Articles | Volume 16, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1887-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1887-2025
Research article
 | 
29 Oct 2025
Research article |  | 29 Oct 2025

Vegetation and fire regimes in the Neotropics over the last 21 000 years

Thomas Kenji Akabane, Cristiano Mazur Chiessi, Paulo Eduardo De Oliveira, Jennifer Watling, Ana Carolina Carnaval, Vincent Hanquiez, Dailson José Bertassoli Jr., Thaís Aparecida Silva, Marília H. Shimizu, and Anne-Laure Daniau

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Cited articles

Abarzúa, A. M., Martel-Cea, A., and Lobos, V.: Vegetation–Climate–Megafauna Interactions During the Late Glacial in Pilauco Site, Northwestern Patagonia, 157–173, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23918-3_9, 2020. 
Akabane, T.: tkakabane/APcomp: APcomp, Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17425012, 2025. 
Akabane, T. K., Chiessi, C. M., Hirota, M., Bouimetarhan, I., Prange, M., Mulitza, S., Bertassoli Jr, D. J., Häggi, C., Staal, A., Lohmann, G., Boers, N., Daniau, A. L., Oliveira, R. S., Campos, M. C., Shi, X., and De Oliveira, P. E.: Weaker Atlantic overturning circulation increases the vulnerability of northern Amazon forests, Nat. Geosci., 17, 1284–1290, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01578-z, 2024. 
Alvarado, S. T., Andela, N., Silva, T. S. F., and Archibald, S.: Thresholds of fire response to moisture and fuel load differ between tropical savannas and grasslands across continents, Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr., 29, 331–344, https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13034, 2020. 
Antonelli, A., Zizka, A., Carvalho, F. A., Scharn, R., Bacon, C. D., Silvestro, D., and Condamine, F. L.: Amazonia is the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 115, 6034–6039, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713819115, 2018. 
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Short summary
Vegetation and fire regimes have changed over the last 21 000 years. Here, we compile pollen and charcoal records from the Neotropics to assess tree cover and fire activity trajectories and identify their main controls. We found that landscapes were shaped by an interplay of temperature, atmospheric CO2, precipitation, vegetation-fire feedback, and human impacts. These drivers varied in importance across regions and time periods, leading to distinct responses under different boundary conditions.
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