Spatial metrics in fire ecology: seeking consistency amidst complexity.

Area of Science:

• Fire Ecology
• Landscape Ecology
• Remote Sensing

Background:

• Technological advances, including remote sensing, have increased the number of spatial metrics for fire regime analysis.
• Variability in metric selection, definition, and application leads to inconsistent findings and challenges in synthesizing research.
• Existing metrics for fire size, shape, intensity, frequency, and seasonality lack standardization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To visualize trends in spatial terminology within fire ecology literature.
• To characterize the variability of metrics used for spatial fire pattern description.
• To evaluate the ecological relevance of metrics and identify opportunities for enhanced consistency.

Main Methods:

• Topic modeling was used to analyze trends in fire ecology literature from 1991-2025.
• A qualitative review was conducted to assess metric selection variability across taxa, biomes, and measurement techniques.
• Analysis of ecological processes influencing metric choice was performed.

Main Results:

• A shift was observed from single fire regime aspects to holistic approaches incorporating spatial patterns.
• Significant variation in metric selection was found, influenced by taxa, biomes, measurement techniques, and ecological processes like dispersal.
• The pursuit of precise metrics for specific systems reduces inter-study comparability.

Conclusions:

• Recommendations are provided to enhance metric consistency while allowing for adaptation to specific research objectives.
• Balancing generality and precision in spatial fire metrics is key for comparability.
• Adopting standardized metrics, considering ecological context, and utilizing advanced landscape analysis techniques will advance fire ecology research.