Abstract: Reconstruction of forest fire history is helpful to understand the patterns of forest fire occurrence and their driving mechanisms. Charcoal and pollen records from 37 cm core sediments in Yilong Lake of southern Yunnan provide information for forest fire history as well as vegetational and climatic background over the past 150 years. These data combined with population data were then used to reveal the pattern of forest fire occurrence and its controlling factors. The results showed that the pattern of regional forest fires in the Yilong Lake catchment exhibited an increasing trend over the past 150 years (1886-2013 AD), with its maxima at 2000-2013 AD. The two peaks of local forest fires occurred at 1925-1970 AD and 1995-2013 AD, respectively, but caused by different factors. The high frequency of local forest fires in 1925-1970 AD was largely attributed to dry climatic conditions, while the heavy bombing on Yunnan during the Anti-Japanese War partially contributed to burning charcoals. The high frequency of local forest fires in 1995-2013 AD was primarily attributed to strong human activities (e.g., agricultural production).

Key words: Yilong Lake catchment, charcoal, pollen, forest fire, climate change, human activity