Scientists link the extinction of megafauna and wildfires

American researchers have revealed a link between the extinction of large herbivores that disappeared thousands of years ago and a change in the map of wildfires in various regions of the world.

Climatologists link the outbreak of forest fires in recent years and the phenomenon of climate change, but these scientists are seeking to find a new and additional explanation for these fires by returning to the ancient past.

Weeds fuel forest fires

The study, which was published in the American journal Science on November 26, indicated that weeds are the fuel for forest fires, and that huge herbivores were devouring large quantities of them, and this reduces the chances of ignition of fires and also limits the speed of their spread.

In the period between 6000 and 50 thousand years ago, the world witnessed the extinction of a large number of species of megafauna that feed on herbs, a period after which there was a significant increase in forest fires.

They found that wildfires were most common in places with the greatest number of extinctions, study co-author Alison Karp of the Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University said in the university's press release .

The researchers conducted their study in cooperation with the Utah Museum of Natural History, which provided them with a list of the huge mammals that lived in the past in different regions of the world and became extinct, and compared the period of their extinction with the emergence of wildfires, in about 410 regions.

The researchers found that South America lost the largest number of herbivores, with 83%, followed by North America with 68%. Therefore, forest fires witnessed a large spread, unlike Africa and Australia, which did not witness a large spread of forest fires because the extinction was not widespread.

Grazing and fighting forest fires

Among the findings of this study is the importance of grazing in combating forest fires and limiting their rapid spread, as it concluded that the consumption of land grasses by wild and pastoral animals that constitute fire fuel in itself puts an end to the spread of forest fires and reduces their speed.

"This work clearly highlights the importance of the presence of herbivores in limiting or mitigating the spread of wildfires, and also to adapt to climate changes, given that this phenomenon is It is currently the main cause of the spread of forest fires.

The researcher added that it is better to consider this issue in all forest firefighting operations, "We must pay attention to the role that herbivores can play in all forest fire prediction and control operations.