Current and future estimates for the fire frequency and the fire rotation period in the main woodland types of peninsular Spain: a case-study approach

Vázquez, Antonio; Climent, José; Casais, L; Quintana, José R.

doi:10.5424/fs/2015242-06454

Cited by 22 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…The model applied in this study does not consider external, large-scale disturbance that may be quite important for future forest dynamics in the four CSAs, such are bark beetle infestations in the Alps (Seidl et al 2008), wildfires in the Iberian Mountains (Vazquez et al 2015) or wind-throw across most of Europe (Gardiner et al 2010). Also, exotic invasive species (Richardson et al 2014) and the migration of species and provenances that are more adapted to the novel environmental conditions (Taeger et al 2013) have not been considered.…”

Section: E T H O D O L O G I C a L A S P E C T Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Future ecosystem services from European mountain forests under climate change

et al. 2016

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1. Ecosystem services (ES) from mountain forests are highly relevant for human societies. ES with a direct economic support function (e.g. timber production), regulatory services (e.g. protection from natural hazards) and cultural services (e.g. recreation) are likely to be affected strongly by a rapidly changing climate. To evaluate whether adverse climate change effects on ES can be counteracted by adapting management, dynamic models and indicatorbased assessments are needed. 2. We applied a forest dynamic model in case study areas of four European mountain regions and evaluated the future supply of four EStimber production, carbon sequestration, biodiversity and protection against natural hazardsusing state-of-the-art ES indicators. Forest dynamics were simulated under three management scenarios (no management, business-as-usual and alternative management) and five climate change projections for selected representative stand types in each region. We analysed potential trade-offs and synergies between ES and evaluated future changes among regions, forest stands, climate and management scenarios. 3. Impacts of climate change on the provision of multiple ES were found to be highly heterogeneous and to depend on the region, site and future climate. In the absence of large-scale natural disturbance (not considered), protection services, carbon stock and deadwood abundance (proxy for biodiversity) benefitted from no management in all regions. Negative impacts of climate change were evident for the provision of multiple ES but limited to the most severe climate scenarios and low-elevation stands. Synergies and trade-offs between the majority of ES were found to be sensitive to the choice of management strategy andin some regionsto climate change. 4. Synthesis and applications. Management regimes in European mountain forests should be regionally adapted to stand and site conditions. Although in some cases alternative management regimes may be more suitable than current management for supporting multiple ecosystem services, adaptation options should be evaluated carefully at the local scale due to the highly different magnitude of the impacts of climate change in different regions and along elevation gradients.

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Section: E T H O D O L O G I C a L A S P E C T Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Future ecosystem services from European mountain forests under climate change

et al. 2016

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“…Fire frequency and total affected are more influenced by climate, specifically by precipitation or better the lack of it. The more important role of precipitation and the lesser human influence is manifested in the huge area of large fires, greater than any other region (Table 1), favoured by dry fuels, something that several authors have previously pointed out (Pausas & Fernández-Muñoz, 2012;Pausas, 2004;Vázquez, Climent, Casais, & Quintana, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Understanding wildfires in mainland Spain. A comprehensive analysis of fire regime features in a climate-human context

2017

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Understanding fire regime is a crucial step towards better knowledge of the wildfire phenomenon. However, the concept itself, in spite of its widespread use, still lacks a clear, widely accepted definition and there is no general agreement on which features define it best. In this paper we provide an in-depth characterization and description of fire regimes in three regions-Northwest, Hinterland and Mediterraneancomprising the whole of mainland Spain, to identify their key features. Data on number of fires, burned area, fire season and cause are retrieved from historical fire records for the period 1974-2010. Specifically, fire frequency, burned area, number of natural/human-caused fires, burned area from natural/human-caused fires, number of large fires (≥500 ha), and burned area from large fires were examined for each region and fire season. We used a multi-group Principal Components Analysis approach to determine the importance of each fire regime feature. Next, climate and socioeconomic variables were explored using Multidimensional Scatterplots and Generalized Additive Models to find the extent to which fire regimes are controlled by either environmental, human, or both factors. Results revealed differences among regions and seasons in terms of the characteristics of their respective fire regimes. However, several common features have been identified as key components of fire regimes, regardless of region or fire season: fire frequency, number of large fires, and burned area from natural fires. In addition, results confirm that fire regime in the Northwest area mainly depends on human activity, especially during winter, in contrast to the Mediterranean region.

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“…Changes in climate and land-use are modifying fire regimes across the globe [5,6,8]. Therefore, it is interesting to know how shifts in fire frequency and severity affect soil biochemical properties such as enzymatic activities and microbial biomass C.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In general, ecosystems are adapted to natural fire regimes, recovering under a relatively wide range of fire frequencies and severities [3]. However, fire regimes are changing in many regions across the globe [4][5][6]. In view of vegetation encroachment due to farmland abandonment that has occurred in the last decades [7,8] and climate change projections [9], Southern Europe is one of the regions where fire regimes may change to a greater extent [10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Fire Regime Attributes Affect Soil Biochemical Properties in the Same Way under Different Environmental Conditions?

Fernández-García

Marcos

Reyes

et al. 2020

Forests

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Global change is altering fire frequency and severity in many regions across the world. In this work, we studied the impact of different frequency and severity regimes on the soil biochemical properties in burned areas with different environmental conditions. We selected three sites dominated by pine ecosystems along a Mediterranean-Transition-Oceanic climatic gradient, where we determined the fire frequency, and severity of the last wildfire. Four years after the last wildfire, we established 184 4 m 2 plots. In each plot, we collected a composed soil sample from a 3 cm depth, and measured several ecological variables potentially affected by the fire frequency and severity (cover of bare soil, cover of fine and coarse plant debris, cover of vegetation, and vegetation height). From each soil sample, we analyzed the enzymatic activities corresponding to the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus (β-glucosidase, urease, and acid-phosphatase, respectively), and the microbial biomass carbon. The results indicated that fire frequency only played a significant role in soil biochemical properties at the Mediterranean and Transition sites. Specifically, we found that increases in frequency contributed to increased urease and phosphatase activities (at the Transition site), as well as microbial biomass carbon (at the Mediterranean and Transition sites). In relation to burn severity, we found opposite patterns when comparing the Mediterranean and Oceanic sites. Specifically, increased severity significantly decreased β-glucosidase, urease, and microbial biomass carbon at the Mediterranean site, whereas at the Oceanic one, severity significantly increased them. Burn severity also decreased microbial biomass carbon at the Transition site. Our results also indicated that, overall, fire frequency determined the studied ecological variables at the Mediterranean and Transition sites, but clear indirect effects on biochemical properties due to changes in ecological variables were not found. This study adds to the knowledge on the impact of shifts in fire regimes on soils in the current context of change.

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Current and future estimates for the fire frequency and the fire rotation period in the main woodland types of peninsular Spain: a case-study approach

Cited by 22 publications

References 44 publications

Future ecosystem services from European mountain forests under climate change

Future ecosystem services from European mountain forests under climate change

Understanding wildfires in mainland Spain. A comprehensive analysis of fire regime features in a climate-human context

Do Fire Regime Attributes Affect Soil Biochemical Properties in the Same Way under Different Environmental Conditions?

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