Research from SMU fire anthropologist shows Fiji grassland fires predate human settlement by thousands of years.
Research from SMU fire anthropologist shows Fiji grassland fires predate human settlement by thousands of years. Study calls for greater consideration of climate as a factor contributing to fires.
It’s long been understood that human settlement contributes to conditions that make Pacific Islands more susceptible to wildfires, such as the devastating Aug. 8 event that destroyed the Maui community of Lahaina. But a new study from SMU fire scientist Christopher Roos published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution shows that climate is an undervalued part of the equation.
Roos, SMU environmental archaeologist and professor of anthropology, traveled with his team to the Sigatoka River valley in southwestern Fiji in 2013, where they collected charcoal and stable carbon isotopes from deep soil cores to understand historic patterns of fire activity in the area. Different plants have distinct carbon isotopic signatures, which can provide information about past plant communities.
Read more at Southern Methodist University
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