Nature Search

Increased fire activity under high atmospheric oxygen concentrations is compatible with the presence of forests

This study shows that fire activity under high atmospheric oxygen concentrations does not remove or prevent regeneration of present-day global forests, contradicting a long-term assumption used to define the upper limit of oxygen through time.

Rayanne Vitali
Claire M. Belcher
Andrew J. Watson
ResearchOpen Access26 Nov 2022
Nature Communications

Volume: 13, P: 1-10
Charcoal evidence that rising atmospheric oxygen terminated Early Jurassic ocean anoxia

Numerical models predict that during an oceanic anoxic event (OAE), increased organic carbon burial drives a rise in atmospheric oxygen leading to the event’s termination. Here, the authors present evidence suggesting that the Toarcian OAE was terminated by rising oxygen and associated fire-feedbacks.

Sarah J. Baker
Stephen P. Hesselbo
Claire M. Belcher
ResearchOpen Access12 May 2017
Nature Communications

Volume: 8, P: 1-7
The rise of angiosperms strengthened fire feedbacks and improved the regulation of atmospheric oxygen

Global oxygen regulation over Earth history has largely depended on variations in organic carbon burial, which includes the suppression of land vegetation due to fires. Here, the authors show that major evolutionary changes in plant ecosystems could have influenced fire regimes and thus affected atmospheric O₂.

Claire M. Belcher
Benjamin J. W. Mills
Andrew J. Watson
ResearchOpen Access21 Jan 2021
Nature Communications

Volume: 12, P: 1-9
Tropical peat composition may provide a negative feedback on fire occurrence and severity

Loss of peat through increased burning will have major impacts on the global carbon cycle. Here, the authors use pyrolysis combustion flow calorimetry to determine the temperature of maximum thermal decomposition (T_max) of peats from different latitudes, and couple this to a botanical composition analysis.

Alastair J. Crawford
Claire M. Belcher
Minna Väliranta
ResearchOpen Access27 Aug 2024
Nature Communications

Volume: 15, P: 1-11
Increased fire activity at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in Greenland due to climate-driven floral change

An episode of climate warming 200 Myr ago was associated with catastrophic environmental changes. Experimental and palaeontological data suggest that a climate-driven shift to more flammable leaf shapes contributed to increased fire activity in East Greenland at this time.

Claire M. Belcher
Luke Mander
Jennifer C. McElwain
Research23 May 2010
Nature Geoscience

Volume: 3, P: 426-429
Active and passive organic carbon fluxes during a bloom in the Southern Ocean (South Georgia)

William Major
Sarah L. C. Giering
Richard Sanders
ResearchOpen Access18 Dec 2024
Scientific Data

Volume: 11, P: 1-9
Unprecedented UK heatwave harmonised drivers of fuel moisture creating extreme temperate wildfire risk

Heathland ecosystems are resistant to extreme wildfires due to the differing drivers of low fuel moisture across all fuel types, but extreme heatwaves can cause homogenously low moisture content across fuels, causing extreme fire behavior, according to field measurement analysis of Calluna vulgaris and organic soil moisture content across the UK.

Katy Ivison
Kerryn Little
Nicholas Kettridge
ResearchOpen Access01 Sept 2025
Communications Earth & Environment

Volume: 6, P: 1-9
Australian wildfires cause the largest stratospheric warming since Pinatubo and extends the lifetime of the Antarctic ozone hole

Lilly Damany-Pearce
Ben Johnson
Jim Haywood
ResearchOpen Access25 Aug 2022
Scientific Reports

Volume: 12, P: 1-15
Publisher Correction: Impaired photosynthesis and increased leaf construction costs may induce floral stress during episodes of global warming over macroevolutionary timescales

Matthew Haworth
Claire M. Belcher
Mauro Centritto
Amendments and CorrectionsOpen Access31 May 2018
Scientific Reports

Volume: 8, P: 1
Wildfire activity enhanced during phases of maximum orbital eccentricity and precessional forcing in the Early Jurassic

Increased fire activity in the Early Jurassic is related to changes in the hydrological cycle driven by enhanced seasonality due to orbital forcing, according to a mid-latitude sedimentary charcoal record spanning 350,000 years.

Teuntje P. Hollaar
Sarah J. Baker
Claire M. Belcher
ResearchOpen Access30 Nov 2021
Communications Earth & Environment

Volume: 2, P: 1-12
Impaired photosynthesis and increased leaf construction costs may induce floral stress during episodes of global warming over macroevolutionary timescales

Matthew Haworth
Claire M. Belcher
Mauro Centritto
ResearchOpen Access18 Apr 2018
Scientific Reports

Volume: 8, P: 1-14

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