Fire dynamics in Kazakhstan’s steppes and abandoned croplands from 1989 to 2020
Natalia Rogova, University of Wisconsin-Madison, nrogova@wisc.edu (Presenter)
Volker Radeloff, University of Wisconsin-Madison, radeloff@wisc.edu
Large-scale agricultural abandonment can change fire regimes due to increased fuel accumulation, simplification of agricultural practices, and shifts in human activities. Kazakhstan is one of world's hot spots of agricultural abandonment, with a 70% decrease in arable land area and in grazing after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We asked how that abandonment affected wildfires. We analyzed changes in fire extent in northern Kazakhstan in both abandoned croplands and natural steppe vegetation (13 and 87% of the study area, respectively). We mapped fires annually based on Landsat images for 1989-2020. We found that fire extent increased drastically from 0,05-0,2% of the study area burning annually between 1989-1992 to a mean of 5% in the post-Soviet time. The peak of fires occurred in 2002, when 13% of the study area burned, while the low-point was in 2013 with 0,5%. Among all the burned areas 44% burned 1-3 times, 10% - 4-7 times, and 0,3% more than 8 times. More than half of the study area burned at least once since the early 1990s. Wildfire patterns were similar within abandoned croplands and steppe, but because abandoned croplands are relatively rare, their fires did not contribute substantially to the general increase in burned area. Because wildfires in Eurasian grasslands have numerous negative effects, such as carbon loss and black carbon accumulation in Arctic ice, more purposeful and ecosystem-based fire management is needed to control fires in Eurasian grasslands.
Poster: Poster_Rogova_2-41_65_35.pdf
Associated Project(s):
Poster Location ID: 2-41
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Poster Session 2
Session Date: Wed (May 10) 5:15-7:15 PM
CCE Program: BDEC