PNASSeptember 8, 2020 ;first published August 19, 2020https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2014291117
NEWS FEATURE

News Feature: Foreseeing firesAmy McDermotthttps://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2014291117

To predict future wildfires, researchers are building models that better account for the vegetation that fans the flames.

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Excerpts :“But now, as the subarctic undergoes rapid warming, some hotter, drier forests are burning much more often, killing immature spruce trees before they have time to set cones. The problem is not limited to the far North. Around the world, wildfires are growing more frequent—as well as larger, hotter, and more destructive (2).

“Researchers can no longer look to the past as an accurate predictor of the future. Forests adapted to rare fires may not persist through frequent ones.””To bring models closer to reality, Hansen says, they should simulate the grasses and shrubs that establish when forests don’t recover. Field studies show that fire aids some invasive grasses…