Home / Charcoal & Coal Petrology / Wildfire and Present Day Fire Ecology

! A.M.B. Abu Hamad et al. (2012): The record of Triassic charcoal and other evidence for palaeo-wildfires: Signal for atmospheric oxygen levels, taphonomic biases or lack of fuel? In PDF, International Journal of Coal Geology, 96–97: 60–71.
See also here (abstract).

! S. Archibald et al. (2018): Biological and geophysical feedbacks with fire in the Earth system. Open access, Environmental Research Letters, 13.
See especially Box 4 (PDF page 11): Evolution of plant-fire feedbacks at geological timescales.

S.J. Baker et al. (2022): CO₂-induced biochemical changes in leaf volatiles decreased fire-intensity in the run-up to the Triassic–Jurassic boundary. Free access, New Phytologist, 235: 1442–1454.

M. Barthel et al. (1998): Brennende Berge - Flöz- und Haldenbrand-Gesteine als Matrix fossiler Pflanzen-Abdrücke und als Objekte der Wissenschaftsgeschichte. PDF file, in German.

C.M. Belcher and V.A. Hudspith (2017): Changes to Cretaceous surface fire behaviour influenced the spread of the early angiosperms. New Phytologist, 213: 1521–1532.

C.M. Belcher (2016): The influence of leaf morphology on litter flammability and its utility for interpreting palaeofire. In PDF, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 371. See also here.

C.M. Belcher et al. (2013):
A 450-Million-Year History of Fire. Abstract. See also:
C.M. Belcher (ed.): Fire Phenomena and the Earth System: An Interdisciplinary Guide to Fire Science (John Wiley & Sons). PDF file.
Table of contents on PDF page 7, Foreword on PDF page 11.
See also here.

! C.M. Belcher et al. (2010): Baseline intrinsic flammability of Earth´s ecosystems estimated from paleoatmospheric oxygen over the past 350 million years. In PDF, PNAS, 107.

C.M. Belcher et al. (2010): Burning Questions - how state of the art fire safety techniques can be applied to answer major questions in the Earth Sciences. In PDF.
See also here (the slides). Go to PDF page 22: "East Greenland 200 Million years ago".
See also there (Linklist: Fire Safety Engineering in the UK: The State of the Art. University of Edinburgh).
These expired links are still available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

J.R.W. Benicio et al. (2019): Recurrent palaeo-wildfires in a Cisuralian coal seam: A palaeobotanical view on highinertinite coals from the Lower Permian of the Parana´ Basin, Brazil. Open access, PLoS ONE, 14: e0213854.

E.W. Bergh (2012): A one-year, postfire record of element deposition and cycling in the Kogelberg sandstone fynbos mountain ecosystem of the Western Cape, South Africa. Abstract, Thesis, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town.
See also here and there.

bigchalk: HIGH SCHOOL & BEYOND > Science > Earth Sciences > Environmental Studies > Wildfires.

! M.B. Bodí et al. (2014): Wildland fire ash: production, composition and eco-hydro-geomorphic effects. In PDF, Earth-Science Reviews, 130: 103-127- See also here and there.

M.B. Bodí et al. (2014): Wildland fire ash: production, composition and eco-hydro-geomorphic effects. In PDF, Earth-Science Reviews, 130: 03–127.

W.J. Bond (2014): Fires in the Cenozoic: a late flowering of flammable ecosystems. In PDF, Front. Plant Sci., 5. See also here.

W.J. Bond and A.C. Scott (2010): Fire and the spread of flowering plants in the Cretaceous. In PDF, New Phytologist, 188: 1137-1150.

! W.J. Bond and J.E. Keeley (2005): Fire as a global "herbivore": the ecology and evolution of flammable ecosystems. Abstract, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 20.

W.J. Bond et al. (2005): The global distribution of ecosystems in a world without fire. Free access, New Phytologist, 165: 525-538.

Kevin Bonsor, howstuffworks: How Wildfires Work.

E.M. Bordy et al. (2020): Tracking the Pliensbachian–Toarcian Karoo firewalkers: Trackways of quadruped and biped dinosaurs and mammaliaforms. Open access, PLoS ONE 15: e0226847.
Note fig 13: Wildfire reconstruction of the Highlands ichnosite at the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary. Massive outpouring basaltic lavas, which turned the main Karoo Basin into a land of fire.

! D.M.J.S. Bowman et al. (2009): Fire in the Earth System. PDF file, Science, 324: 481-484. See also here (abstract).

! S.A.E. Brown et al. (2012): Cretaceous wildfires and their impact on the Earth system. In PDF, Cretaceous Research, 36: 162-190.
See alo here.
Note figure 2: Fire products from surface and crown fires.
Figure 3: Geographic distribution of charcoal mesofossil assemblages and inertinite (charcoal in coal) at three Cretaceous time intervals.
Table 1: Geographic distribution of charcoal mesofossil assemblages and inertinite (charcoal in coal) at three Cretaceous time intervals.

B.A. Byers et al. (2014): First known fire scar on a fossil tree trunk provides evidence of Late Triassic wildfire. Abstract. See also here (in PDF).

! L. Caon et al. (2014): Effects of wildfire on soil nutrients in Mediterranean ecosystems. In PDF, Earth-Science Reviews, 139: 47–58. See also here.

! M. Conedera et al. (2009): Reconstructing past fire regimes: methods, applications, and relevance to fire management and conservation. In PDF, Quaternary Science Reviews, 28: 555-576.
See also here.
Note figure 1: Components of the fire-regime concept.
Table 6: Chemical substances used as chemical markers and fire proxies in fire history reconstruction.
Figure 4: Reconstructing fire history from lake sediments.

J.H.C. Cornelissen et al. (2017): Are litter decomposition and fire linked through plant species traits? In PDF, New Phytologist, 216: 653–669.

! W.K. Cornwell et al. (2009): Plant traits and wood fates across the globe: rotted, burned, or consumed? PDF file, Global Change Biology, 15: 2431-2449.
See also here.
Note figure 1: The five major fates for woody debris.
Table 2: Stem anatomy differences across woody and pseudo-woody plant clades.

! Walter L. Cressler (2001): Evidence of Earliest Known Wildfires. In PDF, Palaios, 16: 171-174.
See also here.

! M.D. Crisp et al. (2011): Flammable biomes dominated by eucalypts originated at the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary. Open access, Nature Communications.

! W.J. Davis (2023): Mass extinctions and their relationship with atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration: Implications for Earth's future. Open access, Earth's Future, 11: e2022EF003336.
! Note figure 1: Time series of mass extinctions and their substages over the past 534 million years.
Figure 2: Equal-interval histogram of percent genus loss versus (vs.) time showing 25 previously-identified mass extinction events over the past 534 million years.

G.M. Davies et al. (2016): The peatland vegetation burning debate: keep scientific critique in perspective. A response to Brown et al. and Douglas et al. In PDF, Phil. Trans. R. Soc., B, 371.

Discovery Online: Wildfire. Fire facts.
Website outdated. Link lead to version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! S.H. Doerr and C. Santín (2016): Global trends in wildfire and its impacts: perceptions versus realities in a changing world. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 371. See also here (in PDF).

The Ecological Society of America (ESA):
ESA, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of scientists promote ecological science by improving communication among ecologists. Fact Sheets. Go to:
! Fire Ecology (In PDF).
These expired link are available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, UK: Research activities,
Taphonomy of charcoal,
Charcoals in volcanics,
History and impact of fire: Pre-Quaternary, and
History and impact of fire: Recent.
These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, UK: Research activities,
History and impact of fire: Pre-Quaternary, and
History and impact of fire: Recent.

H. El Atfy et al. (2019): Repeated occurrence of palaeo-wildfires during deposition of the Bahariya Formation (early Cenomanian) of Egypt. Open access, Journal of Palaeogeography, 8.
See also here (in German).

M. Ensbey et al. (2023): Animal population decline and recovery after severe fire: Relating ecological and life history traits with expert estimates of population impacts from the Australian 2019-20 megafires. Free access, Biological Conservation, 283.
Note figure 4: Summary of the ecological and life history traits, and parameters relating to general extinction risk, that predict expert estimates of direct mortality from fire, and population recovery over 10 years/three generations.

! H.J. Falcon-Lang et al. (2001): Fire-prone plant communities and palaeoclimate of a Late Cretaceous fluvial to estuarine environment, Pecínov quarry, Czech Republic. PDF file, Geol. Mag., 138: 563-576. See also here.
Note figure 3: Angiosperm wood charcoal.

A. Feurdean and I. Vasiliev (2019): The contribution of fire to the late Miocene spread of grasslands in eastern Eurasia (Black Sea region). Open access, Scientific Reports, 9.

! Fire Effects Information System (FEIS), USDA Forest Service: FEIS summarizes and synthesizes research about living organisms in the United States — their biology, ecology, and relationship to fire. Go to: Plant Species Life Form. Up-to-date information about fire effects on plants.

M. Flannigan et al. (1998): Fire Weather: Past, Present and Future. PDF file.

C.P. Fox et al. (2020): Flame out! End-Triassic mass extinction polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons reflect more than just fire. Abstract, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 584. See also here.

! J.M. Galloway and S. Lindström (2023): Wildfire in the geological record: Application of Quaternary methods to deep time studies. Open access, Evolving Earth, 1.
! Note figure 1: Summary figure of changes in atmospheric O₂ [...] and important events in Earth’s history, climate state, selected extinction events.

GEsource (GEsource is managed by CALIM, the Consortium of Academic Libraries in Manchester, which comprises: the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University Library, UMIST Library, University of Salford Library, and Manchester Business School Library). This is a free online catalogue of high quality Internet resources in geography and environmental science. See and navigate from here. Resources are selected, catalogued and indexed by researchers and other specialists in their respective fields. Go to: Wildfires.

! I.J. Glasspool and R.A. Gastaldo (2024): Through fire, and through water, an abundance of Mid-Devonian charcoal. Open access, Palaios, 39: 301–322.
Note figure 15: Uncalibrated and luminosity modified, oil immersion, reflected light images of Trout Valley mesofossil; see especially figure E:
! The internal anatomy of a hooked-appendage shaft showing cell-wall lamination and separation, and with many cells show brittle fracture bogen structures.
"... Charcoalified mesofossils recovered from the Emsian–Eifelian Trout Valley and St. Froid Lake formations of Maine are direct evidence of wildfires
[...] we provide a reconstruction of this Middle Devonian landscape and its flora in which lightning generated by post-dry season storms ignited wildfires that propagated through an extensive psilophyte-dominated litter ..."

I.J. Glasspool and R.A. Gastaldo (2022): A baptism by fire: fossil charcoal from eastern Euramerica reveals the earliest (Homerian) terrestrial biota evolved in a flammable world. Open access, Journal of the Geological Society.
Note figure 12: Fuel-fire burn model illustrating fire initiation by lightning, burning of Prototaxites as the fire nucleus and the charring of the peripheral vegetation.

! I.J. Glasspool et al. (2015): The impact of fire on the Late Paleozoic Earth system. In PDF, Frontiers in PlantScience. See also here.

! I.J. Glasspool and A.C. Scott 2010): Phanerozoic concentrations of atmospheric oxygen reconstructed from sedimentary charcoal. In PDF, Nature Geoscience, 3: 627-630.
See also here.
Additional information in: ScienceDaily and phys.org.
! "... We estimate that pO₂ was continuously above 26% during the Carboniferous and Permian periods, and that it declined abruptly around the time of the Permian–Triassic mass extinction. During the Triassic and Jurassic periods, pO₂ fluctuated cyclically, with amplitudes up to 10% and a frequency of 20–30 million years. Atmospheric oxygen concentrations have declined steadily from the middle of the Cretaceous period to present-day values of about 21%. ..."

Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC). The Global Fire Monitoring Center monitors, forecasts and archives information on vegetation fires (forest fires, land-use fires, smoke pollution) at global level.

Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) / Fire Ecology Research Group, Missoula, Montana: Preliminary Bibliography.
This expired link is available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
The GFMC provides the bibliography index of literature on fire and related disciplines and studies (by J.G. Goldammer, H. Page and V.V. Furyaev). These lists are taken from monographs and other publications prepared by the Fire Ecology Research Group over the last years.

Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) Fire Ecology Research Group Freiburg, Germany. Go to: Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia, Forest Fires in Boreal Ecosystems: History and Patterns. A bibliography.
Available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! H.D. Grissino-Mayer (2016): Fire as a Once-Dominant Disturbance Process in the Yellow Pine and Mixed Pine-Hardwood Forests of the Appalachian Mountains. In PDF. In: Greenberg, C.H. & Collins, B.S. (eds.) Natural Disturbances and Historic Range of Variation. Type, Frequency, Severity, and Post-disturbance Structure in Central Hardwood Forests USA, pp. 123–146.
Please take notice: Fire-scarred Mountain pines in fig. 6.2, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7!

H.D. Grissino-Mayer, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Lectures in Dendrochronology. Go to: History of Dendrochronology. PowerPoint presentation.
These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine. See especially:
! Tree Rings and Fire History.

D.J. Hallett and R.C. Walker (2000): Paleoecology and its application to fire and vegetation management in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia. In PDF, Journal of Paleolimnology, 24: 401-414. See also here.

Ben Harder, Science News Online: Wildfire Below: Smoldering peat disgorges huge volumes of carbon.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

! S.P. Harrison et al. (2010): Fire in the Earth system. PDF file, In: Dodson, J. (ed.), Changing Climates, Earth Systems and Society. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 21-48.

Christoph Hartkopf-Fröder, Geologischer Dienst Nordrhein-Westfalen, Krefeld: Das Erbe des Feuers: Was sagen schwarze Steine über die Umwelt der letzten 360 Millionen Jahre? PDF file, in German. Snapshot taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

T. He et al. (2019): Fire as a key driver of Earth's biodiversity. In PDF, Biological Reviews. See also here.

! T. He and B.B. Lamont (2017): Baptism by fire: the pivotal role of ancient conflagrations in evolution of the Earth´s flora. National Science Review. See also here (in PDF).

T. He et al. (2016): A 350-million-year legacy of fire adaptation among conifers. Abstract, Journal of Ecology, 104: 352–363. See also here (in PDF).

T.P. Hollaar et al. (2024): The optimum fire window: applying the fire–productivity hypothesis to Jurassic climate states. Free access, Biogeosciences, 21: 2795–2809. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2795-2024.
"... we test the intermediate fire–productivity hypothesis for a period on Earth before the evolution of grasses, the Early Jurassic, and explore the fire regime of two contrasting climatic states: the cooling of the Late Pliensbachian Event (LPE) and the warming of the Sinemurian–Pliensbachian Boundary (SPB) ..."

T.P. Hollaar et al. (2021): Wildfire activity enhanced during phases of maximum orbital eccentricity and precessional forcing in the Early Jurassic. Open access, Communications Earth & Environment, 2.

Y. Hu et al. (2018): Review of emissions from smouldering peat fires and their contribution to regional haze episodes. Open access, International Journal of Wildland Fire, 27: 293-312.

! F. Hua et al. (2024): The impact of frequent wildfires during the Permian–Triassic transition: Floral change and terrestrial crisis in southwestern China. Free access, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.
Note figure 1a: Palaeogeographic configuration and the position of the South China Plate.
Figure 7: Schematic model illustrating possible relationships between the wildfires and floral changes during the P–T transition in southwestern China.

T. He et al. (2012): Fire-adapted traits of Pinus arose in the fiery Cretaceous. Free access, New Phytologist, 194: 751–759. See also here (in PDF).

V.A. Hudspith et al. (2015): Latest Permian chars may derive from wildfires, not coal combustion. Reply, in PDF, Geology, 43.

V.A. Hudspith et al. (2014): Latest Permian chars may derive from wildfires, not coal combustion. In PDF, Geology, 42: 879-882. See also here (abstract).

! V. Iglesias et al. (2014): Reconstruction of fire regimes through integrated paleoecological proxy data and ecological modeling. Front Plant Sci, 5.

The Institution of Fire Engineers USA Branch.
Worth checking out: Journals and Periodicals.
Resources.

International Association of Wildland Fire. The International Association of Wildland Fire is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to facilitate communication in the global wildland fire community.

! A. Jasper et al. (2021): Palaeozoic and Mesozoic palaeo–wildfires: An overview on advances in the 21^st Century. Journal of Palaeosciences, 70: 159–171.
See likewise here.

A. Jasper et al. (2016): Indo-Brazilian Late Palaeozoic wildfires: an overview on macroscopic charcoal. In PDF, Revista do Instituto de Geociências - USP Geol. USP, Sér. cient., São Paulo, 16: 87-97.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
See also here.

! A. Jasper et al. (2013): The burning of Gondwana: Permian fires on the southern continent - a palaeobotanical approach. In PDF, Gondwana Research, 24: 148-160.
See also here.

G.M. Jones et al. (2023): Fire-driven animal evolution in the Pyrocene. In PDF, Trends in Ecology & Evolution.
See also here.
"... Fire is an important evolutionary force that exerts strong selective pressure on many domains of life on Earth, including animals ..."

! M.W. Jones et al. (2022): Global and regional trends and drivers of fire under climate change. Free access, Reviews of Geophysics, 60: e2020RG000726. https://doi. org/10.1029/2020RG000726 See also here (in PDF).

! T.P. Jones and W.G. Chaloner (1991): Fossil charcoal, its recognition and palaeoatmospheric significance. Abstract.

A.T. Karp et al. (2018): Grassland fire ecology has roots in the late Miocene. In PDF, PNAS, 115.

J.E. Keeley and J.G. Pausas (2022): Evolutionary Ecology of Fire. In PDF, Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst., 53.

! J.E. Keeley et al. (2011): Fire as an evolutionary pressure shaping plant traits. PDF file, Trends in Plant Science, 16.

R. Kelly et al. (2023): Initial ecological change in plant and arthropod community composition after wildfires in designated areas of upland peatlands. Open access, Ecology and Evolution, 13.

Bruce M. Kilgore, Professional Support, Western Regional Office, National Park Service, San Francisco: The Ecological Role of Fire in Sierran Conifer Forests Its Application to National Park Management. Snapshot taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! Ann G. Kim (2010): 1.1. The Formation of Coal. PDF file, in: Coal and Peat Fires: A Global Perspective. Edited by Glenn B. Stracher, Anupma Prakash and Ellina V. Sokol (Elsevier).

L.N. Kobziar et al. (2024): Principles of fire ecology. Free access, Fire Ecology, 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00272-0.
See here as well (in PDF).
"... five principles articulated here anchor fire ecology as a distinct discipline key to understanding life on Earth ..."

B.B. Lamont et al. (2020): Fire as a selective agent for both serotiny and nonserotiny over space and time. In PDF, Critical Reviews in Plant Science. See also here.

B.B. Lamont and T. He (2012): Fire-adapted Gondwanan Angiosperm floras evolved in the Cretaceous. In PDF, BMC Evolutionary Biology, 12. See also here.

C.P.S. Larsen, findarticles.com., from Ecology, January 01 1998: An 840-year record of fire and vegetation in a boreal white spruce forest.
Still available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! T.M. Lenton (2001): The role of land plants, phosphorus weathering and fire in the rise and regulation of atmospheric oxygen. In PDF, Global Change Biology, 7: 613-629.

E.R. Locatelli (2014): The exceptional preservation of plant fossils: a review of taphonomic pathways and biases in the fossil record. PDF file, In: M. Laflamme et al. (eds.): Reading and Writing of the Fossil Record: Preservational Pathways to Exceptional Fossilization. The Paleontological Society Papers, 20.

Colin J. Long et al. (2010): The effects of fire and tephra deposition on forest vegetation in the Central Cascades, Oregon. PDF file, Quaternary Research.

C.V. Looy (2013): Natural history of a plant trait: branch-system abscission in Paleozoic conifers and its environmental, autecological, and ecosystem implications in a fire-prone world. Abstract, Paleobiology, 39: 235-252.

J. Lu et al. (2022): Diachronous end-Permian terrestrial ecosystem collapse with its origin in wildfires. Open sccess, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 594.

! M. Lu et al. (2021): A synthesis of the Devonian wildfire record: Implications for paleogeography, fossil flora, and paleoclimate. Abstract, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 571. See also here (in PDF).

L. Luthardt et al. (2018): Severe growth disturbances in an early Permian calamitalean – traces of a lightning strike? In PDF, Palaeontographica Abteilung B, 298: 1-22.
See also here.
! "... The special injury of the calamitalean described herein [...] exhibits an elongated to triangular shape, a central furrow, a scar-associated event ring of collapsed to distorted tracheids, and was ultimately overgrown by callus parenchyma. We suggest that this scar most likely was caused by a lightning strike ..."

D.-W. Lü et al. (2024): A synthesis of the Cretaceous wildfire record related to atmospheric oxygen levels? Open access, Journal of Palaeogeography, 13: 149-164.
"... In this study, we comprehensively synthesize a total of 271 published Cretaceous wildfire occurrences based on the by-products of burning, including fossil charcoal, pyrogenic inertinite (fossil charcoal in coal), and pyrogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Spatially, the dataset shows a distinctive distribution of reported wildfire evidence characterized by high concentration in the middle latitudinal areas of the Northern Hemisphere ..."

! S.Y. Maezumi et al. (2021): A modern analogue matching approach to characterize fire temperatures and plant species from charcoal. Free access, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 578.

! J. Manfroi et al. (2023): “Antarctic on fire”: Paleo-wildfire events associated with volcanic deposits in the Antarctic Peninsula during the Late Cretaceous. Free access, Front. Earth Sci., 11: 1048754. doi: 10.3389/feart.2023.1048754.
"... This indicates that fire and active volcanism were significant modifiers of the ecological niches of austral floras, because even in distal areas, the source of ignition for forest fires often came from contact with a hot volcanic ash cloud, where the vegetation was either totally or partially consumed by fire ..."
Note figure 4: Detailed field photographs of part of the Price Point deposition showing the two carbonaceous levels (lenses of charcoal in tuffite).
Figure 6: Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of austral areas under the influence of paleo-wildfires promoted by the Campanian active volcanism.

L. Marynowskia et al. (2010): First multi-proxy record of Jurassic wildfires from Gondwana: Evidence from the Middle Jurassic of the Neuquén Basin, Argentina. Abstract, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

C. Mays (2020): Burning back the tree of life during the end-Permian mass extinction. Springer Nature Research Communities.

C. Mays et al. (2017): Polar wildfires and conifer serotiny during the Cretaceous global hothouse. In PDF, Geology, 45: 1119-1122. See also here.

L.A. McGuire et al. (2024): Characteristics of debris-flow-prone watersheds and debris-flow-triggering rainstorms following the Tadpole Fire, New Mexico, USA. In PDF, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24: 1357–1379. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-1357-2024.
See also here.

! K.K. McLauchlan et al. (2020): Fire as a fundamental ecological process: Research advances and frontiers: Free access, Journal of Ecology, 108: 2047–2069.

T.Meixner and P.M. Wohlgemuth: Climate Variability, Fire, Vegetation Recovery, and Watershed Hydrology. PDF file.

R. Moench and J. Fusaro (2003): Soil Erosion Control after Wildfire. In PDF, Colorado State University, Fact sheet N. 6308. (Boulder, CO).

J.D. Napier and M.L. Chipman (2022): Emerging palaeoecological frameworks for elucidating plant dynamics in response to fire and other disturbance. Free access, Global Ecology and Biogeography, 31: 138–154.
"... we highlight emerging opportunities in palaeoecology to advance our understanding about how disturbance, especially fire, impacts the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of terrestrial plant communities.
[...] apply “functional palaeoecology” and the synergy between palaeoecology and genetics to understand how fire disturbance has served as a long-standing selective agent on plants ..."

K. Narendran (2001): Forrest Fires - Origins and Ecological Paradoxes. Resonance, 6: 34-41. See also here.

! NASA, Earth Observatory. The purpose of NASA's Earth Observatory is to provide a freely-accessible publication on the Internet where the public can obtain new satellite imagery and scientific information about our home planet. The focus is on Earth's climate and environmental change. By activating the glossary mode, you can view each page with special terms highlighted that, when selected, will take you to the appropriate entry in the glossary. Use the full-text search engine, or go to: Global Fire Monitoring. See also datasets and images about: 1 km2 fires, and 4 km2 fires, Excellent!

! National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Washington, DC. NOAA Paleoclimatology. NOAA Paleoclimatology operate the World Data Center for Paleoclimatology which distributes data contributed by scientists around the world. Paleo data come from natural sources such as tree rings, ice cores, corals, and ocean and lake sediments, and extend the archive of climate back hundreds to millions of years. Go to:
International Multiproxy Paleofire Database (IMPD). The IMPD is an archive of fire history data derived from natural proxies (including data from tree scars and charcoal in sediment records).

! I.C. Osterkamp et al. (2017): Changes of wood anatomical characters of selected species of Araucaria during artificial charring: implications for palaeontology. In PDF, Acta Botanica Brasilica.
See also here and there,
"Above a charring temperature of 300 °C cell walls of all three taxa became homogenized, colour changed to black and a silky sheen developed, comparable to observations from previous studies on different taxa".

! Past Global Changes (PAGES).
PAGES, a registered paleoscience association, supports research which aims to understand the Earth's past environment in order to obtain better predictions of future climate and environment. PAGES publishes two journals:
the Past Global Changes Magazine.
Past Global Changes Horizons.
! Don't miss the Publications database, which contains publications, meeting products and outreach material emerging from PAGES activities.

! J.G. Pausas et al. (2018): Unearthing belowground bud banks in fire-prone ecosystems. Free access, New Phytologist, 217: 1387-1778.
Note figure 1: Stylized diagrams of 16 belowground bud bank (BBB) structures that enable plants to resprout following fire.
Figure 3: Oldest time of origin for different belowground bud bank (BBB) organs in selected angiosperm families.
"... Recognizing the diversity of BBBs provides a basis for understanding the many evolutionary pathways available to plants for responding to severe recurrent disturbances. ..."

! J.G. Pausas et al. (2017): Flammability as an ecological and evolutionary driver. In PDF, Journal of Ecology, 105: 289–297.

J.G. Pausas and E. Ribeiro (2017): Fire and plant diversity at the global scale. In PDF, Global Ecol Biogeogr., 26: 889–897. See also here.

! J.G. Pausas et al. (2016): Towards understanding resprouting at the global scale. Free access, New Phytologist, 209: 945–954.

J.G. Pausas (2015): Evolutionary fire ecology: lessons learned from pines. In PDF, Trends in Plant Science.

! J.G. Pausas and J.E. Keeley (2014): Evolutionary ecology of resprouting and seeding in fire-prone ecosystems. In PDF, New Phytologist.

! J.G. Pausas and B. Moreira (2012): Flammability as a biological concept. In PDF, New Phytologist, 194: 610-613.
See also here.

J.G. Pausas and D. Schwilk (2012): Fire and plant evolution. Free access, New Phytologist, 193: 301-303.

! J.G. Pausas and J.E. Keeley (2009): A burning story: the role of fire in the history of life. PDF file, BioScience, 59: 593-601.

! J.G. Pausas et al. (2018): Unearthing belowground bud banks in fire-prone ecosystems. Free access, ew Phytologist, 217: 1387-1778.
Note figure 1: Stylized diagrams of 16 belowground bud bank (BBB) structures that enable plants to resprout following fire.
Figure 3: Oldest time of origin for different belowground bud bank (BBB) organs in selected angiosperm families.
"... Recognizing the diversity of BBBs [belowground bud banks] provides a basis for understanding the many evolutionary pathways available to plants for responding to severe recurrent disturbances. ..."

J.G. Pausas and M. Verdú (2005): Plant persistence traits in fire-prone ecosystems of the Mediterranean basin: a phylogenetic approach. In PDF, Oikos, 109: 196-202.

H.I. Petersen and S. Lindström (2012): Synchronous Wildfire Activity Rise and Mire Deforestation at the Triassic-Jurassic Boundary. In PDF.

B.M. Pietruszka et al. (2023): Consequential lightning-caused wildfires and the “let burn” narrative. Open access, Fire Ecology, 19.

! N. Pinter and S.E. Ishman (2008): Impacts, mega-tsunami, and other extraordinary claims. In PDF, GSA today.

S.F. Piper et al. (2018): Fire in the Moor: Mesolithic Carbonised Remains in Riverine Deposits at Gleann Mor Barabhais, Lewis, Western Isles of Scotland. Journal of the North Atlantic, 35: 1-22. See also here.

! M.K. Putz and E.L. Taylor (1996): Wound response in fossil trees from Antarctica and its potential as a paleoenvironmental indicator. PDF file, IAWA Journal, 17: 77-88. See also here.

Stephen J. Pyne, findarticles.com., from Whole Earth, December 22 1999: The Long Burn.(history of fire ecology).
The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

S.M. Rimmer et al. (2015): The rise of fire: Fossil charcoal in late Devonian marine shales as an indicator of expanding terrestrial ecosystems, fire, and atmospheric change. In PDF, American Journal of Science, 315: 713-733.

Paul Rincon, BBC News Online: Fossils reveal oldest wildfire.

! B.E. Robson et al. (2015): Early Paleogene wildfires in peat-forming environments at Schöningen, Germany. In PDF, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 437: 53-62. See also here.

! C.I. Roos et al. (2016): Living on a flammable planet: interdisciplinary, cross-scalar and varied cultural lessons, prospects and challenges. In PDF, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 371. See also here.

J. Rouet-Leduc et al. (2021): Effects of large herbivores on fire regimes and wildfire mitigation. Open access, Journal of Applied Ecology, 58: 2690-2702.
See also here.

Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London: Wildfire in Deep time.

A. Santa Catharina et al. (2022): Timing and causes of forest fire at the K–Pg boundary. Open access, Scientific Reports, 12.
"... and charred tree trunks. The overlying mudstones show an iridium anomaly and fungal and fern spores spikes. We interpret these heterogeneous deposits as a direct result of the Chicxulub impact and a mega-tsunami in response to seismically-induced landsliding. ..."

C. Santín et al. (2016): Towards a global assessment of pyrogenic carbon from vegetation fires. Global Change Biology, 22.

E. Schulz et al. (2019): Fire on the Mountain. Disturbance and Regeneration in Deciduous and Conifer Forests. 20 Years of Experience. In PDF, Studia UBB Geographia.

A.C. Scott (2024): Carboniferous wildfire revisited: Wildfire, post-fire erosion and deposition in a Mississippian crater lake. In PDF, Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 135: 416-437.
See likewiswe here.

! A.C. Scott (2024): Thirty Years of Progress in Our Understanding of the Nature and Influence of Fire in Carboniferous Ecosystems. In PDF, Fire, 7. 248. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire7070248.
See here as well.
Note figure 7: The interpretation of the Viséan East Kirkton environment highlighting the role of wildfire.
"... One of the basic problems was the fact that charcoal-like wood fragments, so often found in sedimentary rocks and in coals, were termed fusain and, in addition, many researchers could not envision wildfires in peat-forming systems. The advent of Scanning Electron Microscopy and studies on modern charcoals and fossil fusains demonstrated beyond doubt that wildfire residues may be recognized in rocks dating back to at least 350 million years ..."

A.C. Scott et al. (2016): The interaction of fire and mankind: Introduction. In PDF, Phil. Trans. R. Soc.. B, 371. See also here (table of contents).

! A.C. Scott (2009): Forest Fire in the Fossil Record. PDF file, In: Cerdà, A., Robichaud, P. (eds). Fire Effects on Soils and Restoration Strategies. Science Publishers Inc. New Hampshire.
See also here.

Andrew C. Scott and Ian J. Glasspool (2006): The diversification of Paleozoic fire systems and fluctuations in atmospheric oxygen concentration. PDF file, PNAS, 103: 10861-10865. See also here.

! A.C. Scott (2000): The Pre-Quaternary history of fire. Abstract, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 164: 297–345. See also here (in PDF).

Andrew C. Scott, Research Group in Plant Palaeobiology, Applied Palaeobotany, Palynology and the Study of Fossil Fuels, Geology Department, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey: History and impact of fire: Pre-Quaternary.
These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Wenjie Shen et al. (2011): Evidence for wildfire in the Meishan section and implications for Permian-Triassic events. PDF file, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 75: 1992-2006.
Website outdated. The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

C. Shi et al. (2022): Fire-prone Rhamnaceae with South African affinities in Cretaceous Myanmar amber. In PDF, Nature Plants, 8: 125–135.
See also here.
"... We report the discovery of two exquisitely preserved fossil flower species, one identical to the inflorescences of the extant crown-eudicot genus Phylica and the other recovered as a sister group to Phylica, both preserved as inclusions together with burned plant remains in Cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar (~99 million years ago) ..."

T.G. Sim et al. (2023): Regional variability in peatland burning at mid-to high-latitudes during the Holocene. Free access, Quaternary Science Reviews, 305.

A. Smith and E.K. Strand (2018): Recognizing Women Leaders in Fire Science: Revisited. Open access, MDPI.

Yi Song et al. (2020): Distribution of pyrolytic PAHs across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary in the Sichuan Basin, southwestern China: Evidence of wildfire outside the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province. Abstract, Earth-Science Reviews, 201. See also here (in PDF).
"... Sharp increases in the abundances of pyrolytic PAHs normalized to total organic carbon were found during the Rhaetian Stage (R1 and R2) and at the Tr-J boundary. The ratios of pyrolytic PAHs (PPAHs) to methylated homologues document the combustion origin of PPAHs from methylated PAHs during these intervals of increased wildfire frequency. ..."

V. Soni and D. Singh (2013): Petrographic evidence as an indicator of volcanic forest fire from the Triassic of Allan Hills, South Victoria Land, Antarctica. In PDF, Current Science, 104.
See also here.

! W.T. Summers et al. (2011): Synthesis of Knowledge: Fire History and Climate Change. Abstract.
See also here. In PDF, slow download. Table of contents on PDF page 5.
Worth checking out:
Chapter 5 (PDF page 57): Change, Variability, Pattern and Scale.
Pattern and Scale in Fire History (PDF page 57).

Tall Timbers Research Station: E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database. Use this database as a unique resource for locating a broad range of fire-related information. Literature on control of wildfires as well as applications of prescribed burning is included.

! Tall Timbers Research Station: Thesaurus. This thesaurus is a list of words and phrases used to describe the topics of the citations in the Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Database.
Snapshot taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

T. Theurer et al. (2022): Assessing Modern Calluna Heathland Fire Temperatures Using Raman Spectroscopy: Implications for Past Regimes and Geothermometry. Free access, Frontiers in Earth Science, 10: 296-6463.

! J.L. Torero (2013): Starting on PDF page 21:
An Introduction to Combustion in Organic Materials. PDF file in:
Belcher, C.M. (ed.): Fire Phenomena and the Earth System: An Interdisciplinary Guide to Fire Science. (John Wiley & Sons) See also here.

D. Uhl and A. Jasper (2021): Wildfire during deposition of the “Illinger Flözzone” (Heusweiler-Formation, “Stephanian B”, Kasimovian–Ghzelian) in the Saar-Nahe Basin (SW-Germany). Open access, Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 101:9–18.

! D. Uhl et al. (2008): Permian and Triassic wildfires and atmospheric oxygen levels. PDF file, 1st WSEAS International Conference on Environmental and Geological Science and Enginering, Malta.

University World News (August 08, 2010): New technique estimates past oxygen levels.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory:
Fire Effects Information System (FEIS). FEIS provides up-to-date information about fire effects on plants and animals. The database contains synoptic descriptions, taken from current English-language literature of almost 900 plant species and about 100 animal species on the North American continent. The emphasis of each synopsis is fire and how it affects each species.
Available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
Also provided by Google books.

U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior, Reston, VA:
Wildland Fire Science.

V. Vajda et al. (2020): End-Permian (252 Mya) deforestation, wildfires and flooding—An ancient biotic crisis with lessons for the present. Free access, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 529.

A. Viana-Soto et al. (2017): Assessment of Post-Fire Vegetation Recovery Using Fire Severity and Geographical Data in the Mediterranean Region (Spain). In PDF, Environments, 4. See also here.

Lluís Vilar, Universitat de Girona: The effect of fire on flora and vegetation.
This expired link is available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

S.I. Vogel et al. (2011): The Effects of Fire on Lycopodium digitatum strobili. In PDF, Jeffersoniana, 27: 1-9.

S. Wang et al. (2021): Coal petrology of the Yimin Formation (Albian) in the Hailar Basin, NE China: Paleoenvironments and wildfires during peat formation. In PDF, Cretaceous Research, 124.
See also here.

S. Wang et al. (2021): Cretaceous fire-resistant angiosperms. In PDF, preprint, DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-494355/v1.
See also here.
"... both preserved as inclusions in Cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar (~99 Ma). These specialized flower structures, named Phylica piloburmensis sp. nov. and Eophylica priscastellata gen. et sp. nov., were adapted to surviving frequent wildfires, providing the earliest evidence of fire-resistance in angiosperms. ..."

R. Whitau et al. (2018): Home Is Where the Hearth Is: Anthracological and Microstratigraphic Analyses of Pleistocene and Holocene Combustion Features, Riwi Cave (Kimberley, Western Australia). Free access, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 25: 739–776.

! C. Whitlock et al. (eds., 2010): Special Section: Fire in the Earth System: A Paleoperspective. In PDF, Pages News, 18.
Table of contents on PDF page 96.
See also here.
Note especially:
M.A. Moritz et al. (2010): Pyrogeography: Understanding the ecological niche of fire. In PDF.

! C. Whitlock and C. Larsen (2001): Charcoal as fire proxy. PDF file, In: Smol, J.P., Birks, H.J.B. and Last, W.M. (eds): Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments: Volume 3: Terrestrial, Algal, and Siliceous Indicators.
Now provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

H.-H. Xu et al. (2017): Unique growth strategy in the Earth’s first trees revealed in silicified fossil trunks from China. In PDF, PNAS, see also here

K.E. Zeigler et al. (2005): Taphonomic analysis of a fire-related Upper Triassic vertebrate fossil assemblage from north-central New Mexico. PDF file; New Mexico Geological Society, 56^th Field Conference Guidebook, Geology of the Chama Basin, 2005, p.341-351.

P. Zhang et al. (2024): Different wildfire types promoted two-step terrestrial plant community change across the Triassic-Jurassic transition. Free access, Front. Ecol. Evol., 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2024.1329533.

! P. Zhang et al. (2023): Significant floral changes across the Permian-Triassic and Triassic-Jurassic transitions induced by widespread wildfires. Open access, Front. Ecol. Evol., 11: 1284482. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2023.1284482.
Note figure 2: Global paleogeography during Permian-Triassic (A) and Triassic-Jurassic (B) transitions, including the location of the Large Igneous Province and wildfires around the world.
Figure 3: Extinction mechanisms. (A, B), Summary of the volcanically triggered extinction mechanisms inferred from the geochemical, sedimentary, and paleontological record of the Permian-Triassic and Triassic-Jurassic mass extinctions and their recorded effects on biota in the ocean/lake.