Where there is smoke, there is fire: the integrated fire management as a tool for the maintenance of diversity and ecosystems services at the Cerrado

Abstract

The integrated fire management (IFM) has been implemented in different preserves of Cerrado since 2014, aiming at controlling the fuel load to avoid wildfires at the end of the dry season. Prescribed fires - one of the activities of IFM - are applied at the begin of the dry season, when the environmental conditions are optimal to conduct low severity fires. The IFM can be used for conservation and maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem services purposes, since it creates a more heterogeneous landscape, in a patch mosaic of fires of different sizes, seasons and frequencies. Moreover, planning prescribed burnings based on the best season and techniques may help to control emissions of greenhouse gases during fires, as well as to enhance carbon sequestration. Thus, this project aims to evaluate the traditional use of fire and IFM on the diversity (pyrodiversity), control of fuel load and emission and C storage in two protected areas with distinct use of fire in the past: Sítio Histórico e Patrimônio Cultural Kalunga (SHPCK, Cavalcante, Goiás) - traditional use of fire and IFM since 2016; and Reserva Natural Serra do Tombador (RNST, Cavalcante, Goiás) - zero-fire policy from 2006 - 2020, until the implementation of IFM. This proposal was built together with academic and non-academic actors, allowing a better integration among actors and increasing the outreach of results. We have as main aims to elaborate recommendations for fire management, focusing on the maintenance and conservation of Cerrado biodiversity and ecosystems services. (AU)