Study illustrates the combined effects of climate change and forest fires

A new study co-authored by Portland State University geographer Andrés Holz, tracked the ebb and flow of ecosystem changes over the last 10,000 years, showing patterns that could shed light on current climate change and its role in shaping the world’s forests. Holz and fellow scientists studied sedimentary records, including pollen and the charcoal remains of ancient wildfires near a lake in South America in an effort to reconstruct the wetland, vegetation and fire history of west-central Patagonia. They found that climate, coupled with more frequent forest fires, was the primary driver of change to the region over thousands of years.