Forest Fires, Land Use Changes and Their Impact on Hydrological Balance in Temperate Forests of Central Mexico

Abstract

Temperate forests play a fundamental role in the provision, regulation, and support of hydrological environmental services, but they are subject to constant changes in land use (clearing, overgrazing, deforestation, and forest fires) that upset the hydrological balance. Through scenarios simulated with the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) hydrological model, the present study analyzes the effects of forest fires and land use changes on the hydrological balance in the microwatersheds of central Mexico. The land use changes that took place between 1995 and 2021 were estimated, and projections based on the current scenario were made. Two trend scenarios were proposed for 2047: one with a positive trend (forest permanence) and the other with a negative trend (loss of cover from forest fires). The results show that with permanence or an increase in forest area, the surface runoff would decrease by 48.2%, increasing the base flow by 37% and the soil moisture by 2.3%. If forest is lost, surface runoff would increase up to 454%, and soil moisture would decrease by 27%. If the current forest decline trends continue, then there will be negative alterations in hydrological processes: a reduction in the interception of precipitation by the canopy and an increase in the velocity and flow of surface runoff, among others. The final result will be a lower amount of water being infiltrated into the soil and stored in the subsoil. The provision of hydrological environmental services depends on the maintenance of forest cover.

A Multi-Model Multi-Scale Approach to Estimate the Impact of the 2007 Large-Scale Forest Fires in Peloponnese, Greece

“…Although no wide consensus has been established with regard to the questions posed in this work, we believe that there is a favorable perspective for this, which is justified by the recent intensification of related research efforts worldwide (e.g., [69][70][71][72], to mention but a few.) Additionally, one should not lose sight of the fact that many anthropogenic influences act simultaneously (e.g., forest fires, deforestation, large-scale hydraulic works) and affect the same hydrological variables by: (i) altering the rate of evaporation, (ii) modifying the velocity and amount of overland flow, (iii) altering the amount of infiltration into the ground, and (iv) affecting the amount of intercepted water [73].…”

Pemetaan Kerentanan Kebakaran Hutan di Pulau Buru, Provinsi Maluku Berdasarkan Fire Hotspot

“…Pada umumnya faktor-faktor seperti curah hujan yang rendah, perubahan iklim, kenaikan suhu permukaan dan aktivitas manusia yang tidak terkendali meningkatkan risiko terjadinya kebakaran hutan di suatu daerah (Ruíz-García et al, 2022;Achmadi et al, 2023). Hasil penelitian yang dilakukan oleh Philia, (2023), menunjukan bahwa suhu permukaan daratan di Pulau Buru mengalami peningkatan setiap tahunnya, hal ini tentunya berdampak pada terjadinya kebakaran hutan disana.…”

Análisis espacio temporal de la ocurrencia de incendios forestales en el estado mexicano de Oaxaca

“…Therefore, it is plausible to analyze and model wildfire events regionally instead of globally. In Mexico, some research efforts have focused on understanding different aspects of wildfires from a causation (Avila-Flores et al, 2010;Antonio and Ellis, 2015;Pompa-García et al, 2018;Zúñiga-Vásquez and Pompa-García, 2019) and prediction point of view (Perez-Verdin et al, 2014;Ibarra-Montoya and Huerta-Martínez, 2016;Galván and Magaña, 2020;Monjarás-Vega et al, 2020;Ruíz-García et al, 2022).…”

“…According to projections of Senande-Rivera et al(2022), the global area with frequent fire-prone conditions will increase by 29 % (25 % in Villar-Hernández et al, Spatio-temporal analysis... temperate zones) at the end of the 21st century. An effect of the increase in forest fires in the future may be to raise the loss of cover in forest areas altering the hydrological processes(Ruíz-García et al, 2022), besides social and environmental impacts. On the other hand, the unstructured effect term (Figure3b) displayed some fluctuation around one, as was expected because this term represents the temporal variation (residual) not explained by the model.…”