Pyrodiversity

Despite ambiguities in reconstructing presuppression fire behavior, there is wide agreement that a century of fire-suppression management has resulted in a large increase of dead and living fuel, increasing the probability of surface fires becoming crown fires of greater areal extent and intensity. That is, "pyrodiversity" has declined from a once wide spectrum over space, time, and intensity. The likely consequence is that biodiversity has declined as well (Martin and Sapsis 1992).

Some scientists suggest that pyrodiversity (the diversity in frequency, scale, season, and type of fire) leads to great biodiversity of plant species and vegetation types.

Consequently, as we see later in this book, Native Californians experimented with pyrodiversity practices in an attempt to diversify plant and animal resources and to minimize the risks of serious food shortages through storage, trade, and mass harvests when resources were plentiful.