Journal
YEAR IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
Volume 1286, Issue -, Pages 92-107Publisher
BLACKWELL SCIENCE PUBL
DOI: 10.1111/nyas.12104
Keywords
conservation planning; disturbance ecology; fire ecology and management; historical range of variation; ecosystem thresholds; resilience and climate change
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Alterations in natural fire patterns have negatively affected fire-prone ecosystems in many ways. The historical range of variability (HRV) concept evolved as a management target for natural vegetation composition and fire regimes in fire-prone ecosystems. HRV-based management inherently assumes that ecosystem resilience is reflected in observed ranges of past vegetation and fire dynamics, typically without knowledge of where thresholds exist beyond these dynamics. Given uncertainty in future conditions, some have argued that HRV may not adequately reflect ecosystem resilience to future fire activity. We suggest a refinement that includes concepts from the thresholds of potential concern (TPC) framework, which emphasizes tipping points at the extremes of ecosystem dynamics and other socially unacceptable outcomes. We propose bounded ranges of variation (BRV), an approach focused on building resilience by using historical information, but also by identifying socio-ecological thresholds to avoid and associated management action triggers. Here, we examine nonnative species and carbon sequestration as examples of how the BRV framework could be used in the context of conservation and fire management.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available