Systematic Mapping and Review of Landscape Fire Smoke (LFS) Exposure Impacts on Insects

Facing the flames: insect responses to megafires and changing fire regimes

The rise of megafires and extreme fire behaviors poses a significant threat to insect populations, affecting their survival and postfire recolonization. Megafires threaten the entire insect communities by changing fire regimes and habitats. These fires are now burning non-fire-prone ecosystems, endangering non-fire-adapted insects and habitats. While implementing prescribed burn programs can reduce the chances of megafires from developing, some megafires will be unpreventable. Land managers can mitigate the fire impacts by creating refugia and promoting heterogeneity in burn severity through fire control measures. Last, these post-megafire landscapes can provide an opportunity to restore historical fire regimes through subsequent prescribed burn management. This will revitalize ecosystems, benefit insects, and reduce the likelihood of future megafires and subsequent insect loss.

Effects of Air Pollutants from Wildfires on Downwind Ecosystems: Observations, Knowledge Gaps, and Questions for Assessing Risk

Wildfires have increased in frequency and area burned, trends expected to continue with climate change. Among other effects, fires release pollutants into the atmosphere, representing a risk to human health and downwind terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. While human health risks are well studied, the ecological impacts to downwind ecosystems are not, and this gap may present a constraint on developing an adequate assessment of the ecological risks associated with downwind wildfire exposure. Here, we first screened the scientific literature to assess general knowledge about pathways and end points of a conceptual model linking wildfire generated pollutants and other materials to downwind ecosystems. We found a substantial body of literature on the composition of wildfire derived pollution and materials in the atmosphere and subsequent transport, yet little observational or experimental work on their effects on downwind ecological end points. This dearth of information raises many questions related to adequately assessing the ecological risk of downwind exposure, especially given increasing wildfire trends. To guide future research, we pose eight questions within the well-established US EPA ecological risk assessment paradigm that if answered would greatly improve ecological risk assessment and, ultimately, management strategies needed to reduce potential wildfire impacts.