2022-Black carbon-DATA.xlsx

Global warming and human activities have increased the wildfire risk in highly populated subtropical East Asia over recent decades; however, the factors driving fire occurrence on multiple timescales remain unclear. We present and analyze a Holocene fire history documented by four lacustrine black carbon records from the Yunnan Plateau in subtropical East Asia, together with a 20-years observational dataset of fire for the region. The results indicate low and high severity wildfires during 11.7–6 and 6–2.8 cal kyr BP, respectively, which was controlled by the humidity against the background of the abundance of biofuel. The lowest degree of biomass burning occurred after ~2.8 cal kyr BP, and was linked to the anthropogenic reduction of biomass availability, despite an increase in drought. This suggests the importance of active fire management and prescribed clearance measures, especially given projections of continued drought and increased vegetation cover.