Historical survey of research related to fire management and fauna conservation in the world and in Brazil

Abstract: Fire is a key ecological factor affecting biodiversity structure and composition. Fires' effects on biodiversity can be beneficial or harmful depending on how, where, when, and why they occur. The impacts of fire on fauna vary according to species ecology and the fire regime. To understand the research effort relating fire, fauna, and mammals, we surveyed papers published in World and in Brazil. Only 5% of the publications between 1970 and 2019 with fire subject dealt with fauna and 0.5% with mammal. For Brazil, we obtained 7% of papers for fauna and 3% for mammal. The Brazilian Biome with more papers was Cerrado, followed by Atlantic Forest, Amazon, Pampas, Caatinga and Pantanal. The United States of America and Australia stand out as protagonists in their continents with the largest papers number. The volume of research is related to investment in Research and Development and to occurrence of fires. The slope of temporal trend shows the terms related to wildfire have more papers than prescribed burn and there is less interest in fauna and mammal research. It is necessary to form research groups with these themes as research lines and intensify research relating fire ecology and mammals. There is yet no unified understanding of how fire may influence animal diversity and how it influences the vegetative structure and subsequently the resources which wildlife rely on. We consider this information is essential to establish efficient conservation policies.

摘要：火是影响生物多样性（biodiversity）结构与组成的关键生态因子。火对生物多样性的影响可呈有益或有害，具体取决于火灾发生的方式、地点、时间与诱因。火灾对动物群（fauna）的影响则因物种生态特征与火灾制度（fire regime）而异。为厘清火灾、动物群与哺乳动物（mammal）相关的研究现状，我们对全球及巴西的已发表文献开展了调研。1970年至2019年间，以火灾为主题的出版物中仅5%涉及动物群，0.5%涉及哺乳动物。就巴西而言，相关文献中动物群主题占比7%，哺乳动物主题占比3%。巴西的相关研究文献更多集中于塞拉多（Cerrado）生物群系（biome），其次依次为大西洋森林（Atlantic Forest）、亚马逊（Amazon）、潘帕斯（Pampas）、卡廷加（Caatinga）与潘塔纳尔（Pantanal）。美国与澳大利亚在各自大陆的相关文献发表量中位居前列，堪称该领域的核心参与者。研究产出量与研发投入及火灾发生情况呈正相关。时间趋势斜率显示，涉及野火（wildfire）的文献量多于计划火烧（prescribed burn），而动物群与哺乳动物相关研究的关注度相对较低。有必要组建以这些主题为研究方向的科研团队，强化火灾生态学（fire ecology）与哺乳动物相关的研究。目前学界尚未就火灾如何影响动物多样性，以及火灾如何通过影响植被结构进而作用于野生动物赖以生存的资源形成统一认知。我们认为，此类信息对于制定高效的保护政策至关重要。