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Anthropogenic fire has shaped nountain landscapes in southern China since prehistoric times. Early Han settlers adopted periodic burning techniques from non-Han swidden agriculturalists, adapting them to suit their own cultural needs. In the early 1990s, Western observers noted the ubiquity of firing, but its historical role in village subsistence remained enignatic. Research in western Fujian shows that in high mountain areas fire maintained montane grasslands and wet meadows within a mosaic of broadleaf forests, bamboo, and rice paddies. Meadows were prime grazing areas for cattle and provided bracken fern (Pteridium aquilimum) rhizomes, and important source of dietary starch in an area with low rice yields. Wildlife surveys show that grasslands, wet meadows, and other clearings are good habitats for wild ungulates, but widespread burning at lower elevations, where forest cover was sparse, often caused erosion, flooding, and ecological degradation. Following state bans on burning, beginning in the 1950s, biologically impoverished pine monocultures spread rapidly. High elevation grasslands and some wet meadows have been replaced by dense stands of short pines. Local people's involvenent with selective pine forest clearance and the protection of broadleaf and mixed forests could contribute to habitat heterogeneity, improve degraded lands, and strengthen community-based conservation practices.
Cataloging Information
- agriculture
- Asia
- China
- conservation
- cover
- elevation
- erosion
- ferns
- fire exclusion
- fire frequency
- floods
- grasslands
- grazing
- human caused fires
- landscape ecology
- montane forests
- mosaic
- pine
- pine forests
- Pteridium
- Pteridium aquilinum
- roots
- succession
- vegetation surveys
- wetlands
- wildfires
- wildlife
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