Collaborative: Prehistoric Biomass Burning at Local to Regional Scales in Eastern North America

火是生态系统功能的重要组成部分。目前，世界各地的人们还广泛利用火将森林转化为牧场和农业用地。火灾的历史作用和火灾的频率在不同的生态系统类型是重要的评估当今的管理决策。这个项目着眼于6000年的火灾历史，在北美北部森林和草原不断变化的景观。花粉记录和木炭记录将结合起来检查植被和火之间的相互作用。这将提供一个现代火灾的排放与过去有何不同的比较。这项研究很重要，因为它将火灾的作用置于区域视角中。需要开发和测试的方法将使单个湖泊的火灾历史扩展到关于火灾如何构成和影响生态系统的区域观点。

PI-GRIMM: Fire is an important component of the functioning of ecosystems. Fire also is currently being used extensively by human populations worldwide in the conversion of forest to pasture and agricultural land. The historic role of fire and the frequency of fire in different ecosystem types is important in assessing present-day management decisions. This project looks at 6,000 years of fire history in changing landscapes of the boreal forests and grasslands of North America. Pollen records and charcoal records will be combined to examine interplay between vegetation and fire. This will provide a comparison of how modern emissions from modern fires differ from those of the past. This research is important because it places the role of fire in a regional perspective. Methods are to be developed and tested which will allow fire history from individual lakes to be extended to a regional view of how fire structures and affects ecosystems.