Spatio-temporal perspectives of forest fires regimes in a maturing Mediterranean mixed pine landscape

Abstract

It has been suggested that during the past several decades, the frequency and the intensity of wildfires have markedly increased in the Mediterranean basin. We came to assess this postulation in the forested region of Mount Carmel, Israel. This region is characterized by Quercus spp. and Pistacia spp. maquis and has been intensely afforested with Pinus spp. stands since the 1920s. We compiled a GIS-based database of the fires recorded in the region since 1983, in addition to archiving data beginning from the 1940s. The data were collected from land stewardship agencies' archives, fire departments and aerial photographs. Prior to the early 1980s, no systematic documentation of the fires was available, rather just sporadic qualitative documentation of the large forest fires that occurred. Between 1944 and 1982, only 6 large fires were documented, while after that 11 large fires occurred. Analysis indicated that the spatial distribution of the fires does not occur at random, and their locations are significantly closer to roadsides compared to an expected random distribution. The annual number of fires and the areas burned during the last two decades were not correlated with annual precipitation in any manner. Accordingly, we suggest that the increased number of large forest fires during the last decades is associated with the maturation and senescence of the planted forest coupled with increased human activities.

Assessing wildfire occurrence probability in Pinus pinaster Ait. stands in Portugal

“…Wildfire occurrence depends on further environmental variables (Catry et al, 2008Marques et al, 2011;Wittenberg and Malkinson, 2009). The altitude of each plot was obtained from the country's Digital Terrain Model (DTM).…”

Landscape – wildfire interactions in southern Europe: Implications for landscape management

“…These include a more intensive use of pastures associated with an increasing use of fire for pasture renewal (Arianoutsou, 1998;Bajocco and Ricotta, 2008;Martinez et al, 2009;Mouillot et al, 2003), or an increased wildland-urban interface due to urban sprawl (e.g. Arianoutsou, 2001;Curt and Delcros, 2010;Martinez et al 2009;RomeroCalcerrada et al 2010;Wittenberg and Malkinson, 2009;Vasconcelos et al 2001;Vazquez et al 2002). In fact, population density and distance to road networks are the major drivers of ignition risk and recent fire research studies identified the rural-urban interface as the most fire prone areas in Mediterranean countries (Badia-Perpinya and Pallares-Barbera, 2006;Catry et al, 2009;Curt and Delcros, 2010;Moreira et al, 2009).…”

Characterising vegetative biomass burning in China using MODIS data

“…Several studies on spatial and temporal distribution patterns of forest fires have been previously conducted (Larsen 1997;Pew and Larsen 2001;Wittenberg and Malkinson 2009;Yang et al 2009). Some scientists have studied or predicted the wildfire occurrence with the logistic regression or geographic information system (GIS) spatial analysis methods (Yang et al 2007;Bartlein et al 2008;Syphard et al 2008;Vadrevu and Badarinath 2009;Grala and Cooke 2010;Zhang et al 2010).…”