Sediment Records of Biomass Burning and Global Change

An Introduction to Sediment Records of Biomass Burning.- I -The Issues Addressed by Sediment Combustion Records.- Proposed Bio-Geological and Chemical Based Terminology for Fire-Altered Plant Matter.- Background and Local Charcoal in Sediments: Scales of Fire Evidence in the Paleorecord.- Reconstruction of Paleo-Fire Through Climate and Eco-System Models.- The Culture of Fire: An Introduction to Anthropogenic Fire History.- II - Characterizing Combustion Products in Sediments.- Characterization of Particulate Products of Biomass Combustion.- Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Sedimentary Records of Biomass Burning.- III - Particulate Emissions and Transport to Sediments.- Biomass Consumption and Behavior of Wildland Fires in Boreal, Temperate, and Tropical Ecosystems: Parameters Necessary to Interpret Historic Fire Regimes and Future Fire Scenarios.- Biomass Burning Emissions and the Atmosphere.- Atmospheric Transports of Particulate and Gaseous Products by Fires.- IV - Stratigraphic Records.- Pre-Quaternary Records of Wildfire.- Marine Sediments: A Reservoir for Black Carbon and Their Use as Spatial and Temporal Records of Combustion.- Reconstructing Environmental Impacts of Fire from the Holocene Sedimentary Record.- The Sedimentary Record of Fire in Montane Meadows, Sierra Nevada, California, USA: a Preliminary Assessment.- Late Quaternary Climate, Fire, and Vegetation Dynamics.- Holocene Records of Fire from the Boreal and Temperate Zones of Europe.- Controls on Charcoal Distribution in Lake Sediments: Case Studies from Yellowstone National Park and Northwestern Minnesota.- Reconstruction of Fire Disturbance and Forest Succession from Fossil Pollen in Lake Sediments: Potential and Limitations.- The Contribution of Humans to Past Biomass Burning in the Tropics.- Lake Sediment Records of Fossil Fuel-Derived Carbonaceous Aerosols from Combustion.- V - Future Directions.- Report of the Working Discussion Groups.- Cooperation of the Paleofire Science Community with Interdisciplinary Fire Research Programs.