Project Details
Projekt
The Burning Question: How did fire shape Eastern Africa’s paleo-ecosystem?
Subject Area
Geology
Physical Geography
Physical Geography
Term
since 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 537649111
This project's scope is to explore the foundational role of fire in shaping Eastern Africa's ecosystem dynamics. For this purpose, the project uses the 280-meter-long composite sedimentary sequence of Chew Bahir Lake (Ethiopia), spanning c. 620,000 years. The analytical framework examines and quantifies fossil macro and micro-charcoal particles, enabling insights into fire severity and frequency across orbital to sub-millennial scales. Morphometric analyses of the charcoal particles will further allow us to gain insights into the vegetational composition of the region bordering Chew Bahir. This would be a significant advancement due to the poor pollen preservation in the lake record. Additionally, we will apply the novel technique of microscope-enabled FTIR spectroscopy on charcoal particles, enabling the reconstruction of fire temperature.The charcoal abundance and vegetation records will allow us to decipher the relationships between fire occurrences, vegetal compositions, and potential anthropogenic interactions, thus yielding a comprehensive understanding of ecological resilience mechanisms and early human adaptations. Using statistical techniques will enable us to comprehensively investigate the relationship between charcoal records and potential climate forcings (e.g., CO2 or insolation changes). We further aim to explore the possible presence of non-linear relationships that might indicate increasing human activities within the region. Combining this with existing East African charcoal records will provide a comprehensive spatiotemporal understanding of the historical fire dynamics in the area.To further advance the novel technique of fire temperature reconstruction, we will generate a reference database of representative vegetation samples collected during a fieldwork campaign in the region of Chew Bahir. The collected specimens will be combusted under controlled conditions and subsequently serve as a benchmark for reconstructing fire temperatures across the entire record. Understanding fire temperatures is crucial for reconstructing past wildfire regimes (e.g., "cold" smoldering fires vs. "hot" forest fires), providing insights into the intensity and behavior of historical fires and their potential impact on ecosystems and climate change.In summary, this project will provide the longest and temporally highest-resolved terrestrial charcoal records from tropical Eastern Africa and its first fire temperature record. By advancing methodologies for examining fire histories globally, this project will offer novel insights into the ecological impact of fire on ecosystems over time, relevant to future projected changes and the development of our species.
DFG Programme
Infrastructure Priority Programmes
Co-Investigator
Professor Dr. Martin Trauth
