The eco-evolutionary role of fire in shaping terrestrial ecosystems

1. Fire is an inherently evolutionary process, even though much more emphasis has been given to ecological responses of plants and their associated communities to fire.

2. Here, we synthesize contributions to a Special Feature entitled ‘Fire as a dynamic ecological  and  evolutionary  force’  and  place  them  in  a  broader  context  of  fire  research. Topics covered in this Special Feature include a perspective on the im-pacts of novel fire regimes on differential forest mortality, discussions on new ap-proaches to investigate vegetation-fire feedbacks and resulting plant syndromes, synthesis of fire impacts on plant–fungal interactions, and a meta-analysis of ar-thropod community responses to fire.

3. We conclude by suggesting pathways forward to better understand the ecological and evolutionary consequences of fire. These include developing ecological and evolutionary databases for fire ecology, integrating hierarchical genetic structure or  phylogenetic  structure,  and  developing  new  experimental  frameworks  that  limit context-dependent outcomes.KEYWORDSarthropod, eco-evolutionary dynamics, evolution, fire regimes, plant–fungal interactions, traits, wildfires