Pillar Valério D, Overbeck Gerhard E
Valério D. Pillar is at the Laboratório de Ecologia Quantitativa, Departamento de Ecologia/Centro de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Gerhard E. Overbeck is at the Laboratório de Estudos em Vegetação Campestre, Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Science. 2025 Jan 10;387(6730):eadu7471. doi: 10.1126/science.adu7471. Epub 2025 Jan 9.
Over half of Earth's land surface is covered with fire-prone vegetation, with grassy ecosystems-such as grasslands, savannas, woodlands, and shrublands-being the most extensive. In the context of the climate crisis, scientists worldwide are exploring adaptation measures to address the heightened fire risk driven by more frequent extreme climatic conditions such as droughts and heatwaves, as well as by non-native plant invasions that increased fuel loads and altered fire regimes. Although fire is intrinsic to grassy ecosystems, rising exposure to wildfire smoke harms human health and the environment. Here, we argue that grazing management in grassy ecosystems could help reduce wildfire risk and its consequences.
地球上超过一半的陆地表面覆盖着易燃植被,其中草地生态系统——如草原、稀树草原、林地和灌木丛——分布最为广泛。在气候危机的背景下,全球科学家正在探索适应措施,以应对由干旱和热浪等更频繁的极端气候条件以及外来植物入侵导致的火灾风险增加,外来植物入侵增加了燃料负荷并改变了火灾模式。尽管火灾是草地生态系统的固有特征,但接触野火烟雾的增加会危害人类健康和环境。在此,我们认为草地生态系统中的放牧管理有助于降低野火风险及其后果。