Understanding ecological transitions under recurrent wildfire: a case study in the seasonally dry tropical forests of the Chiquitania, Bolivia

The study examines the impact of wildfires occurring between 2000 and 2012 on the Chiquitania forests of Bolivia. It finds that recurrent fires lead to a significant loss in biomass and a shift in species composition where fire-tolerant species become more dominant, resulting in an increase in species richness despite the biomass loss. The authors warn that this transition to a fire-adapted state could become irreversible under future conditions of increased drought and forest fragmentation.

• Recurrent wildfires in the Chiquitania forests cause a significant reduction in biomass and affect both small and large trees.
• The forests respond to repeated fires by shifting species composition toward the dominance of existing fire-tolerant species, which increases overall species richness while decreasing biomass.
• Future climatic drying, forest fragmentation, and the expansion of fire into new frontiers may make the transition to a fire-adapted forest state irreversible.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2015). Understanding ecological transitions under recurrent wildfire: a case study in the seasonally dry tropical forests of the Chiquitania, Bolivia. https://www.sei.org/publications/understanding-ecological-transitions-under-recurrent-wildfire-a-case-study-in-the-seasonally-dry-tropical-forests-of-the-chiquitania-bolivia/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Understanding ecological transitions under recurrent wildfire: a case study in the seasonally dry tropical forests of the Chiquitania, Bolivia. 2015. https://www.sei.org/publications/understanding-ecological-transitions-under-recurrent-wildfire-a-case-study-in-the-seasonally-dry-tropical-forests-of-the-chiquitania-bolivia/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Understanding ecological transitions under recurrent wildfire: a case study in the seasonally dry tropical forests of the Chiquitania, Bolivia |date=9 November 2015 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/understanding-ecological-transitions-under-recurrent-wildfire-a-case-study-in-the-seasonally-dry-tropical-forests-of-the-chiquitania-bolivia/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2015understanding, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Understanding ecological transitions under recurrent wildfire: a case study in the seasonally dry tropical forests of the Chiquitania, Bolivia}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2015}, month = nov, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/understanding-ecological-transitions-under-recurrent-wildfire-a-case-study-in-the-seasonally-dry-tropical-forests-of-the-chiquitania-bolivia/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }