Devegetation is a widespread driver of fire in the Brazilian Cerrado

作者：Gian Luca Spadoni, José V. Moris, Carlota Segura-Garcia, Ana Carolina Moreira Pessôa, Matthew W. Jones, Manoela S. Machado, Renzo Motta, Ane Alencar, Davide Ascoli, Imma Oliveras Menor · 发表于：Journal of Environmental Management · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.125637 · 被引用次数：9 · 研究领域：Fire effects on ecosystems、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Rangeland and Wildlife Management

The Cerrado is the largest tropical savanna in the world, featuring a wide range of vegetation types with different sensitivity to fire. The structure, functioning and rich biodiversity of the non-forest formations is intimately associated with the presence of fire, which historically has acted both as a natural disturbance and as a tool used by Indigenous communities. Currently, the Brazilian Cerrado is threatened by substantial devegetation (i.e., conversion of native vegetation to human land uses) and alterations in the fire regime (e.g., frequency, seasonality), negatively impacting biodiversity, local communities, and global climate regulation. Although it is known that land conversion can lead to fires in the Cerrado, the extent and proportion of burned area attributable to this process remain unclear. This study, covering the period 2003-2020, quantifies both the surface of native vegetation lost through land conversion (devegetation) and the area burned by fires ignited in converted areas, focusing on the portion of the Cerrado included in the state of Mato Grosso and the MATOPIBA region. Using geospatial data on devegetation (PRODES Cerrado), fires (Global Fire Atlas), and land use (MapBiomas), we classified individual fires into Devegetation Related Fires (DRF) or devegetation Independent Fires (IF). DRF were those ignited within or in close proximity to devegetated patches up to two years following the conversion, while IF included all other fires. We further exami...