A long-term assessment of fire regimes in a Brazilian ecotone between seasonally dry tropical forests and savannah

In the semiarid Caatinga-Cerrado ecotone of Brazil, fire recurrence and climate interact in a cyclical pattern where years with above-average precipitation are followed by increased burned areas due to drier conditions. Over 19 years (1999–2017), 48% of the Capivara-Confusões Mosaic was affected by fire, with Serra das Confusões National Park experiencing significant recurrence (up to four times) while Serra da Capivara National Park showed no recurrence. Fire activity peaked during the middle dry season (36% of the area burned), with minimal impact in the early dry season (<0.01%). The study used 306 Landsat images to map burned areas at 30-meter resolution, linking fire dynamics to climatic seasons and identifying recurrent patterns near human settlements or topographical barriers.

Argibay, D. S., Sparacino, J., & Espindola, G. M. (2020). A long-term assessment of fire regimes in a Brazilian ecotone between seasonally dry tropical forests and savannah. Ecological Indicators, 113, 106151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106151