The Footprint of Wildfires on Mediterranean Forest Ecosystem Services in Vesuvius National Park

Abstract

Wildfires are one of the most important natural disturbances in vegetation biomes. In recent decades, both the number and severity of fires have significantly increased in Mediterranean forests, frequently resulting in catastrophic events. In this scenario, we aimed to explore the flow of ecosystem services and their related economic value that was disrupted by human-induced megafires in the Mediterranean forest of Vesuvius National Park in the summer of 2017. We adopted an innovative approach by merging two methodologies: an ecological approach to evaluate the status of the forest ecosystem after the wildfires and an economics methodology to estimate the monetary value of the interruption to ecosystem services. Losses related to the following six services were estimated: woody biomass, soil erosion control, habitat maintenance, pollination, carbon stock, and ecotourism. In 2017, 3350 ha of forest (88% of the total forested area of Vesuvius National Park) burnt over a period of 49 days. The total estimated monetary loss amounted to €14.363 M, 56.9% of which comprised of provisioning ecosystem services, while 34.7% encompassed maintenance and regulation services, and 8.5% were so-called cultural services. Suppression costs accounted for 16% of the total estimated economic loss of ecosystem services. Our results provide useful insights for decision-makers when allocating financial resources, suggesting that they should invest in fire prevention rather than fire suppression and post-fire restoration. This explicit valuation of the footprint of the wildfires, although not exhaustive, can also lead to greater awareness among the public regarding the benefits conferred by Mediterranean forest ecosystems. This is the first study to economically evaluate the interruption of ecosystem services after megafires in the Mediterranean basin.

Landscape Planning Integrated Approaches to Support Post-Wildfire Restoration in Natural Protected Areas: The Vesuvius National Park Case Study

“…Overall, the forest areas account for about 3800 ha (~46% of the total park area), consisting of pure and mixed broadleaved stands, even-aged monospecific and mixed coniferous stands and shrubland. Some coniferous stands are currently listed as sites of community importance for Habitat 9540-Mediterranean pine forests with endemic Mesogean pines [69,76]. The area has major tourism potential due to the singularity of the volcano and lava-field geo-sites and the natural landscape and trails, as well as its cultural heritage, the Eighteen-century historical buildings, and its profound connection with the neighboring archaeological sites of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Oplontis.…”

“…In the present work, the management of protected natural areas in relation to fire risk is considered as a landscape system, which can be evaluated through a combination of ecological factors linked to the physical asset of the territory and the social conditions of the population in the area. The work is based on the case study of the Vesuvius National Park (Southern Italy), where multiple wildfires occurred in the summer of 2017 that burned 3350 ha of forest and shrubland [68,69]. The study area is traditionally subject to summer fires, generally of modest size (Italian National Geoportal), from 4 to 140 ha/y in the last twenty years.…”

Deep Learning Based Burnt Area Mapping Using Sentinel 1 for the Santa Cruz Mountains Lightning Complex (CZU) and Creek Fires 2020

“…Additionally, under the climate crisis, favorable conditions for ignition and spread of wildfire are expected for the near future period. Despite the immediate ecological effects on natural ecosystems due to the damages of forest vegetation, in the aftermath of wildfires significant changes occur in ecosystem services [1,2]. Therefore, accurate spatial mapping of burned areas is necessary for integrated wildfire management and recovery.…”

“…Summary of benchmark study results for SAR based burn area detection1 Based on the U-Net with Learning without forgetting with SAR based reference for the Sydney Fire (2019-2020);2 Based on North American study area S1 satellites only.…”

“…CZU Lightning Complex U-Net Segmentation Results. :1 Based on the U-Net with Learning without forgetting with SAR based reference mask for the Sydney Fire (2019-2020);2 Based on North American study area S-1 satellites only.…”