Altered vegetation structure and composition linked to fire frequency and plant invasion in a biodiverse woodland

Fisher, Judith; Loneragan, William A.; Dixon, Kingsley W.; Delaney, Julie; Veneklaas, Erik J.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2009.05.001

Cited by 84 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 67 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Similar analyses in ecosystems such as tropical savannas, which display much shorter fire rotation periods than temperate ecosystems, ought to allow for assessment of changes in parameter estimates between time series spanning several times the fire rotation period. Inclusion of SC fire intervals in the analysis has, by far, the strongest effect on parameter estimates (in agreement with Polakow andDunne 1999 andMoritz et al 2009), an effect that increases with fire rotation period and is important as most available studies have relied solely on complete fire interval data (Grissino-Mayer 1999;Lloret and Marí 2001;Vázquez and Moreno 2001;Díaz-Delgado et al 2004;Fisher et al 2009;Kraaij 2010). Our results show that exclusion of SC data leads to overestimation of fire frequency and hazard of burning dependence on fuel age.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Fire frequency analysis in Portugal (1975 - 2005), using Landsat-based burnt area maps

Oliveira

Pereira

Carreiras³

2012

Int. J. Wildland Fire

112

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Fire frequency in 21 forest planning regions of Portugal during the period 1975-2005 was estimated from historical burnt area maps generated with semi-automatic classification of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite imagery. Fire return interval distributions were modelled with the Weibull function and the estimated parameters were used to calculate regional mean, median and modal fire return intervals, as well as regional hazard functions. Arrangement of the available data into three different time series allowed for assessment of the effects of minimum mapping unit, time series length and use of censored data on the Weibull function parameter estimates. Varying the minimum mapping unit between 5 and 35 ha had a negligible effect on parameter estimates, whereas changing the time series length from 22 to 31 years substantially affected the estimates. However, the strongest effect was caused by censored data. Its exclusion led to substantial overestimation of fire frequency and of burning probability dependence on fuel age. We estimated a countrywide mean fire interval of 36 years and an annual burnt area of 1.2%. Regional variations in fire frequency descriptors were interpreted in terms of land cover and land use practices that affect the contemporary fire regime in Portugal.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Fire frequency analysis in Portugal (1975 - 2005), using Landsat-based burnt area maps

Oliveira

Pereira

Carreiras³

2012

Int. J. Wildland Fire

112

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…If forests are permanently disturbed by low-intensity disturbances such as cattle grazing and selective logging, their composition will be profoundly altered by loss of biodiversity and changes in the dominance of different species. Effects of altered habitat conditions on forest regeneration could lead to less phenotypic diversity in characteristics such as fruit type, seed mass by area unit and flowering period (Fisher et al 2009). These changes could generate unknown impacts on functional ecosystem properties and on the ecosystem's response to disturbance (Fisher et al 2009).…”

Section: Implications For Forest Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Effects of altered habitat conditions on forest regeneration could lead to less phenotypic diversity in characteristics such as fruit type, seed mass by area unit and flowering period (Fisher et al 2009). These changes could generate unknown impacts on functional ecosystem properties and on the ecosystem's response to disturbance (Fisher et al 2009). In this context, there is an urgent need to quantify and predict the effects of disturbance on biodiversity patterns to guide conservation efforts and the management of ecological resources (Mouillot et al 2012).…”

Section: Implications For Forest Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Forest degradation by both intense, episodic disturbances (e.g., extensive logging or forest conversion to other land uses) and low intensity, chronic disturbances (e.g., grazing, selective logging or invasion of exotic species and fires) have been studied in several forests (Belsky and Blumenthal 1997, Ramírez-Marcial et al 2001, Stern et al 2002, Timmins 2002, Fisher et al 2009, Baraloto et al 2012, Clark and Covey 2012. These disturbances, particularly cattle grazing and selective logging, change species diversity and composition, which may have a major influence on community and ecosystem functioning (Chapin et al 1998, Cadotte et al 2011, Baraloto et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The differential influences of human‐induced disturbances on tree regeneration community: a landscape approach

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Understanding the processes shaping biological communities under interacting disturbances is a core challenge in ecology. Although the impacts of human-induced disturbances on forest ecosystems have been extensively studied, less attention has been paid to understanding how tree regeneration at the community level responds to such disturbances. Moreover, these previous studies have not considered how these effects change according to major social and environmental factors that can influence forest use at a landscape scale. In this study, we investigate the effects of cattle grazing and selective logging on the composition of tree regeneration communities in relation to forest successional stage and land tenure regime in Chilean temperate forests, a global biodiversity hotspot. We recorded seedlings, saplings and basal area of stumps of tree species (as a surrogate for selective logging), and number of cattle dung pats (as a surrogate for cattle pressure) in 129 25 3 20 m plots in small (,200 ha) and large properties in different successional stages (old-growth, intermediate, secondary forests). The regeneration of the ten more abundant species as predicted by human disturbance, land tenure, forest successional stage, and number of parent trees was modelled using generalised linear models. Predictions for each individual model were made under different scenarios of human disturbance. The predicted regeneration results were assembled and subjected to ordination analyses and permutation multivariate analyses of variance to determine differences in regeneration composition under each scenario. In most cases, best-fit models contained at least one of the explanatory variables accounting for human disturbance. The effects of selective logging on tree regeneration varied depending on land tenure regime, but cattle grazing always exhibited a negative effect. Our results revealed that cattle have a more negative effect on forest regeneration than selective logging, especially in old-growth forests and small properties. Our analytical approach contributes to the understanding of the differential influence of human-induced disturbances on the tree regeneration community at a landscape scale. It can inform conservation policies and actions, which should focus on addressing the main disturbance factors and on developing strategies to conserve the most sensitive species to such disturbances.

show abstract

“…Por todas estas razones, ante el escenario de aumento de la temperatura global en el que nos encontramos (Mann et al, 1999;IPCC, 2007), donde la gestión de los incendios puede ser de gran importancia a la hora de mantener la biodiversidad y el paisaje en su conjunto (Conedera et al, 2009;Fisher et al, 2009;Driscoll et al, 2010), resulta esencial el estudio del régimen de incendios en el pasado y sus relaciones con la vegetación y el clima. Entender las relaciones en escalas temporales largas nos ayudará a comprender qué papel desempeña el fuego en los ecosistemas, qué respuesta da la vegetación, y qué posibles efectos puede tener sobre el régimen de incendios un cambio en las condiciones climáticas (Whitlock et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Historia del fuego y la vegetación en una secuencia holocena del Pirineo central: la Basa de la Mora

Lasheras-Álvarez

Pérez-Sanz

Gil‐Romera

et al. 2013

CIG

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Altered vegetation structure and composition linked to fire frequency and plant invasion in a biodiverse woodland

Cited by 84 publications

References 67 publications

Fire frequency analysis in Portugal (1975 - 2005), using Landsat-based burnt area maps

Fire frequency analysis in Portugal (1975 - 2005), using Landsat-based burnt area maps

The differential influences of human‐induced disturbances on tree regeneration community: a landscape approach

Historia del fuego y la vegetación en una secuencia holocena del Pirineo central: la Basa de la Mora

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About