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Document
Type: Journal Article
Publication Date: 2019
Wildfires are often perceived as destructive disturbances, but we propose that when integrating evolutionary and socioecological factors, fires in most ecosystems can be understood as natural processes that provide a variety of benefits to humankind. Wildfires generate open habitats that enable the evolution of a diversity of shade‐intolerant plants and animals that have long benefited humans. There are many provisioning, regulating, and cultural services that people obtain from wildfires, and prescribed fires and wildfire management are tools for mimicking the ancestral role of wildfires in an increasingly populated world.
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Citation: Pausas, Juli G.; Keeley, Jon E. 2019. Wildfires as an ecosystem service. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 17(5):289-295.
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Keywords:
- ecosystem services
- fire benefits
- fire management
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Record Maintained By: FRAMES Staff (https://www.frames.gov/contact)
FRAMES Record Number: 57844