Luke Gordon, Maldwyn John Evans, Philip Zylstra, David B. Lindenmayer
{"title":"Trends and Gaps in Prescribed Burning Research","authors":"Luke Gordon, Maldwyn John Evans, Philip Zylstra, David B. Lindenmayer","doi":"10.1007/s00267-025-02119-z","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Prescribed burning is a key tool in land management globally used to reduce wildfire risks and achieve ecological, cultural and resource management objectives across both natural and human systems. Despite its widespread application, research on prescribed burning is marked by significant gaps. Subsequently, we posed the following research questions: <b>(1)</b> What are the key research topics that define international, peer-reviewed literature on prescribed burning? <b>(2)</b> What are the temporal and spatial trends of these topics? <b>(3)</b> What are the relationships between the national income of a given country and the trends in research topics? And, <b>(4)</b> What are the most salient knowledge gaps in peer-reviewed prescribed burning research, and how can they be addressed? We used structural topic modelling and geoparsing to conduct a detailed text analysis of 7878 peer-reviewed articles on prescribed burning. We revealed that research on prescribed burning is dominated by studies from high-income countries, particularly the United States. This highlights a geographical bias that may skew global understanding and application of prescribed burning practices. Our topic modelling revealed the most prevalent topics to be <i>Fire Regimes</i> and <i>Landscape Biodiversity Management</i>, whilst topics such as <i>Air Pollution & Health</i>, and <i>Wildfire Risk Management</i> gained prominence in recent years. Our analysis highlighted a disconnect between forestry-related research and broader landscape management topics. This finding emphasises the need for more interdisciplinary research, and research on the use and effects of prescribed burning in diverse ecosystems and underrepresented regions, particularly in the context of climate change.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":543,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Management","volume":"75 4","pages":"746 - 760"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00267-025-02119-z.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental Management","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00267-025-02119-z","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Prescribed burning is a key tool in land management globally used to reduce wildfire risks and achieve ecological, cultural and resource management objectives across both natural and human systems. Despite its widespread application, research on prescribed burning is marked by significant gaps. Subsequently, we posed the following research questions: (1) What are the key research topics that define international, peer-reviewed literature on prescribed burning? (2) What are the temporal and spatial trends of these topics? (3) What are the relationships between the national income of a given country and the trends in research topics? And, (4) What are the most salient knowledge gaps in peer-reviewed prescribed burning research, and how can they be addressed? We used structural topic modelling and geoparsing to conduct a detailed text analysis of 7878 peer-reviewed articles on prescribed burning. We revealed that research on prescribed burning is dominated by studies from high-income countries, particularly the United States. This highlights a geographical bias that may skew global understanding and application of prescribed burning practices. Our topic modelling revealed the most prevalent topics to be Fire Regimes and Landscape Biodiversity Management, whilst topics such as Air Pollution & Health, and Wildfire Risk Management gained prominence in recent years. Our analysis highlighted a disconnect between forestry-related research and broader landscape management topics. This finding emphasises the need for more interdisciplinary research, and research on the use and effects of prescribed burning in diverse ecosystems and underrepresented regions, particularly in the context of climate change.
期刊介绍：
Environmental Management offers research and opinions on use and conservation of natural resources, protection of habitats and control of hazards, spanning the field of environmental management without regard to traditional disciplinary boundaries. The journal aims to improve communication, making ideas and results from any field available to practitioners from other backgrounds. Contributions are drawn from biology, botany, chemistry, climatology, ecology, ecological economics, environmental engineering, fisheries, environmental law, forest sciences, geosciences, information science, public affairs, public health, toxicology, zoology and more.
As the principal user of nature, humanity is responsible for ensuring that its environmental impacts are benign rather than catastrophic. Environmental Management presents the work of academic researchers and professionals outside universities, including those in business, government, research establishments, and public interest groups, presenting a wide spectrum of viewpoints and approaches.
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