest clearance reduces rainfall and selective logging increases flammability. The increased access across previously undisturbed parts of the Amazon encourages immigration of small scale farmers who routinely use fires to clear land. A greater risk of fires therefore means we need a greater understanding of the effects of fires, so as to better manage this.
Key Findings
The study shows how fires drastically alter forest structure and composition. They can lead to a rapid impoverishment of even previously intact primary forests over a relatively short period of time. The results highlight the importance of preventing forest fires spreading further into new Amazonian forest frontiers. Although biomass burning is widely practiced by virtually all rural people in the Amazon, it is one of the few direct ways in which we can act so as to reduce impact on the Amazon and to mitigate aspects of climate change.
Some small scale agricultural projects have been highly successful in reducing the use of fire in Amazonia. Expanding and developing these projects to reduce the availability of ignition sources should be an urgent conservation priority over coming decades.
Key scientific results published in: Barlow, J. and Peres, C.A. 2008. Fire-mediated dieback and compositional cascade in an Amazonian forest. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B. doi:10.1098/rstb.2007.0013. [Abstract in English and Portuguese] [PDF]
View Photo Gallery from the Project