Pyrogeography, historical ecology, and the human dimensions of fire regimes

In our 2011 synthesis (Bowman et al., Journal of Biogeography, 2011, 38, 2223–2236), we argued for a holistic approach to human issues in fire science that we term ‘pyrogeography’. Coughlan & Petty (Journal of Biogeography, 2013, 40, 1010–1012) critiqued our paper on the grounds that our ‘pyric...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of biogeography 2014-04, Vol.41 (4), p.833-836
Main Authors: Roos, Christopher I, Bowman, David M. J. S, Balch, Jennifer K, Artaxo, Paulo, Bond, William J, Cochrane, Mark, D'Antonio, Carla M, DeFries, Ruth, Mack, Michelle, Johnston, Fay H, Krawchuk, Meg A, Kull, Christian A, Moritz, Max A, Pyne, Stephen, Scott, Andrew C, Swetnam, Thomas W, Whittaker, Robert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
biogeography
Biological and medical sciences
Biological evolution
CORRESPONDENCE
Ecological genetics
Ecological history
Ecological sustainability
Ecosystems
Ecosystems ecology
Environmental social sciences
evolutionary ecology
Fire ecology
fire regime
Fire regimes
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution
historical ecology
Human ecology
human-fire dynamics
Humans
Political ecology
pyric transition
pyrogeography
Synecology
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Summary:In our 2011 synthesis (Bowman et al., Journal of Biogeography, 2011, 38, 2223–2236), we argued for a holistic approach to human issues in fire science that we term ‘pyrogeography’. Coughlan & Petty (Journal of Biogeography, 2013, 40, 1010–1012) critiqued our paper on the grounds that our ‘pyric phase’ model was built on outdated views of cultural development, claiming we developed it to be the unifying explanatory framework for all human–fire sciences. Rather, they suggest that ‘historical ecology’ could provide such a framework. We used the ‘pyric transition’ for multiple purposes but did not offer it as an exclusive explanatory framework for pyrogeography. Although ‘historical ecology’ is one of many useful approaches to studying human–fire relationships, scholars should also look to political and evolutionary ecology, ecosystems and complexity theories, as well as empirical generalizations to build an interdisciplinary fire science that incorporates human, ecological and biophysical dimensions of fire regimes.
ISSN:0305-0270
1365-2699
DOI:10.1111/jbi.12285