Fire in Savanna Landscapes, Volume II

Dear Colleagues,

More than two years ago, we issued a call for a Special Issue on fires in savanna landscapes. Nine contributions responded to this call, covering different regions of the world (tropical Africa, South America, Australia, and the Pacific area), and different approaches to the topic (land use, monitoring and modelling, biotic interactions, gas emissions, etc.). The contribution of researchers from the Global South to the published papers should also be noted. Having allowed sufficient time to renew research on this subject, we are today proposing a second call which is based on the same underpinnings.

Fire plays a significant role in both the functioning of savanna ecosystems (natural ecological processes, nutrient cycling, the regulation of plant diversity, etc.) and in the economic, social, and cultural features of human savanna societies, whether traditional or modern. As we highlighted in the previous call, fire is an omnipresent phenomenon in savanna environments, and the tropical savanna is the biome where most fire activity occurs worldwide. The contributions to the first Special Issue demonstrated the role of fire in savannas for its impacts on vegetation, soils, and fauna at the scale of the ecosystem and that of the landscape. We expect here to continue documenting concrete regional examples with the aim of observing, monitoring, and modeling the dynamics of burned areas and fire regimes in relation to vegetation, bioclimatic conditions, and the diverse practices of local populations to better understand how they function and their evolution in the context of climate and land use change.

We also welcome innovative contributions that renew perspectives on the ecological role of fires as a dynamic factor in savanna ecosystems, then as a generator of landscape heterogeneity, potentially leading to new forms of biodiversity (pyrodiversity). The contribution of the social sciences is particularly anticipated to shed light on the great diversity of perceptions, uses, regulations, and management of fire in different societies across time and space, and particularly to understand indigenous fire management systems through less pejorative representations. Human strategies and livelihoods are, accordingly, significant variables that should be explored.

Studies that address the long-term relationship between fires and savanna landscapes, both through changes in natural (climate and vegetation) and anthropogenic factors would also be highly valued. Finally, fire can be investigated as a crucial issue in the ongoing processes of the Anthropocene.

One of the objectives of this new Special Issue is to explore all of these approaches. While some savanna regions, such as those in Australia or South America, have been the subject of these kinds of studies, similar work elsewhere remains insufficient or deserves to be better disseminated. However, more monographic approaches are still necessary to document burned areas and characterize fire regimes across many savanna landscapes. These types of study are welcome, especially in regions that are poorly documented in proportion to the importance of the role played by fires.

Prof. Dr. Aziz Ballouche
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fire is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• savanna landscapes
• savanna ecosystems
• bushfires
• fire ecology
• fire regimes
• fire history
• pyrodiversity
• human dimensions of fire and burning
• wildfire management
• land cover
• land use change
• climate change
• Anthropocene

• Fire in Savanna Landscapes in Fire (9 articles)