Structure of Quercus suber forests in Chefchaouen basin (NE. Morocco): implications on management at a landscape scale

Pastor-López, Antonio; Taïqui, Lahcen; Bouziane, Hassan; Riadi, Hassan; Martín, Joaquín Martín

doi:10.14198/mdtrra1997.16.07

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 2 publications

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“…The commonest native tree species is the cork oak Quercus suber. In recent decades, however, cleared or degraded Q. suber forest and shrublands have been replaced by coniferous plantations composed mostly of maritime pine Pinus pinaster (Pastor-López et al 1997). Wood and resin from pine plantations are important socioeconomic resources which are reflected in the intensity of reforestation.…”

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confidence: 99%

Quercus suber forest and Pinus plantations show different post-fire resilience in Mediterranean north-western Africa

Chergui

Fahd

Santos

2018

Annals of Forest Science

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& Key message In the African rim of the Western Mediterranean Basin, cork oak forests and pine plantations coexist. Under similar fire regimes, cork oak forest is more resilient in terms of habitat structure (canopy, understory, and complexity of vegetation strata) than pine plantation. By contrast, both woodland types show similar resilience in plant species composition. Resilience in habitat structure varies between the two woodland types because of the resprouting and seeding strategies of cork oak and pine species, respectively. These differences can be relevant for the conservation of biodiversity of forested ecosystems in a future scenario of increased fire frequency and scale in the Mediterranean basin. & Context Wildfires have major impacts on ecosystems globally. In fire-prone regions, plant species have developed adaptive traits (resprouting and seeding) to survive and persist due to long evolutionary coexistence with fire. In the African rim of the Western Mediterranean Basin, cork oak forest and pine plantation are the most frequently burnt woodlands. Both species have different strategies to respond fire: cork oak is a resprouter while pines are mostly seeders. & Aims We have examined the hypothesis that pine plantations are less resilient in habitat structure (canopy, understory, diversity of vegetation strata) and plant composition than cork oak woodlands. & Methods The habitat structure and plant species composition were measured in 30 burnt and 30 unburnt 700-m transects at 12 burnt sites from northwestern Africa, where the two forest types can coexist. Habitat structure and plant species composition were compared between burnt and unburnt transects from cork oak and pine plantation woodlands with generalized linear mixed models and general linear models. & Results The results showed significant interaction effect of fire and forest type, since cork oak forest was more resilient to fire than was pine plantation in habitat structure. By contrast, both forest types were resilient to fire in the composition of the plant communities, i.e., plant composition prior to fire did not change afterwards. & Conclusion The higher structural resilience of cork oak forest compared to pine plantation is related to the resprouting and seeding strategies, respectively, of the dominant tree species. Differences in the responses to fire need to be considered in conservation planning for the maintenance of the Mediterranean biodiversity in a future scenario of changes in fire regime.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quercus suber forest and Pinus plantations show different post-fire resilience in Mediterranean north-western Africa

Chergui

Fahd

Santos

2018

Annals of Forest Science

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Socioeconomic Factors Drive Fire-Regime Variability in the Mediterranean Basin

et al. 2017

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In recent decades, fires in Mediterranean Europe have become larger and more frequent. This trend has been driven by socioeconomic changes that have generated rural depopulation and changes in traditional land use. Within the Mediterranean Basin, the most contrasting socioeconomic conditions are found by comparing southern European with North African countries, and thus our hypothesis is that this difference generates contrasting fire regimes between the two regions. Specifically, we predict that current fire regimes in Mediterranean Africa resemble past fire regimes in the Mediterranean Europe when rural activities dominated the landscape. To test our hypothesis, we compared fire statistics from the western Rif (northern Morocco, 1988-2015) and from Valencia (eastern Spain, 1880-2014). The results suggest that the Rif has a typical Mediterranean fire regime with fires occurring in the hot, dry summer season. However, fires are very small and the annual pro-The final version will be published in Ecosystems (2018),

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