Interactions between fire, climate change and forest biodiversity

Abstract

The interactions between climate change, fire and forest biodiversity can be characterized as a cascading relationship. Changes in climate directly affect fire frequency and severity. As a result of climate change, a significant increase in fire occurrence and behaviour is predicted to occur over the next 70 years. Climate change will also directly impact the composition of current ecosystems by shifting the fundamental niche of species to higher elevations and/or latitudes, with the changes being most apparent in temperate and boreal latitudes and on mountains in the tropics and subtropics. The alteration and shift of forest ecosystems will be facilitated by an increase in the frequency and..