Did hunter gatherers burn lightning fire prone environments?

What is it about?

Our paper tests the hypothesis that globally, broadcast fire use by hunter gatherers is associated with lightning fire prone environments. Specifically, we use statistical analyses to model the influence of different biophysical and socioeconomic factors on broadcast fire use by historical and contemporary small scale societies. We also test for differences in statistical associations between forested and unforested biomes. We draw on theory in human ecology to explain how and why the parameters we tested serve as predictors for broadcast fire use.

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Why is it important?

Our analysis is a novel, interdisciplinary contribution that significantly adds to the debate over human influence on fire regimes and vegetation cover. Our results further suggest that, humans predominantly seek control over fire ecology where fire already plays a significant ecological role.