Wildfires as an ecosystem service
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
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Abstract
Wildfires are often viewed as destructive disturbances. We propose that when including both evolutionary and socioecological scales, most ecosystem fires can be understood as natural processes that provide a variety of benefits to humankind. Wildfires provide open habitats that enable the evolution of a diversity of shade-intolerant plants and animals that have long been used by humans. There are many provisioning, regulating, and cultural services that we obtain from wildfires; prescribed fires and wildfire management are tools for mimicking the ancestral role of wildfires in a highly populated world.
Suggested Citation
Pausas, J.G., Keeley, J., 2019, Wildfires as an ecosystem service: Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, v. 17, no. 5, p. 289-295, https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2044.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Wildfires as an ecosystem service |
| Series title | Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment |
| DOI | 10.1002/fee.2044 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Publication Date | May 06, 2019 |
| Year Published | 2019 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | The Ecological Society of America |
| Contributing office(s) | Western Ecological Research Center |
| Description | 7 p. |
| First page | 289 |
| Last page | 295 |