Journal article
Spatiotemporal Vegetation Trends in Burned Areas of the Americas
Remote Sensing, Vol.18(12), pp.1-28
2026
Abstract
Fire is an essential component of species, ecosystems, and atmospheric dynamics. However, human activity has caused changes in fire regimes over the past two decades. In many cases, the spatial patterns of vegetation change after fire at the landscape scale remain unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate spatial vegetation trends in burned areas across the Americas (2001-2024), using non-parametric tests and analyzing Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) remote sensing products. Over a period of 24 years, fire activity burned a total area of 429.7 million hectares in 44 countries or territories and 269 ecoregions in the Americas. Regarding fire recurrence, the data indicates that 244.7 Mha (56.9%) burned only once (<= 1), while 185.0 Mha (43.1%) burned multiple times (>= 2), with certain regions experiencing up to 39 fires. The NDVI trend analysis showed that burned areas with increasing trends (p < 0.05) represented a total of 149.6 Mha (34.8%), primarily in Brazil (54.6 Mha, 12.7%), Argentina (17.8 Mha, 4.2%), the United States (14.4 Mha, 3.4%). In terms of decreasing NDVI trends (p < 0.05), these represented a total of 91.8 Mha (21.37%), primarily in Brazil (29.1 Mha, 6.8%), Canada (23.4 Mha, 5.4%), and the United States (14.2 Mha, 3.3%). The ecoregions with the largest areas showing increasing NDVI trends (p < 0.05) were the Cerrado (33.8 Mha, 7.8%), the Llanos (13.3 Mha, 3.1%) and the Humid Chaco (7 Mha, 1.6%). In contrast, the ecoregions with the largest areas showing decreasing NDVI trends (p < 0.05) were the Dry Chaco (9.2 Mha, 2.1%), the Cerrado (8.6 Mha, 2.0%), and the Boreal Shield (8.3 Mha, 1.9%). In terms of land cover types, savannas (37.2%) exhibited the highest proportions of increasing NDVI trends (p < 0.05), while decreasing trends were also present in savannas (28.0%) and grasslands (22.1%). Identifying spatiotemporal trends in vegetation change after fires is a fundamental step in implementing strategies and public policies to ensure ecological restoration. Moreover, given the high costs of restoration efforts, governments must work together to prevent these ecosystems from burning repeatedly.
Details
- Title
- Spatiotemporal Vegetation Trends in Burned Areas of the Americas
- Authors
- Oswaldo Maillard (Corresponding Author) - Fundación para la Conservación del Bosque ChiquitanoRobin L. Chazdon - University of the Sunshine CoastSebastian Aguiar - Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinBonifacio Mostacedo - Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous UniversityAndre Nunes - Ecoa - Ecologia e Ação (Brazil)Cristina Vidal-Riveros - Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza CatieRoberto Vides-Almonacid - Fundación para la Conservación del Bosque Chiquitano
- Publication details
- Remote Sensing, Vol.18(12), pp.1-28
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Date published
- 2026
- DOI
- 10.3390/rs18121870
- ISSN
- 2072-4292
- Copyright note
- © 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.
- Grant note
- O.M. and R.V.-A. were supported by the Foundation for the Conservation of the Chiquitano Forest. S.A. was supported by CONICET and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement 101110264 (FOREST-CHAINS). A.V.N. was supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), grant number 199830/2025-8.
- Organisation Unit
- Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; Forest Research Institute
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991246279202621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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