Dr Daniele Colombaroli

• Long-term ecology
• Conservation Biogeography
• Disturbance ecology
• Dendroecology

My research lies on the interface between Biogeography, Palaeoecology and Conservation Biology. I’m interested in how the information from past ecosystem changes (related to people, climate and time) allows biological responses to be better determined under future global changes, advancing our knowledge on climate impacts, ecological resilience and societal responses in a future warmer world. The geographical areas of my research include biodiversity hotspots and key biogeographical regions for future global changes, such as Equatorial Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, UK and mountain regions in Europe and North America. The specific proxy data that I use include pollen, charcoal, sedimentological properties and tree ring stable isotopes from high-resolution archives, and covering temporal scales from annual tree rings to the millennial scale of climate variability. I’m interested in high-precision correlation of different archives and the way multiproxy, quantitative data can inform public understanding of future climate and land-use impacts.

Selected publications (5)

• Colombaroli D, Gavin D, Morey, Thorndycraft V (2018) High resolution lake sediment record reveals self-organized criticality in erosion processes regulated by internal feedbacks Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. 10.1002/esp.4383
• Whitlock C, Colombaroli D, Conedera M, Tinner W (2018) Land-use history as a guide for forest conservation and management. Conservation Biology, 32-1
• Colombaroli D, Cherubini P, De Ridder M, Saurer, M, Toirambe B, Zweifel N., Beeckman H (2016). Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in tree rings show physiological responses of Pericopsis elata to precipitation in the Congo Basin. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 32: 213-225.
• Colombaroli D, Ssemmanda I, Gelorini V, Verschuren D (2014) Contrasting long-term records of biomass burning in wet and dry savannas of equatorial East Africa. Global Change Biology 20(9):2903-2914.
• Colombaroli D, Gavin DG (2010) Highly episodic fire and erosion regime over the past 2,000 y in the Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon. PNAS 107 (4): 18909-18914.

My past research has explored: 

• Biogeography and dynamic of plant communities: tracking the expansion/demise of tree species in over the long-term. 
• Fire in the Anthropocene: the anthropogenic and natural components of fire regimes, and their effects on vegetation composition and structure.
• Tropical Palaeoecology: the dynamic of East African savannas and the use of palaeo-records as “natural experiments” to assess the fire-climate interactions in space and time over multiple timescales (ICDP Deepchalla).
• The synergetic interactions among disturbance regimes: past baselines, self-organization and the emergence of novel disturbances in recent times.
• The origin of “iconic” cultural landscapes: the role of people in shaping past and present biodiversity.
• Conservation palaeoecology: the application of long-term recorsd for present ecosystem management, and the integration of paleoecology-informed community-owned conservation for fire policy (Policy Brief).
• Tropical Dendroecology and dendroclimatology in the Congo Basin: the potential of tree-rings stable isotopes  for reconstructing climate and patch-scale dynamics (AFRIFORD).

There is an urgent need to reassess fire policy following the recent occurrence of Megafires worldwide. Our Policy Brief recommend that diverse forms of knowledge (including long-term ecological data and traditional knowledge) are incorporated into the evidence base to support decisions on fire policy in areas that will be most affected by future climatic and land-use changes. Read more in the "Global Fires" Issue Brief 2020 by Future Earth.

GG2043 - Biogeography

GG3111 - Biodiversity of the Past & Present

GG5235 - Palaeofires