Climate-induced fire regimes in the Russian biodiversity hotspots

Abstract

Recent fire management policy in Russia assumes the complete exclusion of fires from the statutory reserves. We analyzed what the natural, climate-induced fire regimes for the historical years 1901–1998 in Russia, in the Russian biodiversity hotspots and in the selected statutory reserves would be if the human impacts were neglected. A global dynamic vegetation model with an incorporated global statistical fire module was used to reconstruct a fire history for potential vegetation. We demonstrated the feasibility of the fire module by comparison of the simulated area burnt for the period 1947–1998 with available fire statistics from Russia. Analysis of fire regimes in the three Russian biodiversity hotspots North Caucasus, South Siberia, and the Far East, and in representative protected areas within these hotspots, included inter-comparison of regional areas burnt, normalized for the period 1901–1998, and regional average and maximum fire sizes. We showed that large-scale areas of rich biodiversity in Russia coincide naturally with areas of frequent fires, which in turn are also highly variable in size. Considerable spatial climatic and vegetation variation in the hotspots influence the natural fire regimes of regional protected areas, making continental nature reserves the most fire-prone. We suggest that the fire management plans of large reserves in Russia should be adjusted according to the natural geographic pattern of fire regimes in the country for benefit of conservation policy. Keywords: Biodiversity hotpots, Fires, DGVM, Conservation management, Russia