Holocene Fire History and the Vulnerability of a Primary Rainforest to Fire Encroachment

摘要该研究项目将调查森林火灾的历史先例，以提供有关热带雨林对火灾的恢复能力的新知识。通过从历史背景下研究干扰制度的古生态学，研究者将为原始雨林的稳定性提供新的见解。研究者对多种栖息地类型的火灾时空格局的分析将改变对区分气候引起的火灾影响与人为引起的火灾影响的基本认识。该项目将解决高度生物多样性生态系统中火灾生态学和景观干扰的基本问题。该项目将着重于研究区域的教育和研究能力建设。它将促进美国和外国组织之间的合作，并将为本科生和研究生的跨学科教育和培训奠定坚实的基础。项目成果将促进国家和国际伙伴之间的合作关系，提高它们解决地球许多地区热带森林管理相关问题的能力。土壤木炭记录提供了深入了解火灾在受间歇性干旱影响的雨林生态中的潜在重要作用。该项目将关注四个核心问题：(1)在全新世和更早时期，火有多普遍？(2)火灾的空间格局是否与气候控制或与轮作相关的农业活动相一致？(3)不同生境土壤中热原性有机物的含量是多少？这些木炭在热带土壤中的保存情况如何？(4)过去6000年森林泥炭的积累历史如何，是否受到了过去火灾事件和环境变化的影响？将在印度尼西亚婆罗洲的一个研究区域的七种栖息地类型中建立总共126个采样点，研究人员将从土壤中的放射性碳年代测定的木炭颗粒中检查这些采样点，以寻找过去火灾的直接证据。采样数据将进行光谱、化学和定量分析，以确定随时间变化的火的时间顺序模式。该研究项目开发的数据和方法将对研究各种生态系统的火灾行为具有全球意义。

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATIONGEOGRAPHY SPATIAL SCIENCES (GSS) PROGRAMABSTRACTThis research project will investigate the historical precedence of forest fires in order to provide new knowledge about the resiliency of tropical rainforests to fires. By studying the paleoecology of disturbance regimes from a historical context, the investigator will provide new insights into the stability of a pristine rainforest. The investigator's analyses of the spatio-temporal patterns of fire across multiple habitat types will transform basic understanding of distinguishing climate-induced fire impacts versus those that were human-induced. The project will address fundamental questions of fire ecology and landscape disturbance in a highly biodiverse ecosystem. The project will have a strong focus on educational and research capacity-building in the study region. It will foster collaboration across U.S. and foreign organizations, and it will provide a strong foundation for interdisciplinary education and training of undergraduate and graduate students. Project results will promote collaborative ties among national and international partners to increase their capabilities to address issues related to tropical forest stewardship across many parts of the Earth.Soil charcoal records provide insight into the potentially important role of fire in the ecology of rainforests affected by episodic droughts. This project will focus on four core questions: (1) How prevalent was fire during the Holocene and earlier periods? (2) Is the spatial pattern of fire consistent with climatic control or with agricultural activities associated with shifting cultivation? (3) What is the quantity of pyrogenic organic matter in soils among different habitats, and how well is such charcoal preserved in tropical soils? (4) What is the history of peat accumulation in the forest over the past 6,000 years, and has it been affected by past fire events and environmental change? A total of 126 sampling sites will be established across seven habitat types in a study region in Indonesian Borneo, and the investigators will examine these for direct evidence of past fires from radiocarbon-dated charcoal particles in soil. Sampling data will be spectrally, chemically, and quantitatively analyzed to determine the chronological pattern of changing fire over time. The data and methods developed from this research project will have global implications for studying fire behavior studies across a wide-range of diverse ecosystems.